Digital camera?

[Bird]

My Olympus uses 4 AA batteries, but I have two sets of 4 rechargeable ones, and my charger charges 4 at a time. So my batteries are over 9 years old and still work just fine. I've never used the camera enough to run out of battery power with two sets, but if I do, it shouldn't be hard to find some throw away AA batteries.

 

[Travelover]

I use two sets of AA NiMh rechargeable batteries and rotate them as needed. I also carry a back up set of alkaline batteries (Costco - 20 cents apiece in bulk). If you let the camera set much, the eneloop NiMh batteries hold their charge much longer.

 

[Bird]

My batteries are NiMh; one set is Maxell (as is the charger) and the other set is Ray-O-Vac Ultra. I never heard of "eneloop" before. That's a new word to me.

 

[EddieWalker]

Just to be clear, I'm not against rechargable batteries that are the same as AA or AAA's that you through away after using them. I am against getting a camera that has a speicialized rechargable battery that you cannot take out and use standard sized batteries that are sold at a gas station or some other type of store that doesn't specialize in batteries or camera assesories.

With all batteries, time is also a consideration, and even if you do not take a lot of pics, just having the camera ready to go after a week of extreme weather conditions can mean not being able to get the shot because they are drained. Unfortunately, I learned this the hard way and now buy brand new Durecel batteries before a trip to have the freshest batteries possible on hand.

My experience with rechargable batteries, and cheaper brands of AA batteries is that they do not last very long. For the extra cost of buying fresch Durecel batteries, I get more pictures and have greater peace of mind that I'll be able to get the pics that I want, when I want them. Having said that, I always carry extra batteries with me, even if I put brand new ones in when leaving the house or car. It kills me to miss a shot because of dead batteries.

Eddie

 

[Travelover]

My batteries are NiMh; one set is Maxell (as is the charger) and the other set is Ray-O-Vac Ultra. I never heard of "eneloop" before. That's a new word to me.

Eneloops are NiMh batteries that stay charged up for a year. I find that the regular NiMh batteries self discharge and just when I want to grab my camera to take a shot of wildlife out the window the dang batteries are flat. The disadvantage of Eneloops are that they are slightly less capacity - 2000 mAH vs 2300 or so for regular NiMh batteries.

Amazon.com: eneloop: Electronics

 

[George2615]

I just got back from Virginia yesterday. Wife and I were there this past weekend for my Stepdaughter's wedding (I had the honor of walking her down the aisle) and I had forgotten to bring my old Kodak digital Cam so went to the store to get a camera to use for pics and couldn't pass up the package deal.

I picked up a Nikon Coolpix L110 Digital camera at Best Buy this past weekend. Package deal was Camera, tripod, 8GB SD chip,carrying bags (separate bags for camera and tripod) for $320 plus tax.

Camera has a lot of features such as 12.1 megapixels, 3.0" LCD display, 15X Zoom, came with a set of AA Lithiums (I bought an extra set), HD Movie, Vibration reduction, strap, USB cable, lens cap, Software suite CD and more features than I'll ever use.

Camera worked great, took a couple hundred photos and loaded them on a CD to send to the newlyweds. I'm not a professional photographer but the pics I took at the last wedding I attended (another stepdaughter's wedding) were picked over the pro's shots.

Best of luck getting the camera you want.

 

[EddieWalker]

This is my camera. The Associated Press: Govt watchdog criticizes handling of car dealers

I've been trying to figure out how to get closeup pictures, and today, sort of stumbled upon just holding the camera REALLY close to what I'm taking the picture of. Nothing fancy, no special setting, just hold it real close.

Here are a few pics that I took today.

Eddie

 

[mhthegoblin]

Wow, thanks for all the replies, guys.

OK, so to start: My budget? $300-400 max. I need higher MP count as I do a lot of cropping. I can't really afford to invest in an SLR right now.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I just bought the canon SX120, primarily because it was min of 10 MP, 10x optical zoom, and it uses AA batteries. I wanted AA batteries, not rechargeable. I also wanted it to be small, not a DSLR, they are huge. $160.

 

[Travelover]

I believe this is the camera that Eddie has, and if I was to replace my current zoom camera, it is the one I'd buy.

Amazon.com: Canon PowerShot SX20IS 12.1MP Digital Camera with 20x Wide Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.5-inch Articulating LCD: Camera & Photo