Let’s face it, nothing sucks the life out of a pair of double As like a digital camera. I’ve owned digital cameras that could drain disposable double A batteries in less than half an hour with consistent use. Besides changing to rechargeable batteries, what’s a person to do about the way cameras burn through batteries?
Well, for one thing, most digital cameras have a setting that allows you to always have the LCD screen running or only when you push a button. If you turn on this power saving feature you will have to press a button to see the LCD readout, but you may be surprised by how much longer your batteries last.
Another power sucker is the built in flash on digital cameras. Many people never adjust their camera’s settings for indoor and outdoor use. Though it’s tempting to leave the camera on auto, I find I get better pictures and use less power when I manually disable the flash for pictures in brighter, outdoor areas.
Though most digital cameras set to automatically use the flash when things are too dark, will use the flash in some borderline situations where the pictures would actually turn out better without using a flash at all.
I won’t go into the differences between the different types of batteries here. For information on that, take a look at the battery entry of wikipedia.org . For digital camera use all those same pros and cons of different types apply, but the rigors of use in digital cameras take a toll on all types of batteries and there are a few other ways to deal with the issues.
One thing to consider is the battery charger you use. It’s worth doing some research on battery chargers and related performance. As it turns out, how batteries are charged can have a lot to do with how much charge they hold as well as how long a charge is held before dissipating.
The best place to find out more about which batteries last longest with digital camera use is to refer to some photography websites and forums where you can hear from professionals and serious hobbyists that have had experiences with all kinds of digital cameras, batteries and battery accessories.