HP 735 Digital Camera Won't Turn On?

Question

This camera is very good... except the battery life sucks. But I've came upon another problem.

I don't know what has happened, but it just won't turn on! I've tried so many different batteries, tried connecting it to a PC, removed the SD card, and STILL nothing.

The only thing I DID manage to get was 30 seconds of life, then dead. I also have a pair of batteries that flashes it on, then off. Did I mention these batteries are nearly, if not FULL POWER? I try it in a different application. Still full power.

So, do I NEED to use rechargables now? Or has something happened to it?

Please reply soon. Thanks in advance.

Oh, and this just happened recently. 2 months ago it was fine.

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

Did anybody borrow your camera? It might have been damaged. How old is the camera? Is it still under warranty? Take it to the place where you bought it, with the good batteries and a good card, and have them look at it.