Olympus SP-550 UZ: 18x ultra zoom

(Andrew MacPherson) writes:
Proprietary batteries are a curse even if they often have advantages. I
suppose phones are even more "volume sensitive" than all but the
smallest cameras though, and I suppose squeezing a battery in must be
tricky at times.

The very smallest phones and cameras have to use flat batteries, it's
true. I don't have any problem using a normal sized phone, and
there's plenty of space in one of those for a pair of AA's.

I seem to buy a new phone about once every five years, so I took the
precaution of buying a spare straight away this time. It will no doubt
get lost before I need it. :-)

It's worse than that. Lithium ion chemistry is quite volatile and the
cells stop holding charge even if they're just sitting there unused.
Even if you manage to buy an OEM replacement battery for your
5-year-old discontinued phone, maybe it was made around when the phone
was made and has been sitting on a shelf since then, and is thereby
already partly or mostly crapped out.

On 29 Jan 2007 18:19:15 -0800, Paul Rubin
wrote:

It's worse than that. Lithium ion chemistry is quite volatile and the
cells stop holding charge even if they're just sitting there unused.
Even if you manage to buy an OEM replacement battery for your
5-year-old discontinued phone, maybe it was made around when the phone
was made and has been sitting on a shelf since then, and is thereby
already partly or mostly crapped out.

That's the problem I'm now having getting a usable "new" battery
for my Nokia phone. Instead of the expected standby time of over 8
days, I'm getting from 10 to 15 hours, and that's with three "new"
batteries that have been sent to me over the last couple of weeks.
Yes, I was told that even though the phone is popular and has only
been on the market for about 18 months, the company is phasing it
out, so I imagine that all of the "new" batteries they have in stock
were acquired about 18 months ago. Two of the batteries were sent
in complete packages including a phone, charger and manual ("just
throw it out or give it away"). If the thin bottom half of the
phone (which contains the battery) was made 2 or 3mm thicker, it
would be the same thickness as the top half of the phone and would
easily be able to hold 3 NiMH AAA cells. Never happen, but that's
one of the things I'd ask for if I was granted 3,000 wishes. g

In article ,
(Paul Rubin) wrote:

It's worse than that. Lithium ion chemistry is quite volatile and the
cells stop holding charge even if they're just sitting there unused.

Ah, that's useful to know. Thanks.

Andrew McP

Just D wrote:

"John Turco"
Seriously, the vast majority of today's cameras are truly made by OEM
outfits, other than the big-name photographic equipment manufacturers,
themselves. (And, let's face it, Kodak has been the biggest of those
names, traditionally.)

Well, according to some publications, believe or not, the sensor used in the
Nikon D80 made by Sony and used by Sony as well in its own model, don't
remember which one.

Just D.


Hello, Just D:

That's hardly a revelation. g Sony is widely known to be the
industry's top provider of "small" sensors (i.e., the type used in P&S
digicams), and also some of the larger ones, contained in DSLR's.

However, even Sony doesn't make the whole cameras, either for itself or
other companies. That gritty job is mainly handled by a certain number
of OEM firms, such as Sanyo and Flextronics, among others.


Cordially,
John Turco

"Paul D. Sullivan" wrote:

John Turco wrote:

Hello, Paul:

Yeah, I'm sure that the hordes of outsourced, point-&-shoot
digicams from "Nikon, Olympus, etc.," are so much better than
Kodak's own outsourced products. :-J

Seriously, the vast majority of today's cameras are truly made
by OEM outfits, other than the big-name photographic equipment
manufacturers, themselves. (And, let's face it, Kodak has been
the biggest of those names, traditionally.)

Hence, the real point is, there's little difference between
the main players in the current digital marketplace...and
Kodak stacks up, very competitively, against any of them.


So even Olympus outsources like crazy now?

Hello, Paul:

It's a fact of modern life, alas. The world's industrial base has been
constantly shifting, and not only away from the United States and
Europe.

Even Japan has felt the dour effects of rising labor costs, and like
the Western nations, has moved much of its manufacturing muscle to
Southeast Asia, China, and the Pacific Rim.

Man, back in the day, when I got the C5050 Oly, I thought it was
heads above most of the rest of the field.

Well, I own six Kodak digicams, and they're all made in either Japan, or
China. The build quality is the same (i.e., quite high), in each case,
pun intended.

I'd hate to think they no longer care about quality.

Then, don't think that. g

Anyways, thanks very much. I appreciate the post

No problem!


Cordially,
John Turco