Rechargeable batteries for digital camera? (1 Viewer)

[Allan]

I recently bought an Olympus D-40 Zoom digital camera. Rumor is that the battery life is horrendous, and thus, I was thinking about buying rechargeable batteries for the camera. I know Olympus makes and sells such batteries. Is there any reason not to buy a different brand though (I assume it would be cheaper)? If so, what type of batteries should I look for? Is NiMH the "best"? Also, are any brands sufficient, or are some brands better (longer lasting, can endure more charges, etc...) than others? If so, I'd appreciate any advice regarding which brand(s) to look for.

Thanks,
Allan

 

[Craig Robertson]

get the NiMH, any brand, and be sure you pick up a decent rapid charger.

 

[Hugh Jackes]

Radio Shack has decent NiMH batteries and a decent charger for a decent price. I have a Canon A-20, which has a reputation for eating up batteries quickly, but I found my NiMHs and using the LCD display on the camera sparingly stretched the one load of batteries through 100+ photos over a 1-week backpacking trip.

I carried some extra AA Alkaline batteries just in case, but never broke them out.

 

[Pete_S]

Olympus cameras are known for having great battery life. I have a D-510Z, and with the LCD screen turned off (although I did have it set to display the picture for a couple seconds after taking it) I easily managed over 300 photos on a higher quality setting with a single set of four NiMH batteries. Well worth the money for the charger and the batteries.

 

[Philip_G]

might take a peek in the owners manual, I had a kodak digicam that they said not to use rechargeable batteries in. It's probably not likely but maybe worth a look. I used NiMH anyway, and had a camera fail...

 

[Jonathan Burk]

I bought a digital camera 2 years ago, and one of these as well:
http://www.alfenterprises.com/maha_a...y_chargers.htm
It was the best investment I've ever made. I have two sets of 4 batteries, so one is always charging while I use the other. I change them just before a big picture taking day, and I've never had dead batteries. Ever. The charger also came with a cigarette lighter adapter, so I can charge in the car when away from an outlet, which comes in handy for week long Scout Camps or whatnot. I've also got a 64meg memory card, and never filled it up. I'm on a week long vacation right now, and I've taken over 400 pictures. They're not super high res (640x480), but they look great on my website.

 

[Mark Larson]

Can't you get any better technology for rechargeables? With digital cameras, more of us need more life than ever before.

 

[Patrick Sun]

As many people around here know, I take a lot of digi-photos with an old trusty Olympus D-450Z, and I use Maha NiMH rechargeables (1500mA, there are higher capacity ones nowadays), and a NiMH recharger. I bought 2 sets of 4 AA's and just treated it like part of the price of the digi-cam, and haven't had to worry about buying regular batteries for it every since.

I think I ordered my setup from Thomas Distributing.

 

[Allan]

Thanks all,
I guess the way to go is to buy NiMH rechargeables. My question now is: does it matter what brand of batteries I buy? I have seen a bunch of charger/battery packages on Ebay. Are these any good? or are the Maha batteries better?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=1366778373
thanks
allan

 

[Craig Robertson]

in my experience, brand is not really a factor.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Those should be fine. But I reiterate: if you take a lot of photos, it's wise to buy another set of batteries which can stay in the recharger until the first set dies, and needs recharging. You'll not be caught without charged up batteries with a 2nd pair on tap. But if you're a sporadic user, just be vigilant to plan up half a day for recharging before you need the digicamera.