what are the best batteries for a digital camera?

Question

I've tried duracell and energizer, and they both don't work for long. Digital cameras are indeed huge battery hogs. I even purchased rechargable batteries, and a energizer recharger for the batteries, and the batteries only last for 3 to 5 minutes, and then die. I just wanted to know what the best batteries for digital cameras are.

I own a Samsung s630 6.0 mega pixels digital camera if that helps anything.

Answer 1

Digital cameras do, indeed, draw enormous amounts of power.

The LCD screen without doubt is the biggest user of electricity. If your camera has a viewfinder that you can peep through instead of using the battery hog LCD screen, use it and get hours of extra use from your camera.

Reduce amount of time that the LCD stays on in "review" mode after taking a picture. A few seconds is all that should be needed. I recommend turning it off completely! Don't waste your time reviewing the picture you just did while three more picture opportunities are happening in front of you, lost forever! Turn off the picture review and take more pictures!

When it comes to batteries, "alkaline" chemistry batteries can't keep up with digital cameras, no matter what brand. NiCd (Nickel Cadmium) rechargable batteries also aren't great for digital cameras. You want NiMH (Nickel Metal Hydride) rechargable batteries. They should be rated with a MAH (Milliamp Hour) number like 2100, 2300 or 2500. Buy the biggest you can afford and charge them according to their instructions.

I recommend going to a good camera shop to buy batteries - they'll know just what you need.

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http://www.lenslenders.com

Answer 2

Large LCD viewfinders eat batteries. It seems nice to have a big LCD monitor, but they are power hungry. You will have to do what you can to turn the thing off as soon as you don't need it any longer. Set it to shut off at the shortest possible interval after you take the picture. Set it so that it doesn't not display unless you tap the shutter button to wake it up. Even this will not go a long way towards conserving batteries.

You can't use plain alkaline batteries with your camera. You will need to use either high output NiMH rechargeable batteries or Energizer e² LITHIUM batteries or the Duracell equivalent. The thing is, a camera needs full output in order to operate. The output curve on these lithium batteries remains fairly constant and strong until just before the battery dies, so they will operate your camera longer. If you test the alkaline batteries that are not strong enough to operate your camera, you will probably find that they still have about 80% power remaining or even more. They just don't have the juice to make the camera work with that monster LCD monitor.

Answer 3

Both my smaller Toshiba view finder and my Pentax DSLR use 4 AA size batts. If I leave the screen on all the time, then yes, like you, batt life is short. BUT not 5min.'s short, more like only 10 or 15 flash pictures short in the Toshiba. Both have the option to turn the screen off in the record mode and the Pentax even has a preview mode that I set at 3 sec. Naturally, if you use the play back mode a lot to look at your pictures, that eats battery life too. I no longer use any thing but rechargeable Mh batts and have only one set of 1800 Ma's, all my other ones are 2500 Ma's. There are even 2800 Ma batts available now, but they are still a little pricey. Another good point is not to leave the batts in the camera when you aren't using it as the camera does drain them due to it's back up feature. I can take a fresh charged set of batts and use them to shoot several flash pics, take them out and then some days later take many out doors (non flash) pictures and still have at least 2 bars in the window. In fact I don't recharge them till the batt indicator is near all the way down. Having more than one set lets me only have to charge one of them about once a week or so if taking lots of pictures or only just the night before a day I plan to use them. I carry 2 sets (charged) in my Gadget bag (in the plastic pack they come in) and they stay charged till I go to use them, which can even be several weeks.There are only about a half dozen manufactures of batts, so brand names don't mean much as they are most all private labled any way. In the US you only have Duracell, Energiser and Ratheon that manufacture them and only Sanyo, Panasonic and SAFT and a couple more in the rest of the world.

Answer 4

It might just be your camera. My digital camera can go for a while on any battery that i've used. The first camera I got just went through the batteries in like you said 3-5 minutes. If you can try to invest in another camera but check to see if it says how long it can operate. (I'm not sure if they actually tell you that in the specs. but you never know)

My camera is a Kodak C743... something like that. Its 7.1 mega pixel and i normally use the flash. Its like $150 at Best Buy I think. Its really nice.

Answer 5

Without question, the most affordable and powerful camera batteries are Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH). Typically if you can buy them in at a 2000 mA rating or higher, you'll see much better battery life.
Your charger may or may not handle NiMH -- take a look at the fine print.
If you're already using NiMH batteries (as opposed to NiCad), and you're only lasting 3-5 minutes, your camera almost certainly has a serious short (in which case it would heat up), or the batteries are defective.

Answer 6

You need to get those rechargeable batteries. And you also need the rechargeable so you can recharge your batteries every time they die. They will work for a long time though.

Answer 7

i think ur camera is screwed