Canon camera question re batteries

[RobertInOntario]

I often refer to a website that evaluates many things electronic: I know that can be dangerous, but it often gives some direction.
Under digital cameras, they have your camera: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://reviews.cnet.com/digital-cameras/canon-powershot-a1100-is/4505-6501_7-33528998.html?tag=mncol;lst">http://reviews.cnet.com/digital-cameras ... =mncol;lst</a><!-- m -->
They consider is a good camera for the money, but under 'The Bad" they say "Short battery life".
So apparently you are not the only one to find a problem with the battery system.
dwight77

Thanks, Dwight -- that's reassuring to know! It's a great camera otherwise, just annoying (and expensive) re the batteries. As mentioned, unless I need to replace/update my rechargables, it goes through rechargables even faster. I've been using the eneloop rechargables.

[RobertInOntario]

Thanks for all of your feedback! I just logged in a few minutes ago and read through the replies.

Yesterday, we used my son's Kodak camera which has its own rechargeable battery. I used it frequently for 2-3 hours, shooting away (on a mountain hike in Ireland!) and hardly made a dent in its battery life. So we might try using that one for now as long as our son doesn't protest too much!

Cheers,
Rob

[tomustang]

The killer for batteries on cameras is the LCD screen, if you can turn it off and look through viewer, you'll have longer life. Some compacts don't have that option though

[rrinker]

I have a different Canon P&S camera, and the best thing I ever did was order some Sanyo Eneloop rechargeable batteries for it from Amazon. These are the best AA rechargables I have ever seen. They come fully charged, adn unlike the junky Duracell ones I was using before, don;t self discharge. I bought a pack of 8 a year and a half ago, and it also came with 2 AAAs, a charger, and some adapter units to use them in place of C and D batteries. I just recently recharged the first 4 for the first time. I've taken hundreds of pictures on them, most all with flash, and with the LCD on. The first two I installed out of the seocnd set of 4 still show as fully charged even though they have been sitting in a drawer since I bought them. I will NEVER buy those Duracell or Energizer NiMH rechargeables again. Only these Eneloops. They're rated 2000 mAH, so they have plenty of juice to runt he camera for a long time.

--Randy

[railohio]

I can shoot 10,000 photos with my Nikon digital bodies on a battery charge. If I go on a four-day trip I don't bother to take the charger.

[RobertInOntario]

I can shoot 10,000 photos with my Nikon digital bodies on a battery charge. If I go on a four-day trip I don't bother to take the charger.

Wow -- 10,000! During the past 2-3 days, we've been using my son's 12.2MB Kodak camera (instead of my Canon). It's taken 100's of pix without giving us problems, although we did have to charge its battery up one night. This seems to be the way to go.

Rob

[FiatFan]

Coming in a little late to the discussion but I just got back from vacation with my trusty Canon S5 IS. Took over 200 pictures over several days, turning the camera on, take a few pics, turn it off. Very seldom use the LCD screen unless I'm trying for an unusual shot. I'm using Rayovac NiMH rechargeables. I carry a spare set but the set in the camera lasted for the entire vacation without recharging and I still have plenty of power left.

Just my 2 cents.

Tom

[RobertInOntario]

Coming in a little late to the discussion but I just got back from vacation with my trusty Canon S5 IS. Took over 200 pictures over several days, turning the camera on, take a few pics, turn it off. Very seldom use the LCD screen unless I'm trying for an unusual shot. I'm using Rayovac NiMH rechargeables. I carry a spare set but the set in the camera lasted for the entire vacation without recharging and I still have plenty of power left.

Just my 2 cents.

Tom

Thanks, Tom. So it must be the LCD screen that eats up the power then. Now I need to figure out how to turn it off and just rely on the view-finder!

Cheers, Rob

[FiatFan]

Rob, check page 106 of the manual. It shows how to decrease the amount of time the screen is on. It's probably still set to 1 minute. You can decrease that to 10 seconds which should help considerably with battery life. Hope this helps.

Tom

[RobertInOntario]

Rob, check page 106 of the manual. It shows how to decrease the amount of time the screen is on. It's probably still set to 1 minute. You can decrease that to 10 seconds which should help considerably with battery life. Hope this helps.

Tom

Thanks, that sounds good too. I did manage to turn off the digital display (not sure how but I did!) so I'll see if that helps. Now I need to get used to taking pics with the viewfinder only. I took some train shots today (of Irish trains in Dublin) & I kept cropping parts of the picture off!