A Photography forum. PhotoBanter.com

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Go Back   Home » PhotoBanter.com forum » Digital Photography » Digital Photography
Site Map Home Register Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

Battery Question - Camera for Teenager



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old June 23rd 08, 09:12 PM posted to rec.photo.digital
Ben Brugman
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 271
Default Battery Question - Camera for Teenager



Am I being overly cautious by thinking we should limit our choices to
those that use (eat?) AA batteries, especially for a 16YO?


Most camera's can take hundreds of pictures with a litium ion battery.
AA capable camera's are often larger.

Camera's with AA batteries do not have to be replaced once the battery goes
dead, just replace the AA's. For litium ion batteries by the time they are
gone
(few years), you probably will not bother to buy new litium ion batteries,
because
they are expensive (especially for an older camera), maybe not available.

Taking one or two spare set's of batteries with you and you know how much
power
you have left (fairly accurate). The indication for the litium ion is not
very lineair.
So with AA you know what you have left (outside the camera). And if you run
out
AA's are better available then any type of battery.

I think that AA is definitly a advantage over litium ion. (But the camera is
larger).
So choices being the same I vote for AA.

(My DSLR and my point and shoot both do not have AA capability, so I went
for
other features above AA. This to place the preverence for AA into a
perspective).

Ben

  #2  
Old June 24th 08, 04:07 PM posted to rec.photo.digital
Ron Hunter
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 4,064
Default Battery Question - Camera for Teenager

Shawn Hirn wrote:
In article .net,
"ben brugman" wrote:

Am I being overly cautious by thinking we should limit our choices to
those that use (eat?) AA batteries, especially for a 16YO?

Most camera's can take hundreds of pictures with a litium ion battery.
AA capable camera's are often larger.

Camera's with AA batteries do not have to be replaced once the battery goes
dead, just replace the AA's. For litium ion batteries by the time they are
gone
(few years), you probably will not bother to buy new litium ion batteries,
because
they are expensive (especially for an older camera), maybe not available.

Taking one or two spare set's of batteries with you and you know how much
power
you have left (fairly accurate). The indication for the litium ion is not
very lineair.
So with AA you know what you have left (outside the camera). And if you run
out
AA's are better available then any type of battery.

I think that AA is definitly a advantage over litium ion. (But the camera is
larger).
So choices being the same I vote for AA.

(My DSLR and my point and shoot both do not have AA capability, so I went
for
other features above AA. This to place the preverence for AA into a
perspective).

Ben


To each his own. There's no way I would use a digital camera that takes
AA batteries again. When I travel, I shoot hundreds of photos a day. I
tried a camera that used AA batteries and it was a PITA. I had to carry
bulky sets of batteries with me, change them two or three times a day,
and make sure I kept each set separate from the other sets, plus they
would discharge fairly rapidly when I wasn't using the camera for a few
weeks, so I had to recharge them all each time I went out with the
camera.

With the li-on batteries, I carry ONE spare and most of the time, I
don't even need it because the capacity is so high, plus they hold their
charge much better then AAs do when they are not in use. With my Sony
P&S shoot camera, I can usually shoot around 300 photos easily per day.
With my Canon XSi, the battery gives me around 600 photos per charge.
Both camera's batteries are about 1/4 the size of a four AA batteries
(which is what the AA cameras I had required). Not to mention, that when
I travel, I like to pack as light as possible, and the li-on batteries
and their charger are considerably less bulky then AAs.


Well, they are also lighter. For most people, I suspect that the
Lithium-ion rechargeables are an advantage, but for a teen, a camera
using two AA batteries would probably be better. In the event the
batteries in the camera do die, they aren't going to miss shots because
they can pick up batteries almost anywhere. And, they don't have to
cart a charger around.

Both my cameras have AA batteries, and I wouldn't change that. I have a
GPS with Lithium-ion battery, and I am always concerned about charging
it. I like the long 'run time', but having to worry about charging the
thing all the time on a trip is a bit of a pain.
  #3  
Old June 24th 08, 04:21 PM posted to rec.photo.digital
David J Taylor[_5_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 923
Default Battery Question - Camera for Teenager

Ron Hunter wrote:
[]
Both my cameras have AA batteries, and I wouldn't change that. I
have a GPS with Lithium-ion battery, and I am always concerned about
charging it. I like the long 'run time', but having to worry about
charging the thing all the time on a trip is a bit of a pain.


Ron,

G

Both my cameras have Li-ion batteries and I wouldn't change that. I have
two spare Li-ion batteries for the DSLR, but I don't think I've ever
needed more than about 1.2 batteries (i.e. I needed to change once). For
the compact camera I have just a single space Li-ion cell. My practice is
to charge all cells each night I am away. I have a GPS with 2 x AA cells,
but these last about 18 hours, so on a day trip I don't take spares. On a
weekend or longer trip I take four spare AA cells and a 1-hour charger!

Yes, I do wish the Li-ion batteries were restricted to a standard range of
sizes like non-rechargeables.

