Rechargeable batteries for a Digital Camera

Philip624

Can anyone recommend any decent ones. I have a 7 day shop battery charger, the batteries that came with it, 1.2V 2700mAh Ni-Mh AA, even when fully charged do not last very long at all in the camera, in fact when you first insert them it displays 'low battery'. The same batteries cope much better in mp3 players.

nullogik

You can't get higher capacity AA batterys than the ones you already have. I think Uniross do the highest which is the sames as yours: 2700mah.

I have the same problem with my Samsung Digital camera. I have 2500mah AA batteries which I charge fully. As soon I've put them into the camera, the onboard counter display shows that they are only 50% full. However, in my portable radio they last for months without needing a charge.

I think the problem lies more with the camera than the battery.

crox

The low battery will probably be because the batteries are 1.2 volt where as normal batteries are 1.5 v, I have the same issue with my radio controlled alarm clock, though it lasts for months before finally dying.
The batteries from asda seem to be good.

rjm2k1

Wow, what type of camera is it? The 2100mah batteries I use with my Pentax Optio S50 last for ages even when using the flash.

moonrakerz

Most rechargeable batteries Ni-cad, Ni-Mh have a nominal voltage of 1.2 volts (as crox rightly says), so the 2700 mA is based on that voltage. If you use 'disposable' batteries, Alkaline or Zinc carbon, with a nominal voltage of 1.5V they will last much, much longer.

If you use 1.2V batteries in a unit designed to cope with 1.5V batteries (which most things will have to be) you are at a disadvantage from the word go.

It is a point worth considering if you are buying a battery powered device (camera, etc). At first glance, a camera that uses 2 rechargeable AA cells may appear to be a better bet that one that has a special-to-type battery at £30 (ish) a go. This is usually not so.
I have just bought a new camera, the battery is a 7.4V Lithium Ion unit. The electronics of the camera are designed to operate at best efficiency from that voltage battery, not at some value 20 to 30% above or below that value. I won't need to buy a spare battery because the battery and camera are matched - I know how long the battery will last on a charge.

If it were possible to get a 5.9V battery to fit my camera, that would have the same effect as using a 1.2V battery in lieu of a 1.5V in a similar item.
No matter how cheap that was, I wouldn't buy one !

crox

just a thought, but my nikon (iirc) has the option to specify that I'm using alkaline or nimh, anything in the settings?

moonrakerz

crox wrote: »

just a thought, but my nikon (iirc) has the option to specify that I'm using alkaline or nimh, anything in the settings?

My present Nikon uses a Nikon battery as did the two before that, so there is/was no selection of battery type. There were some that did use AA/AAA; my assumption would be that they were designed with NiCads in mind and the selection of alkaline would drop the voltage before it was supplied to the electronics in the camera.
That's what you get when you pay for a Nikon !