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Digital Camera Buyer’s Guide
The Ultimate Guide to Buying Your First Digital Camera

What Kind of Batteries Do I Need?

When buying a digital camera, pay attention to the type of battery it requires. Some cameras require a specialized battery, which can cost a lot of money to replace when it no longer holds a charge.

Choosing a camera that uses 2 or 4 AA batteries gives you the most flexibility, as there are a lot of battery and charger options available to you.

Nice review of chargers and batteries at
Steve’s Digicams

Battery Types

NiCD - The old technology

Depending on what you read, some say that the dreaded 'memory effect' no longer affects NiCDs, while others say it still does. Either way, it does not matter! Don't use NiCD in your camera! They do not offer the high current needed by the cameras, and they will wear down faster!

NiMH

These batteries were made for digital cameras! Recommendation #1: Use ONLY NiMH batteries (Nickle Metal Hydride) batteries. Yes, they are more expensive to start with (about $3 per battery), but they can be recharged 100's of times.  Don't even try to use Alkaline batteries in your digi-cam. I used the 4 AA batteries provided with my Canon A20, and I got exactly 8 photos before they died. I tried fresh AA's and I got 10 more pictures.

NiMH offer an exceptional high power level needed by todays digicams, but they do not tend to hold a charge over time. In as little at 30 days, they may lose 50% of their charge. If you have extra batteries, rotate them though the charger every few days to keep them fresh.

NiMH batteries have come a long way in the past few years. Digital cameras as sophisticated computers, so they use a lot of juice. NiMH batteries are rated in milli-amper hours (mAh). This indicates how long the battery can last. A little as last year, the top end AA battery was rated at 1600 mAh. Now there are 1800 and 2100 mAh batteries, with can be a significant boost over some of the earlier 1400 mHa batteries.

What else can you use NiMH batteries for around your house? How about FRS radios, GPS receivers, CD players, MP3 players, toys, cassette players, and more!

Once again:  If you have or are going to buy a digital camera, run, don't walk, and purchase two sets of AA NiMH batteries and a smart charger. You will be amazed at the HUNDREDs of photos you will take with them before needing to be recharged.

Get Two Sets of Batteries

Recommendation #2: Smart charges are smart, and can charge batteries in as little at 15 minutes to 24 hours, but with batteries so affordable, it make sense to by two sets of batteries (if you digicam take 4 AA batteries, buy 8), so that you can have a set charging and ready to go.

Try Thomas Distribution for a good selection of batteries and chargers.

Smart Chargers

These chargers are required to get maximum battery life from your batteries. Don’t even think of using an old NiCd charger to charge NiMH batteries! These new chargers can tell how much the battery needs to be charged, and not overcharge it.

Caution--these batteries can get HOT when charging. This is normal. You may have a defective battery if it appears to be leaking or splitting open. Discard the battery if this happens.

There are two basic types of smart chargers: the ones that charge each cell individually, and the chargers that charge in pairs. With the one that charges in pairs, I've marked each pair of batteries to make sure they are used and charged together. This helps with the longevity of the battery, since if you mis-match an older battery with a newer battery, the charger has no way of knowing how much to charge the battery pair, except that the older battery will show it is full before the newer one, since it is older.

The individual cell chargers seem to have it all:  individual charging of each cell. The newer chargers boast a recharge time of 15 minutes, but the batteries appears to get very hot. Overnight chargers are great, but those that charge in 4-8 hours seems to be a good middle-of the road approach, since they treat the batteries a bit more gently. Some chargers now give you the option of a fast 15 minute charge, or a slow 24 hour charge.

Hint: If you need replacement batteries every 30 minutes for your MP3 player, digital camera, and CD Player, buy a few extra batteries and keep some fully charged spares on hand. You'll get much longer life from your batteries.

Important Safety Tip

Use some type of plastic carrier to prevent the batteries from shorting out in your pocket, purse, or camera case. My wife noticed her purse was warm one day, and it turned out that four batteries had connected with some loose change and had shorted out! Poof! My wife almost went up in flames!

Where to Buy

Thomas Distributing has a good selection of NiMH batteries, as well as several chargers.