Newbie question about battery types

[formernuke]

I'm thinking about getting a camera and was wondering for diving purposes how much of a inconvience is a camera that has a special battery instead of the standard AA? Do you guys with these battery types find it hard to maintain them charged compared with the ability to go to any little shop and buy battery's?

Thanks for any input

 

[Jeff Toorish]

It is not a huge inconvenience, but clearly being able to use the same battery type as your dive lights, strobe unit and other equipment is more convenient.

If you travel, it means you have to take a dedicated charger which is one more piece of gear. Sadly, all pro level cameras (that I know of) use dedicated batteries. Often, different cameras from the same manufacturer use different batteries and different chargers.

If you should find a camera that uses standard AA batteries, consider using rechargables. Not only is it better for the environment, it is much cheaper in the long run, especially in remote locations where single-use batteries can be very expensive.

Jeff

 

[Puffer Fish]

Great question, by the way...

We own a fuji F60, a canon G10 (my underwater camera) and a Canon 50D.. all use special batteries... It is a bit of a difficult task, but you can find (among the cheap, worthless batteries) some amazingly good ones for those camera's that are fairly low cost...

My Cannon G10 ones were around $10.00, and actually last more than 50% longer than the expensive Cannon ones.. I got two, one to use for a day (have yet to use up the battery in a day.. even after over 300 flash pictures).. and one being charged...

The difficult part is to actually find the good ones, as there is so much junk out there..

 

[Larry C]

My camera will use AA's or a dedicated battery. The dedicated lithium rechargeable batteries I use have lasted four years and are still going strong, and the charger is small and only weighs a few ounces. I use NimH rechargeable aa batteries in my strobes, but the lithiums for the camera are way better and last about 10 times as long. Also, the NimH rechargeables are much lower voltage which sometimes causes issues with the cameras.

 

[annasea]

<snip>It is a bit of a difficult task, but you can find (among the cheap, worthless batteries) some amazingly good ones for those camera's that are fairly low cost... <snip>

Does anyone have advice on how to find the good ones?

Recently, I ordered a battery pack for my dad's camcorder and had nothing really to go on other than ordering from an ebay seller with a multitude of sales and excellent ratings. I'd like to order another rechargeable battery pack for my Panasonic camera but don't want to get stuck with an inferior, or overpriced, product.

 

[UnderwaterAsia]

My girlfriend has an Olympus SP350 that takes 2 AA batteries. We've found that using a rechargeable CRV3 battery like this one from Jessops lasts much, much longer than normal AA batteries.

With special batteries, especially on video cameras, I've found that sometimes the largest ones with the longest battery time don't actually fit in the housing, so it's worth checking the battery size before you splash out.

 

[Puffer Fish]

Does anyone have advice on how to find the good ones?

Recently, I ordered a battery pack for my dad's camcorder and had nothing really to go on other than ordering from an ebay seller with a multitude of sales and excellent ratings. I'd like to order another rechargeable battery pack for my Panasonic camera but don't want to get stuck with an inferior, or overpriced, product.

There is so much junk out there, it can be difficult... first look for Japanese cells (they still may say so and just being lying).. For my canon G10, there is a Power 2000 battery available...it has a 1500 mah rating.. versuse the 1050 for the canon battery...says they use japanese cells...read reviews.. mostly good (but not all).. so I bought one..the things weigh 50% more than the standard (a great sign they are larger batteries)...well they work amazingly well...

The 50D battery though, had to find another mfg.... they look good, weigh more...have good reviews (except the size is a tiny bit off)..and so far so good.. will know in a couple of weeks of testing how they really are.

Just make sure you test the capacity before taking one on a trip.