What to do with my camera. It wont stop eating my batteries!!?

Question

I have an HP Photosmart M307 Camera.

LINK TO PICTURE:
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a266/hurleycutie/MYCAMERA.jpg

No matter what type of batteries I put in it, it eats them. The second it turns on the lens comes out and it shuts off. I have tried Energizer and nice companies instead of cheap ones and they all do the same thing. I haven't tried the rechargeable batteries yet but if it is doing it to all my other batteries won't it do it to the rechargeable ones also?

I read about Lithium and stuff like that but I honestly don't understand what that means so can someone please explain to me what to do? Thanks you guys. <3

Answer 1

I have an HP Photosmart camera, and it does the same thing too! I tried all sorts of batteries, even recharable battries, which I reccomnd you DON'T try, the camera will just eat them to. The best batteries for cameras, are when they come with the camera and they are sqaure like, and can be recharged. But obvoisly you don't have that! So what I use is the Energizer E2 Lithium batteries. They work great and last for more than 600 photos! They are expensive, but they work great! I know exactly how you feel.

Answer 2

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 3

Some digital cameras eat up battery very fast and I experienced too few years back. Non-rechargeable alkaline and lithium batteries are not the answer.

HP on its website mentions that the camera is sold with non rechargeable batteries and optional rechargeable NiMH batteries. HP website sells 4 NiMH batteries kit for your camera model. The picture shows "Energizer" which can be found in local stores or order it from HP. For safety purpose, read and follow the tips and guide lines in Appendix A of the user manual. NiMh batteries with the charger may seem expensive but they are more economical after few months.

Take time read about FAQ NiMH batteries.

Cuation: Do noy buy NiCD battery it is not same as NiMH battery.

Answer 4

Your camera needs battery power to run. And it needs tons of it. The main reason your camera is eating up the batteries, is because you're using the WRONG type of battery. Ordinary batteries are useless, because they cannot power a digital camera for very long at all.

So, you need to be using more powerful batteries, which include...

Rechargeable AA size, NiMH (2500-2700mAh) batteries and a charger. With these type of batteries, you should always make sure you charge them at least one day before you need them, because they will discharge if not used for some time.

Or...non rechargeable AA size, lithium batteries (Energizer e2 are good). They're fairly expensive...but will allow up to 600 shots per charge (depending on the camera). The great thing about these type of batteries (except their price) is that they will hold their charge even when not used for a very long time.

Don't forget that the LCD screen on your camera eats up most of the battery power, as well as the flash...so try to turn off the screen in between shots and try to limit the use of the flash. Doing this will help to conserve battery power.

Also, your camera is quite an old model at about 3 years of age, and probably suffers from inefficient power consumption...most newer cameras of today, are so much more efficient in regards to how they use battery power etc...so, you should think about upgrading sometime in the future.
Anyway, good luck...

Answer 5

I once bought a Fuji 7Mp digital camera,. got it out of the box, put my BRAND NEW Duracell batteries in it,. turned it on to get it set up and in less than 2mins the batteries were dead,.. I returned the camera and got my money back. Having said that, there's obviously cameras out there that don't eat batteries alive,.. I suggest you look on the net for personal reviews of cameras, and after a while you'll learn which are ones to avoid,. because some of them are gems waiting to be discovered. :) I had a Kodak DX4530,... was a beauty, batteries lasted adequately and the pictures for a 5Mp camera were fine. :)
Link below is an example of what I'm on about,. *Steves reviews are really,. really good,.. you can trust them! :)

Answer 6

I use Maha 2700mah AA's with a Maha C204W charger in my Canon A710(only 2 batteries). Using the lcd screen full time and the flash 25% of the time I get 350+ pics per charge. Buy good stuff and it will give you good service, buy 2000mah junk from wal-mart and it will give you shi**y service. Try newegg or thomas distributing, they both stock Maha.

Answer 7

You just have to face it your camera is very inefficient with its battery usage. Some cameras are better than others for battery life. Even if you use lithium batteries, don't expect it to suddenly have that much longer battery life.