I'm getting sick of no point and click!

March 12, 2009 3:23 PM

My Your digital camera favorite band sucks down the batteries! Is this fixable or would I be better off getting something else?

So I've got a Fuji Finepix pseudo-SLR that's a few years old. It's autofocus is iffy, but most of the time (or if I resort to manual focus) it produces some really nice images. The problem is, it will decide it's done with four AA's after about three pictures, even if the backlight and flash are off. A volt meter will still show the "dead" batteries at better than 1.5 volts, which leaves me pretty displeased (but if you ever need to power about 30 small flashlights, I've got your back).

I've looked at some of the previous ask-mefis on this subject, tried some of the advice and gotten a wall wart power supply for the thing, but that's not really that useful when I'm camping or bike riding. Is there some amazing trick that has recently come to light (like a firmware upgrade or capacitor replacement or the like) that might fix this or am I better off getting somethng new?

If get something new is the answer, can anyone recomend a good medium to medium-low end digital camera that will let me take a reasonable number of pictures on a single change of batteries? As long as I'm asking for a pony, how about a dependable autofocus.

posted by Kid Charlemagne to sports, hobbies, & recreation (16 comments total)

You're using the wrong batteries. Use Ni-MH rechargeables. Your alkalines can't deliver the juice fast enough, so the camera can't use them even though they're still 95% good.

Buy Ni-MH, look for the mAh (mill-Amp-hour) rating - higher is usually better. 2800 for AA's is fairly good. 2000 is ok, and will be much cheaper.
posted by -harlequin- at 3:27 PM on March 12

Are you using standard Li AAs? My Olympus P&S digicam rarely get more than a half dozen shots off of a brand new set of Energizer lithiums but will shoot hundreds of shots using NiMH AA rechargables.

New cam suggestion: I luff, LUFF the Canon SD770IS that I bought my SO for xmas so much that I stole it back from him (shh, he hasn't noticed yet).
posted by jamaro at 3:30 PM on March 12

I have had good luck with my Rayovac Hybrids. Bought a couple sets with coupons at Wal-mart a few years back and am still amazed by their ability to hold a charge/slow rate of discharge in my dslr.
posted by xiaolongbao at 3:34 PM on March 12

(to clarify: by hundreds of shots, I mean 100s of shots on *one charge* on the NiHMs. My oldest set is from 2002 and I haven't noticed a loss in charge capacity despite heavy reuse.
posted by jamaro at 3:37 PM on March 12

Good advice on the rechargeables. My camera also hates alkaline batteries...I thought it was broken at first!
posted by ae4rv at 3:42 PM on March 12

If your camera has both a viewfinder and LCD screen, shut off the screen and use only the viewfinder. That should save you some battery power.
posted by beatnik808 at 3:59 PM on March 12

Are you using standard Li AAs? My Olympus P&S digicam rarely get more than a half dozen shots off of a brand new set of Energizer lithiums but will shoot hundreds of shots using NiMH AA rechargables.

That's interesting, my experience is exactly the opposite. When you say lithium Energizers, are you talking about the Silver and Blue e2 Lithium ones? Because if it's *any* other thing, they aren't really lithium. Lithium batteries have the greatest ability to push amps and not get killed in the process. Hundreds of shots, with or without flash. Regular alkaline and rechargable batteries would go maybe 10-20 shots. Cheap "heavy duty" batteries would actually get killed after 2-5 shots.

So, try those exact Energizer batteries. They are expensive, but they were well worth it to me in the long run.
posted by gjc at 4:13 PM on March 12

I'd side with all those that say to use NiCds, but I'd also like to correct a few things for the record. Lithium batteries last a really long time in digital cameras and are not rechargeable. Alkaline batteries are what we normally think of as regular batteries and they stink in digital cameras.
posted by advicepig at 4:16 PM on March 12

Mine too - barely works on 'normal' but is usually OK on the high-capacity rechareables. But sometimes even those are iffy, though rubbing the ends on a tissue or cloth tends to help. It seems like something inside my camera makes the contacts dirty after a while.
posted by still_wears_a_hat at 4:50 PM on March 12

Get yourself some Eneloops (or equivalents, although I have no experience with other brands).

