Battery Concern

[tubachick]

Ok, I have looked into a few different cameras, at the suggestion of some on the DIS and a few that I liked. I see the pros and cons of them.

Specifically I have looked at the Cannon Powershot A640, Cannon SD700, Cannon Powershot S3 IS, Kodak EasyShare V610, and Kodak EasyShare Z740.

I am torn between the cannon's and the kodak's because of the battery issue. (and the viewfinder-- which is not a must, but I can't seem to get into the LCD frame of mind) I am looking for something with a 5x or higher optical zoom, and hope fully SD compatiable (as I have about 10 already) and about 5 megapixels or higher.

Tell me about the battery life of the cannon, how long do they last are the rechargable. I have a Kodak and know that life.

Now, I am a scrapbooker, and many of my pics are not much larger than 5x7 if that, and I tend to crop and cut many of my pics. BUT I do tend to take 100's of pics at a time. and at WDW I can take about 2000 pics easy, with a recharge at night.


SO PLEASE HELP!!! I can't find much info on the battery life of any of these cameras.

 

[robertchance]

use the link,, pull up the reviews of the cameras you need answers on,, the author of the reviews usually puts in some info on battery life for the camera being reviewed

http://www.steves-digicams.com/hardware_reviews.html

 

[jann1033]

one daughter has a canon p&s, other has a kodak easy share and the canon is better on battery use but if you are planning on recharging anyway, I'd get 2 sets and recharge them...i have 3 bat. for my dslr and as soon as i get home from anywhere put it on the charge so i always have 2 fully charged..the charger takes 90 mins so conceivably i could charge 2 sets overnight( or get a charger that holds 2 sets of however many batteries your camera takes...between a canon and kodak I'd take the canon, picture quality esp. in lower light is way better on the canon.

 

[tubachick]

one daughter has a canon p&s, other has a kodak easy share and the canon is better on battery use but if you are planning on recharging anyway, I'd get 2 sets and recharge them...i have 3 bat. for my dslr and as soon as i get home from anywhere put it on the charge so i always have 2 fully charged..the charger takes 90 mins so conceivably i could charge 2 sets overnight( or get a charger that holds 2 sets of however many batteries your camera takes...between a canon and kodak I'd take the canon, picture quality esp. in lower light is way better on the canon.

Thanks for the input. and the recharging tip

 

[ukcatfan]

I am torn between the cannon's and the kodak's because of the battery issue. (and the viewfinder-- which is not a must, but I can't seem to get into the LCD frame of mind) I am looking for something with a 5x or higher optical zoom, and hope fully SD compatiable (as I have about 10 already) and about 5 megapixels or higher.

Tell me about the battery life of the cannon, how long do they last are the rechargable. I have a Kodak and know that life.

Do not be so sure on the Kodak battery life. Every single different model of every brand will have a different life.

Another thing to consider is that I know the Canon A640 and S3 use AAs. I am not sure on the Kodaks and I know that the SD700 does not use them. AAs are available everywhere and are much cheaper than non-standard batteries. It is like $10 for 4 rechargeable AAs and $40-50 for one specialized battery.

It is nice to have a viewfinder for dark situations. The A640 should have the optical one and the S3 has one with a small LCD inside. The optical is better, but the small LCD one is more accurate when the subject is close (i.e. macro shots) and has image capture settings on it.

I vote one of the Canons. Many like their Kodaks, but many also hate them. I almost never hear major complaints on the Canons.

Kevin

 

[stm61]

I have the Kodak Z740. The battery pack that came with it lasted me well over a yr, but I didn't use the camera everyday. I mostly used it for birthdays, holidays, special occasions. Since it finally died I've been using rechargable AA's. I'm not happy with the battery life of the rechargables, I went thru 3 sets every day on our last trip, and the last set usually died long before we got back to the room each night. I'll be pricing a replacement battery pack the next time I get to a store that carries them. I've never tried regular AA's, so I don't know what the battery life of those might be.

 

[Jeanne B]

I tend to buy cameras that take AA's. I used a Kodak DX6490 up until last year and unfortunately the battery died once while we were on vacation, luckily it was on the last day of the cruise but had it been the day before I would have missed out on even more pictures. I buy the AA Lithium batteries for my S3 and they last much longer than the standard AA's and if your battery ever dies unexpectadly it's a lot easier to find AA's than the Kodak type batteries. And personally, I've been much happier with my Canon cameras (we also have the A610 primarily for underwater use) compared to my old Kodak. I disliked the Kodak docking station and overall I much prefer Canon in terms of picture quality, features, etc.

 

[jfulcer]

Ok, two points I need to make about rechargeable batteries -

1) Each rechargeable has a mAh rating - the lower the rating the quicker they will run low on juice - this means fewer pictures taken per charge. A lot of 'cheap' rechargeable batteries are 1700-1800 mAh. Don't buy these - get the ones that are 2200 or 2500. They will last you MUCH longer and are IMHO worth the extra cost.

2) Don't use the '15 minute' or '30 minute' chargers. These may shorten the life of the batteries a lot. I think there was even a thread on here about them.

I have the Canon S2IS and I can literally take hundreds of pictures using the LCD screen without having to charge the batteries. I've not gone through a whole charge yet in one setting but will certainly bring along spare rechargeables in Disneyworld in case I DO have a problem. I would also recommend Canon having used both Kodak and Canon in the past.

 

[dreamcometrue]

I don't have any of those cameras, however, I do have a Canon Rebel XT which also has a rechargeable battery! It does last quite a while. I scrapbook too and I take tons and tons of pictures on a daily basis! When we go on vacation, I charge the battery before we go to bed, and I have never had it run out fully charged. However, just in case, I did buy an extra battery (it was under $40) and keep it in my camera bag, fully charged!