OT - Digital camera woes

[pluggers]

Ive just bought a digital camera this week and I think something is not quite right with it.Its not a top brand name or anything its got 4million pixels was £230 reduced to £115 in the sales.Whats bugging me is that it came with 2 AA sized batterys(no problem there)But when I used the camera I only got about 20 medium res' shots from it before they went dead ,The user manual says about 100 shots per battery life.So in all haste I got some cheap batterys to try and only got 2 shots before they went dead .In desperation I raided some rechargeable 600 mah batterys with full charge and got about another 20 odd shots a couple using the flash, all taken within about a 5 min time frame,Before these went dead.On inspection these batterys were hot to the touch when taken out of the camera which leads me to think unusually high drain on the batterys.Does anyone else know for comparison how much life they get out of their batterys and if this sounds odd to you aswell.Any info will be much appreciated cus Im thinking of taking it back for an exchange tomorrow and dont want to look a complete t@t.

Cheers.

 

[sym]

I used to have a kodak digi camera which would only run on AA batteries . . the battery life wasn't quite that bad but it wasn't much better . . . only about 80 shots on 4 AAs ! Does sound like something is wrong with yours though.

Needless to say, when I upgraded a couple of years ago, a rechargeable battery was a must !!

s.

 

[Kinky]

Perhaps it comes with a proper digital camera battery (lithium-ion or whatever they are), but you can use regular ones as a 'back-up'?

Isn't it odd to have a digicam running on regular batteries? [I think so, but I might be well wrong).

K

 

[fuzzer]

My Nikon Coolpix 3100 runs on aa batteries too. It came with two 2100mah Nimh batteries which give you about 30 shots or so at 2MP with the flash and all the gubbins. Ive just bought a stack of 2300mah batteries and a fast charger and have no real problem with it TBH.

I have seen some battery packs you can strap to your waist if you require a long shoot or something for about £50 online

 

[Round the BENZ]

Hi, If my camera's battery life was compared to a cars fuel economy then it would be a dodge Viper (8.3 litre V10). You can get some really powerfull batteries as I use with Radio Control cars, but the easy way out for me is never be short of a pack of duracels in the bed side table (for the camera guys).:bannana:

 

[pluggers]

Thanx for the replies,from what it sounds like the batterys aren't up too much.I shall ring the customer help line tomorrow to double check a couple of things like how much standby time it should have and if its ok that the batterys get hot after a short time.What I have done is check out where I can get large capacity batterys from,the biggest so far is 1800mah in AA form. link Fuzzer where did you get your 2300mah from?

 

[fuzzer]

Originally posted by pluggers
Thanx for the replies,from what it sounds like the batterys aren't up too much.I shall ring the customer help line tomorrow to double check a couple of things like how much standby time it should have and if its ok that the batterys get hot after a short time.What I have done is check out where I can get large capacity batterys from,the biggest so far is 1800mah in AA form. link Fuzzer where did you get your 2300mah from?

I got mine from John Lewis and tescos of all places. Tesco ones are 2100mah and are £7.49 from memory. The ones from john lewis were the 2300mah ones. The only reason i went to john lewis was because i needed a fast charger that i could use at 110v when im away from the UK. Its a panasonic one , works a treat.

but , checkout ebay for deals

Click Meh

 

[New2Mercs]

Originally posted by pluggers
On inspection these batterys were hot to the touch when taken out of the camera which leads me to think unusually high drain on the batterys.


To be honest pluggers I would suspect the camera and not the batteries.
As it is only a week old I would take it back and demand a replacement, or refund.
My Canon A70 digital camera takes 4 x AA 1300 mah NiMh batteries and whilst I haven't had it long enough to determine how many frames can be taken by one full charge I do know that after extended shooting this afternoon in movie camera mode with a pretty big memory card the batteries were still cold to the touch.
HTH

Paul

 

[Brian WH]

You could try these, I can recommend them.

NiMH Batteries

 

[GrahamC230K]

I would swap the camera. For a little more than what you piad I'm sure you could get something with a cell type battery.

I used my camera with the sound, LCD screen (on bright) and flash on and managed to fill up my 128MB and 16MB card on the Germany trip over 4 days without the battery going below half charge. That also included browings the days photos each evening and even playing back the 'ring vido clips I took.

I see you don't want to invest too much, fair enough, but you get what you pay for. I think your camera sounds a bit suspect and would choose again.

 

[pluggers]

Update on things,I rang the customer service line and they told me there is a problem with this model and to go back and swap it.According to them it affects the early models and Ive got to try and find a newer version Thanx for the help and I shall be trying out some of those sites for the batterys soon.:bannana:

 

[Shude]

the best and longest-lasting AA batteries I've ever found are "Energizer Photo"s. They're double the price of normal batteries but they're great, if you can find any! I used to get them from the supermarket but they're gone from there now.

I just found this on their own website:

Energizer e2 lithium batteries are available in all popular sizes. Our AA batteries, the world’s longest-lasting AA battery, last five times longer than ordinary alkaline batteries in high-drain devices like digital cameras. In flash units, they power three times more flashes with a consistent, quick 8-second recycle time.

2900mAh

Maybe it's possible to get these from camera shops etc, I've seen them online too.

EDIT: I think this is as cheap as you'd ever find them: http://www.battery-force.co.uk/bf/detail/ENAAL9002A/show.html

looks like quite a good website actually, prices are very low.

 

[Aswall]

I got an Olympus a couple of years ago and was horrified when each set of AA batteries only lasted 6-7 pics. Got some Nimh batteries and a charger from Dixons and that did the trick, I've had over 40 pics out of one pair.

Cheers
Andy