Camera vs. battery...am I clinging?

[mike62]

I take lots of pictures but all fun and casual in nature. I have always been exclusive to AA battery cameras when using the point and shoots which pretty much means Canon these days and I am fine with Canon its a great line.

Having no experience with the lith. ion and knowing the price they cost am I limiting myself just due to batteries? When I am out I take lots of pictures and may leave my camera on (no LCD on as a battery saver which is almost another Canon exclusive these days) as I walk around etc. It is obviously very affordable to have spare AA batteries in your pockets but more costly with this type of shooting to have 2 or 3 lith ion batteries in your pocket.

Is the lith. ion lifespan so superior to AA's they can take lots of zooming, left on for periods of time, etc. and I could manage with just 2 lets say? If so there are more cameras to consider but if not perhaps I should stick with the AA cameras?

I just like a smaller when not carrying a fullsize camera so a nice 8-10MP and decent optical zoom are my main considerations.

Thanks.

[Beowulff]

You might like to check out THIS (http://dpfwiw.com/batteries.htm) page for lots of info about digital camera batteries and the pros and cons of the different types.

In a nutshell (depending on your camera's specific requirements of course), you have the choice of a 'non-standard' proprietary battery — made by the camera's manufacturer — and which can be relatively expensive if you wanna carry around a couple of spares.

Or, you can have AAs either as a pair or as four depending, once again, on the camera model. The most common of the AAs are rechargeable NiMHs which are cheap (a charger and 4 batteries will cost you about $30) and come in several different capacities, topping out currently (ouch... bad pun, sorry) at about 2900 mAH.

The major advantage of AAs (over proprietary batteries) is that in an emergency you can buy ordinary alkaline AAs from any backwoods general store in any part of the world.

Cheers :)

[AndyfromVA]

Lithium ion batteries will generally give you faster flash recycle times than cameras with 2 AA batteries, like many of the Canon "A" cameras.

[SpecialK]

I take lots of pictures but all fun and casual in nature. I have always been exclusive to AA battery cameras when using the point and shoots which pretty much means Canon these days and I am fine with Canon its a great line.

Having no experience with the lith. ion and knowing the price they cost am I limiting myself just due to batteries? When I am out I take lots of pictures and may leave my camera on (no LCD on as a battery saver which is almost another Canon exclusive these days) as I walk around etc. It is obviously very affordable to have spare AA batteries in your pockets but more costly with this type of shooting to have 2 or 3 lith ion batteries in your pocket.

Is the lith. ion lifespan so superior to AA's they can take lots of zooming, left on for periods of time, etc. and I could manage with just 2 lets say? If so there are more cameras to consider but if not perhaps I should stick with the AA cameras?

I just like a smaller when not carrying a fullsize camera so a nice 8-10MP and decent optical zoom are my main considerations.

Thanks.

I like AA's too, but I would choose the camera features over the battery type.

[Visual Reality]

It depends on the camera. My S3 would get 1,000 shots on either set of batteries in my sig, with lots of zooming in and out all day. That's with an LCD screen and a CCD sensor.

My D80 is supposedly also up there, with a Lithium Ion rechargeable pack. This is a camera with manual zoom, no live view LCD, optical viewfinder, and a CMOS sensor that all uses less power than the S3 in theory. I don't really have a preference, but the Lithium charges faster.

To be fair though, the S3 took 4xAA's.

Oh and if you are going to buy any rechargeable AA's anymore, there are only 2 worth buying: Sanyo Eneloop and Rayovac Hybrids (they are both the same).