Camera is not keeping battery charge...?

Question

When i put batteries in my camera and turn it on it will let me view the pictures on it for a short while. But as soon as i try to click the button to take a picture it says, "change the batteries" Why does it do this? I have changed the batteries several times. It isnt old. I have had it maybe 1 month before it did this. I bought it to replace my other digital camera which got ruined in teh rain and its aggitating me that I have an 8 month old daughter and no camera. WHY CANT I GET A CAMERA TO WORK FOR ME!? lol PLease help

Answer 1

Normal alkaline batteries just don't do it for digital cameras because of the high instantaneous current required to run a digital camera. (This includes all batteries such as "Duracell" and "Super Heavy Duty" etc) These types of batteries will appear to the camera to be flat even when they aren't because they just don't have the capacity to give the camera what it wants.

Some places still sell rechargeable Nickel Cadmium Batteries (NiCd), and these batteries cannot cut it for digital cameras. There are also rechargeable alkaline batteries and these aren't great either.

The only type of rechargeable to get is Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH), and the higher capacity the better. This capacity is typically rated in milliamp hours. A medium capacity battery for a camera will have say 1600 MAH whereas a high capacity battery will have more than 2000 MAH. Some even go as high as 2600 MAH. Get the highest that you can.

One downside is that NiMH batteries go flat in the camera if you do not use them. In a camera that uses 2 batteries, this can happen in as little as a week.

My advice is get a couple of sets of high capacity NiMH rechargeable batteries (2000 MAH or higher) and use these as much as possible. Also however buy one or two sets of Lithium batteries (non rechargeable) these last a long time but are wickedly expensive. Have one set of lithiums for backup in case you need the shot but the rechargeables are all flat. Soon as you can put freshly recharged batteries in and again keep the lithiums in reserve. Unused lithium batteries will last for years.

Many cameras have a menu setting which can flatten the batteries for you prior to recharging. ONLY IF you are using NiMH batteries is this a good idea. Vendors tell you that NiMH are not prone to "memory effect" and therefore do not need to be totally flat before being recharged, but this is not true. NiMH bateries should be discharged before being recharged. If the camera can't automatically discharge them, then keep using the camera until it won't go anymore, then recharge them.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Heather - I feel your frustration but without knowing what type of camera and the type of batteries it's a bit difficult to pinpoint the exact problem.

Assuming you're using regular "AA" batteries and changing them out with a fresh matched set (in other words two brand new batteries from the same package) it sounds as if you have a short in the camera that is causing it to discharge the batteries at a high rate.

This is tough to diagnose as a do-it-yourself repair and my recommendation is to bring the camera back to the store you bought it for a replacement. If you're close to the 30 day window they may have some sympathy and just swap you one for one. If they're a little more hardline about it they may send it back for a warranty claim (and you'll be out of the camera for a bit).

Assuming you have a camera that has rechargeables then TomTom's suggestion of recharging them for a full 12 hours is a good one. A good full charge where the battery gage reads "full" will tell you if you just had a weak battery or if as noted above there's an internal problem with the camera.

Either way, be prepared to either bring the camera back to the retailer or to call the manufacturer's toll free number for a service depot.

Good luck.

Answer 3

All digital cameras are hard on batteries. The LCD display eats up power the most followed by the autofocus and the flash. In our household we buy the cheapest alkaline batteries we can find by the case load. Everytime we use one of our digital cameras, we toss the old batteries and put in a new set. We always carry lots of extra batteries in our camera bags too.

The more you use your LCD panel the faster the batteries get used up. I recommend you start using the viewfinder as a viewfinder and not use the LCD panel as a viewfinder. Using the LCD panel as a viewfinder not only eats up lots of power, but it is not an accurate way to frame a shot; the LCD panel is always offset to one side or the other.

Also, be careful about reviewing your shots often on the LCD panel. The more you use the LCD panel, the more often you have to change batteries.

I don't recommend rechargable batteries as a solution, because you have to have a couple of sets and keep one charged all the time. Most of us forget to do that and we miss the "Kodak moment".

Answer 4

The first thing you have to look at is what type of battery you are using.
You should NEVER use ordinary alkaline batteries because they just don't have enough power to run a digital camera, because using the flash, LCD screen and zoom all require huge amounts of power.

The best type of battery to use, is either rechargeable NIMH batteries (2500mAh or higher) plus a charger.
Or only use Lithium batteries (Energizer e2, which will provide much better life) they are non rechargeable, though.

Good luck...

Answer 5

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Answer 6

charge batteries for 12 hours
if you use regular batteries - that is part of the problem.
if it continues - send it in for repairs
the manual will tell you where
sorry that happened
frustrating