Cheers,
David


  #4  
Old June 25th 08, 02:40 AM posted to rec.photo.digital
ASAAR
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 6,057
Default Battery Question - Camera for Teenager

On Tue, 24 Jun 2008 06:01:01 -0400, Shawn Hirn wrote:

To each his own. There's no way I would use a digital camera that takes
AA batteries again. When I travel, I shoot hundreds of photos a day. I
tried a camera that used AA batteries and it was a PITA. I had to carry
bulky sets of batteries with me, change them two or three times a day,
and make sure I kept each set separate from the other sets, plus they
would discharge fairly rapidly when I wasn't using the camera for a few
weeks, so I had to recharge them all each time I went out with the
camera.


Too bad, as you're misjudging today's cameras based on the memory
of a poorly designed camera that's probably been discontinued for
many years. Would you mind disclosing which camera that was?

Today you can get small cameras that with just two (emphasized -
*not* four) AA cells can take 400, 500 and more shots per charge.
And that's with a high percentage of shots using the flash at full
power. Up to 1,000 or more shots per charge for outdoor/daylight
shots that don't require the camera's flash. You also seem to have
missed hearing about the new "Eneloop" type of low self-discharge
NiMH cells that retain most of their capacity even after a year or
two since their last charge. This is much better than Li-Ion
batteries as a number of photographers in this forum have discovered
to their dismay. Failure to charge them for similar extended
periods can fatally damage them, and that would be a *real* PITA.


Not to mention, that when I travel, I like to pack as light as possible,
and the li-on batteries and their charger are considerably less bulky
then AAs.


I have some travel AA chargers that I'll bet are no larger, and
are probably smaller than your Li-Ion chargers. While the smallest
cameras available are usually designed to use Li-Ion batteries, they
usually have several drawbacks, one of which is that tiny cameras
are more difficult to hold steadily enough to take reasonably sharp
pictures. Exacerbating that tendency is their tendency to also be
designed without having viewfinders, whether optical or EVF.

Two examples of very nice currently available cameras that use a
pair of AA batteries are Nikon's P60 and Panasonic's LZ8. They're
both small enough to easily fit in a shirt pocket, have VR/IS, can
shoot for days on a single charge (from approx. 500 to over 1,000
shots, depending on how the camera is used), and produce very good
images. They both have the usual plethora of predefined "auto"
modes that some beginners rely upon. For any of their owners that
may develop an interest in photography, they also have the manual
modes (P/A/S/M) that are usually missing from typical P&S cameras.
They're both fairly inexpensive, and the biggest difference I've
noted is that the P60 is slightly more expensive. But that extra
expense gets you a viewfinder and slightly more than one stop worth
of better high ISO, low noise performance. Similar cameras are
produced by other manufacturers, most notably from Canon.

I went to DPReview to compare the battery life performance with
that of cameras using Li-Ion batteries and found that the first half
dozen checked were far inferior, averaging about 1/2 the number of
shots that these two are capable of getting. Here's what Dpreview
said about Canon's SD900 :

Battery life, like most models in the SD range, is nothing special,
though at approx 230 shots (CIPA standard) per charge it's no
worse than many of its competitors.


So with one of the previously described cameras and two pairs of
charged AA batteries (two in the camera and another two in the
camera bag) you're probably good for something between 1,000 and
2,000 shots. That should not only be good enough for a short
vacation or extended hike, it should also allow most people to
travel *really* light, since with that kind of battery life most
people wouldn't need to bring along a charger!

In short, while the type of battery a camera uses can be a factor
in deciding which camera one should buy, it shouldn't be the primary
factor. Good, well designed cameras are available with either
Li-Ion and AA batteries, and a few rare models offer the choice of
both types. My personal preference (if you haven't already guessed
it) is for cameras that use AA batteries. But that won't prevent me
from buying cameras that use Li-Ion batteries if the cameras have
the features that I want or need. Battery chauvinists do themselves
a disservice.

  #5  
Old June 25th 08, 09:21 AM posted to rec.photo.digital
Ron Hunter
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 4,064
Default Battery Question - Camera for Teenager

David J Taylor wrote:
Ron Hunter wrote:
[]
Both my cameras have AA batteries, and I wouldn't change that. I
have a GPS with Lithium-ion battery, and I am always concerned about
charging it. I like the long 'run time', but having to worry about
charging the thing all the time on a trip is a bit of a pain.


Ron,

G

Both my cameras have Li-ion batteries and I wouldn't change that. I have
two spare Li-ion batteries for the DSLR, but I don't think I've ever
needed more than about 1.2 batteries (i.e. I needed to change once). For
the compact camera I have just a single space Li-ion cell. My practice is
to charge all cells each night I am away. I have a GPS with 2 x AA cells,
but these last about 18 hours, so on a day trip I don't take spares. On a
weekend or longer trip I take four spare AA cells and a 1-hour charger!

Yes, I do wish the Li-ion batteries were restricted to a standard range of
sizes like non-rechargeables.

Cheers,
David


That would make life too easy, and too cheap. Grin.
 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Battery Question - Camera for Teenager Marvin[_2_] Digital Photography 5 June 27th 08 11:40 AM
Battery Question - Camera for Teenager Morton Digital Photography 0 June 23rd 08 08:57 PM
what camera for a teenager william kossack Digital SLR Cameras 100 February 7th 07 05:12 PM
Battery question before I tear a new one into a camera company. pauly Digital Photography 7 May 17th 06 11:33 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 08:54 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 PhotoBanter.com.
The comments are property of their posters.