turbulence

i posted on a nikon forum, but they're not responding, so i'm hoping one of our electronics guys can help.

i have a nikon coolpix 3100. this camera sucks with batteries. everyone that has it knows (they all complained on the nikon forum). with NiMH (which nikon recommends) batteries, i get about 10 pics per charge while using the LCD.

while browsing a nikon message board, some guys said that while using a CRV3 lithium battery, they got over 100 pics. the reason was that the lithium doesn't lose it's voltage until it's drained, while the NiMH's voltage dropped too quickly about halfway through the battery's charge, so the camera couldn't use the rest of the battery. any thoughts on this?

it seems that the difference is that the CRV3 is a 3V battery, which i guess supplies the mAh throughout the battery's charge. does this make sense?

draguntib

i had the same problem with my olympus camera and started using the CRv3 batteries and last much longer. Couldnt tell you why but it works!

Joshuwa

Hmmm...I'm not familar with that specific situation with the batteries. Usually NiMH batteries are very good.

Have you tried shooting a full charge w/ out the LCD until your battery dies?

That'd be a good way to determine if it's the batteries or not.

Usually, 9/10 digital cameras have horrible battery life when the LCD is used.

You might have a problem with the actual batteries themselves, but if not, getting used to shooting through the viewfinder and not the LCD will definitely increase the battery life 10-fold.

I have a dSLR, and dSLR's don't use the LCD for taking pics, but only for reviewing pics AFTER they're shot - so the LCD is barely used at all. Just for an example, I've shot close to 1000 pics on this charge, and it's still 3/4 full.

supercow

yeah thats the best advice, don't use the lcd... my kodak doesn't but it does just pop up for just a second after you take a pic so you can make sure it wasn't too screwed up, maybe you can switch it to a mode like that?

ruffedgeinc

if these are double a batteries we talking about

head down to your local wal-mart and pick up the energizer pack that comes with 4 double a batteries and the 15 minute charger

the best investement ever

using crappy batteries on my canon a95 i porably got 30 - 40 shots

using the enrgizer i am able to shoot out a full 512 mb card some with flash some w/o all with LCD before the batteries die. And on top of all that still have juice to dump the pics on the computer and enough to take a few more pics before they die.

just an idea wink1.gif

Dmitry

Try to find rechargeble battaries with biggest mAh.

As I know lithium rechargeble batteries is better inly in one way - they don't have memory effect so you can charge them whenever you want. Lithium batteries also work bad with low temperatures.

turbulence

the camera sucks without the lcd on. when i try to use the viewfinder to shoot to conserve battery life, the camera takes 7-10 seconds to focus. so you look like an idiot because you have to point at your subject, hold the button for 7-10 seconds until it focuses, and shoot. there's no way around it. with the lcd on, it focuses in about a second. i read on the nikon site that this is how it will work. i can't turn auto focus off with the lcd off.

bottom line, this camera sucks. pics are good, though.

ToXiC_LovE

Funny. I have this exact camera and I f***ing LOVE it. My advice to you is to STOP spending money on batteries. I bought an Energizer battery charger that is universal among all rechargable Energizer batteries. It came with a 4-pack of AA's. I just charge them up and carry them with me. I have a 96mb memory card and I can just leave my camera on, literally, for 3 hours without it shutting off. I have no idea what your problem is. My batteries are nimh too. I've never had any problems with it shutting off, not saving pictures, or draining the batteries too quickly out of the year and a half that I've had it. I always use the LCD too. It just makes for better pictures. And again, with the LCD always on, my camera can stay on for about 4 hours with the same 2 batteries.

turbulence

weird. on the nikon forum, all i heard were complaints about the camera going through batteries too quickly. i also have monster batteries, which i thought were good. what brand batteries do you use with the energizer charger?

ToXiC_LovE

Energizer, lol.