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Old November 4th 07, 08:22 PM posted to rec.photo.digital
ASAAR
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Default digital camera battery use

On Sun, 04 Nov 2007 08:54:13 -0800, wrote:

I am shopping for a new digital camera that would cost under $150.
My question, is the battery usage of all digital camera the same, or
do some cameras need battery replacement less frequently than others?


There's quite a wide range of battery performance. Generally, the
number of shots quoted by manufacturers in their manuals is fairly
accurate, and they're usually available as downloadable PDF files.
I'd suggest ignoring battery performance initially. Look for
cameras that are suitable for your purposes, and then compare
battery performance. Otherwise, you might end up with a camera that
takes many pictures from a battery set (or per charge), but is
otherwise a pretty dismal camera. Also, do you intend to take most
of your pictures indoors, using the camera's flash, or outdoors?
Use the LCD display or an optical viewfinder?

Although somewhat above your price range, Canon's A6## cameras
usually turn in very good battery performance. For the recent A630
(which uses 4 AA cells), if the LCD is used and half of the pictures
are taken using the flash, it should be good for 350 shots using
alkaline AA cells and 500 shots per charge from NiMH cells. If the
flash isn't used and the optical viewfinder is used instead, the
number of shots increases to 1,200 shots from alkalines and 1,500
shots/charge from NiMH.

Several of Nikon's smaller cameras (which use 2 AA cells) that
meet your price requirement are the L6, L11 and L12. While not
having the flexibility of Canon's A6## cameras (they lack fully
manual control), have some sophisticated features, and have battery
performance that ranges from decent to excellent. The manual only
provides battery life info. for taking pictures using the more
demanding test (half of the shots using the flash, and using the LCD
display - in this case a "must"). The L6 is rated at 400 shots
using alkalines, 540 shots using NiMH and 1,000 shots using lithium
AA cells. The L11 gets 250 shots (with alkaline), 300(NiMH) and
600(lithium). The L12 should be good for 150 shots (with alkaline),
370(NiMH) and 600(lithium). The L12 has more 'features', such as
true image stabilization, but they're probably the reason why it
goes through batteries more quickly. All of this info. was culled
from the manuals, so if you're interested in any other cameras,
download their manuals and compare . . .