Battery Life

Cole

I'm a beginner and bought a Fuji S8000fd a few months ago. I'm happy with the camera, but I seem to be changing the 4 AA batteries at a very regular rate.

I could not give an accurate calculation of how long the batteries last, because I'm a fairly infrequent user, but the camera seems to drain the life out of them fairly quickly. Is this normal?

I'm guessing rechargeable batteries is the way to go.

Tallon

I find that Fuji do eat batteries, my nephew uses alot of them. Buy some HI grade rechargable batteries, there a bit expensive but worth it long term

Fujifilm publishes CIPA figures for both alkaline and NiMH batteries. Single-use alkalines deliver about 350 images whether you use the LCD or the EVF. With rechargeable NiMHs, that number goes up to 500 images, although NiMHs do vary in capacity.

CabanSail

One of the big power draw on any camera is the LCD Screen. The more you use it to compose or review images the quicker you will drain batteries. Other items like Image Stablisation & motorised zooms will also help deplete power (anything with a motor)

NiMH AA Batteries will save you money in the long run, but they also self discharge when stored. So if you are an infrequent user you will have to remember to charge the batteries prior to using it. You can pick up charger/battery sets quite cheap & they may be a good idea & have a set of Alkalines on standby.

It's also not a good idea to keep batteries in the camera if you are storing it.

AnCatDubh

Rechargeable are an absolute necessity for pretty much any modern camera. Ensure they have plenty of power rating - something like 2200mAh or 2500mAh will last sooooooo much longer than alkaline equivalents. Others have had luck with non branded batteries off eBay but the only type that i've been happy with are branded batteries - i've had both.

Stick a few NiMh rechargeables into it and you'll be fine.

mehfesto2

I used to hve the SD6500fd (I think that's the one, anyway) and I have to agree with the two before me and advise you to get some really good NIMH batteries.

As far as I remember, you had to charge them overnight - they weren't like a mobile - they took ages to fully charge. But were well worth it. Saved me a fortune overall, I reckon.

Tallon

CabanSail wrote: »

One of the big power draw on any camera is the LCD Screen. The more you use it to compose or review images the quicker you will drain batteries. Other items like Image Stablisation & motorised zooms will also help deplete power (anything with a motor)

Very true, my Bridge camera drains the batteries because im constantly zooming in and out, plus I try to use the EVF as much as possible

coylemj

Two things to look out for.....

1. Occasionally you will get a dud battery which drags down the rest of the set and you get far less usage out of a single charge than you'd like. Charge up the batteries and then use a multimeter to check the voltage, if one of the batteries shows a significantly lower voltage than the rest then you have a dud.

2. Always use and charge the same 4 batteries together, never split them up cause if you do then some will end up having less capacity than the others and they will drag the whole bunch down.

I get a friend in the US to buy me Lenmar 2700s, they are the bees knees and I use them all the time in a handheld GPS and a compact Samsung camera. They have great capacity. I believe ALDI also sell Ni-Mh AA batteries.

Cole

Thanks for the advice...very quick responses. You're a very efficient bunch on this forum:)

coylemj

And if laptops are a guide then it's the LCD display that consumes most of the juice. If the battery level is getting low then it's time to disable the LCD display and use the optical viewfinder if there is one, otherwise have the spare set of AAs ready and as a previous poster pointed out, best to always have a set of Alkalines (Duracell) on standby, they have a very long shelf life and can be used in emergencies but they're useless for indoor snaps as they take ages to charge up the flash.

lady.in.red

thanks for the tip on laptop batteries, my battery barely last a half hour unplugged and wrecks my head,Cheers

Tallon

lady.in.red wrote: »

thanks for the tip on laptop batteries, my battery barely last a half hour unplugged and wrecks my head,Cheers

A bit off topic....
As regards your laptop, try turning down the brightness when its unplugged

soccerc

coylemj wrote: »

I believe ALDI also sell Ni-Mh AA batteries.

I swear by Aldi NiMh Rechargables from a value and usage viewpoint

Pack of 4 AA 2300mAh are €4.79

coylemj

lady.in.red wrote: »

thanks for the tip on laptop batteries, my battery barely last a half hour unplugged and wrecks my head,Cheers

Check if your laptop has different power profiles for plugged & unplugged. If running on batteries you may need to manually switch to a different power profile which will (1) dim the display (2) shorten the idle timout period for when the disk stops spinnning and the display is blanked and (3) puts the processor into power saving mode.

Laptops don't do this automatically because there are times when you want to run at full tilt even on the battery e.g. when giving a presentation so if you want to maximize the time you get on the battery, see if there's a power saving power profile that you can switch to.

lady.in.red

sound advice folks, cheers

Kintarō Hattori

I use two sets of Uniross 2700mAh batteries with my Pentax K100D. I get about 400-450 shots from it before they have to be changed. That's using it a few times a week, reviewing and deleting images via the screen and occasional flash use too. If I use alkaline batteries they run out very very quickly.

BrokenArrows

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

I use two sets of Uniross 2700mAh batteries with my Pentax K100D. I get about 400-450 shots from it before they have to be changed. That's using it a few times a week, reviewing and deleting images via the screen and occasional flash use too. If I use alkaline batteries they run out very very quickly.

ya i use uniross too 2800mAh. they are very good.

Nforce

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

I use two sets of Uniross 2700mAh batteries with my Pentax K100D. I get about 400-450 shots from it before they have to be changed. That's using it a few times a week, reviewing and deleting images via the screen and occasional flash use too. If I use alkaline batteries they run out very very quickly.

I've just ordered some for my SB-600 from here ....€14 inc delivery

Kintarō Hattori

Excellent stuff. They really do surprise me still as to how many shots I can take before I need to pop in the other set.