They are the Rolls Royce of AA batteries.
posted by imjustsaying at 4:52 PM on March 12

Well, I've been using the Energizer NiMH's (2500 milliAmp-Hour) and not been super-impressed. The last charge on the set I'm using got me 1 picture without a flash and one with a flash before the camera went stone dead.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 6:37 PM on March 12

Oof, maybe it is your camera, then.
posted by jamaro at 6:44 PM on March 12

My guess:

What happens is that the firmware in your camera is not calibrated for the battery type you are using -- let me guess, you are using NiMH rechargeables? The camera is expecting a voltage above a certain threshold, which is very close to the maximum amount that your batteries can deliver [alkaline AA are 1.5v, NiMH AA are 1.2v] So you take a few shots, the NiMH AAs drop below the firmware threshold , and camera thinks "I have dead alkaline batteries" -- even when you can take those same batteries, put them in a different camera, and get dozens of shots.

With AA alkalines, dropping below this threshold (let's say 1.2v) would truly mean the batteries are dead. But when using NiMH, the camera has no way to know that the batteries are not dead, just a lower nominal voltage. I believe the difference is that AA can deliver a higher voltage (1.5v) for a shorter time and then drop off quickly, while NiMH can deliver a lower voltage (1.2v) but for a longer time and with a slower dropoff. If the firmware cannot recognize this, it does not know what to do.

Check and see if there is a setting in your firmware to adjust the battery type. My GPS unit does this, I can select Lithium, Alkaline, or NiMH -- this helps it to accurately track remaining battery power. If not, check the manual to see what type of batteries are recommended... some firmware just does not play well with rechargeables, due to idiotic design. Depending on how old the camera is, the manufacturers may just have not seriously considered tweaking the firmware to recognize NiMH batteries.

It sounds like the same problem I have with my Pentax *ist DL. Someone mentioned (like imjustsaying above) that I invest in the Sanyo Eneloops. I haven't bought any yet, so I cannot vouch for them.
posted by bengarland at 7:06 PM on March 12

Re-reading your post, I realize my guess is probably wrong since you are getting 1.5v from the batteries. Oh well.
posted by bengarland at 7:08 PM on March 12

I hate to say it, but I suspect that it's a camera issue. I had the same camera--Fujifilm FinePix S5000, maybe? -- and the exact same issue. First I thought that my rechargable batteries were dead because I couldn't make them take more than a single picture even when they were fresh off the charger. So I bought new rechargable batteries, and when those didn't work, I said well, hell, maybe rechargable batteries just suck! So then I bought lithium batteries. And when *those* didn't work, I tried alkalines.

As it turns out, this is one instance in which persistance is not a virtue. Eventually I realized that hey, maybe I should try these batteries in a non-camera setting! And they worked fine. Then I put a set in my husband's camera--a set of alkaline batteries that my camera wouldn't take a single picture with--and his Cybershot happily clicked away.

Ultimately, I solved the problem by buying a new camera. It's a Canon PowerShot SD880 IS, and it comes with its own tiny rechargable battery pack. (Battery life is pretty good, too--I currently have 104 pictures on my memory card, and I'm at about 2/3 battery life. I don't often use the flash, but I do use the backlight pretty much constantly.)

The PowerShot lacks the total manual focus of the Fujifilm, but it's tiny and fits in my pocket, and it has enough manual fine-tuning available that I still feel like I have some control over what I'm shooting. It also has what I've found to be a very reliable autofocus that has a few options--auto-focus on faces, or in the center, or--I think that I'm forgetting one. It can be had for under $250, and it's a nice little camera. I'm saving up for a nice DSLR, but in the meantime, I'm really happy with this.
posted by MeghanC at 8:15 PM on March 12

Well, MeghanC gets the nod for confirming my suspicions (or playing to my preconcieved notions) but having seen a list of the internal resistance of different battery types this weekend, I think I'll try to track down some NiCads before I actually cast the die and buy a new camera. Hopefully I'll get to this before this is closed for further commentary.

Thanks all.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 12:10 PM on March 23