Battery woes

My 4 cheap nicad battaries have failed after only about 10 cycles, at
least, the power output on 1 is well down and the net result is that I
can only manage 2 pictures. Since I don't use my camera that often,
which is the best type of battery to use ?

I've got a cheap 2 hour fast charger and I'm wondering whether that
could be part of the problem, as before I used to have a trickle
charger. I bought cheap stuff 2 years ago because I thought that NiCd
was established technology and so price didn't make much difference to
quality.

I was looking at converting to NiMH and using the La Crosse BC 900 /
LaCrosse RS900 / Technoline iCharger as at least it gives some
information on the battery condition.

I don't really understand what I need, so any thoughts would be
appreciated :-)

Daytona

On 10 Jun, 22:05, Daytona wrote:

Since I don't use my camera that often,
which is the best type of battery to use ?

The camera is a basic point and shoot Canon A70.

On Jun 10, 3:07 pm, Daytona wrote:
On 10 Jun, 22:05, Daytona wrote:

Since I don't use my camera that often,
which is the best type of battery to use ?

The camera is a basic point and shoot Canon A70.

These are just AA right? So far, I've had the BEST experience with the
Duracell Ultra Digital batteries. I use them in my flash (the SB800)
and the recycle time and life has been dramatically better. For future
reference, never buy a camera that takes anything other that a lithium
ion battery; you'll be much happier. Good luck.

Daytona wrote:
My 4 cheap nicad battaries have failed after only about 10 cycles, at
least, the power output on 1 is well down and the net result is that I
can only manage 2 pictures. Since I don't use my camera that often,
which is the best type of battery to use ?

I've got a cheap 2 hour fast charger and I'm wondering whether that
could be part of the problem, as before I used to have a trickle
charger. I bought cheap stuff 2 years ago because I thought that NiCd
was established technology and so price didn't make much difference to
quality.

I was looking at converting to NiMH and using the La Crosse BC 900 /
LaCrosse RS900 / Technoline iCharger as at least it gives some
information on the battery condition.

I don't really understand what I need, so any thoughts would be
appreciated :-)

Daytona

Since you rarely use your camera, I suggest investing in the Eneloop
NIMH batteries. They should perform well for your needs.

cassia wrote:
On Jun 10, 3:07 pm, Daytona wrote:
On 10 Jun, 22:05, Daytona wrote:

Since I don't use my camera that often,
which is the best type of battery to use ?
The camera is a basic point and shoot Canon A70.

These are just AA right? So far, I've had the BEST experience with the
Duracell Ultra Digital batteries. I use them in my flash (the SB800)
and the recycle time and life has been dramatically better. For future
reference, never buy a camera that takes anything other that a lithium
ion battery; you'll be much happier. Good luck.

I totally disagree. I like the maximum options for source, and type,
and for that, AA batteries can't be beat.

On 10 Jun, 22:28, cassia wrote:

These are just AA right? So far, I've had the BEST experience with the
Duracell Ultra Digital batteries. I use them in my flash (the SB800)
and the recycle time and life has been dramatically better. For future
reference, never buy a camera that takes anything other that a lithium
ion battery; you'll be much happier. Good luck.

Yes they're AA, I've just checked and the camera can take NiMH, but I
don't know about lithium - are they better ?

Daytona

On Jun 10, 4:59 pm, Daytona wrote:
On 10 Jun, 22:28, cassia wrote:

These are just AA right? So far, I've had the BEST experience with the
Duracell Ultra Digital batteries. I use them in my flash (the SB800)
and the recycle time and life has been dramatically better. For future
reference, never buy a camera that takes anything other that a lithium
ion battery; you'll be much happier. Good luck.

Yes they're AA, I've just checked and the camera can take NiMH, but I
don't know about lithium - are they better ?

Daytona

Ive shot maybe 7000 photos with 3 sets of energiser Nimh, they are
still good for thousands more, Sanyo, Panasonic, Energiser and
Duracell are trusted brands. Get a good charger to get the most out of
them

On Sun, 10 Jun 2007 14:05:02 -0700, Daytona wrote:

My 4 cheap nicad battaries have failed after only about 10 cycles, at
least, the power output on 1 is well down and the net result is that I
can only manage 2 pictures. Since I don't use my camera that often,
which is the best type of battery to use ?

I've got a cheap 2 hour fast charger and I'm wondering whether that
could be part of the problem, as before I used to have a trickle
charger. I bought cheap stuff 2 years ago because I thought that NiCd
was established technology and so price didn't make much difference to
quality.

I was looking at converting to NiMH and using the La Crosse BC 900 /
LaCrosse RS900 / Technoline iCharger as at least it gives some
information on the battery condition.

I don't really understand what I need, so any thoughts would be
appreciated :-)

Daytona

The new nihm's from Sanyo (Enerloop) and RayOvac (hybrid) are said to have
solved the 'shelf life' problem. I would suggest you also look at Lithium
(non-rechargeable) batteries as a solution. Since you indicate that you
use it sparingly, this would seem to be a good answer, though the
batteries are somewhat expensive, they last a long time and have excellent
power density (i.e. lots of shots). nicd's are basically not a good
solution for digital photography.

Daytona wrote:
On 10 Jun, 22:28, cassia wrote:

These are just AA right? So far, I've had the BEST experience with the
Duracell Ultra Digital batteries. I use them in my flash (the SB800)
and the recycle time and life has been dramatically better. For future
reference, never buy a camera that takes anything other that a lithium
ion battery; you'll be much happier. Good luck.

Yes they're AA, I've just checked and the camera can take NiMH, but I
don't know about lithium - are they better ?

Daytona


Be careful with Lithium AA batteries. They are capable of a high current
surge that can damage your electronic circuits, unless your owner's
manual specifically says that Lithium AAs are OK.
Morton

"Daytona" wrote in message
ps.com...
My 4 cheap nicad battaries have failed after only about 10 cycles, at
least, the power output on 1 is well down and the net result is that I
can only manage 2 pictures. Since I don't use my camera that often,
which is the best type of battery to use ?



Yep, gotta agree with Ron & Ray, The Eneloop batteries by Sanyo will be
ideal for someone who doesn't use their camera very often, as they won't
slowly drain away like normal batteries.
I have used the Eneloop AA's in my flash (Speedlite 550EX) for a while now
and they are just great!
I have 2 sets of 4 so I always have a spare fully charged set, and I don't
seem to change sets nearly half as much as I used to with normal batteries,
but the real beauty is that when I do change over to the other set, I know
that it will be at almost maximum charge as they will hold their charge upto
around 1 year, so they say.
Gone are the times when I reached for a charged set of batteries and they
were nearly already exhausted because they had drained away while they sat
in my kit bag for a few weeks :-)
They are more expensive for the initial layout, but well worth it IMHO.
Have a read about them here - http://www.eneloop.info/home_en.html
cheers
Mick