It sounds like your battery may have a bad cell. I would either return the camera under warranty or replace the battery.

Ok, I will try replacing the batteries again and I guess if that doesn't work, I will have to figure out the warranty part and call the place I bought it.

Thanks,
Adam

The camera's power pack may not be recharging the battery. With two batteries going bad like that, that's what I'd suspect. A lot of the plug in transformer/rectifiers (the power adapters with the big plug) are ultra-cheaply made and fail often.

What type of batteries does the camera use? If it's AA, you can buy an inexpensive set of AA rechargeables (NiMH) that come with a charger, and the whole set (4 batteries and charger) only costs about $20 - $25.

Digital cameras will eat AA batteries all day long, if that's what yours uses, especially if you tend to buy cheap alkaline batteries. As cowboyind said, look into a set of rechargables - they are usually more 'powerful' than a typical disposable alkaline. The more mAh that the batteries are rated for the better - look for at least 1850, though 2100 may not be a bad way to go.

Hi cowboy and lmchajluk,

Thank you for those ideas. I will look into the rechargables. Why don't they just give those to you with the camera? They are expensive enough and then you have to start adding expensive batteries just to make it work? I just can't imagine though that putting AA batteries the alkaline ones..not the cheap ones, would allow you to take one set of photos on one day, and the next day the batteries are dead already. One pair of batteries per 24 photos?? That is outrageous. IF that is what the problem is.

Thank you for that information...
Adam

24 photos? W/ flash? Plus using the LCD? Sounds like enough to eat the battery to me. My uncle had (has?) a Sony from a few years ago that uses AAs, and his had about the same performance. He's much happier with the rechargables.

My Olympus E-20 can use 4 AA batteries or a Lithium Ion battery. The LiIon is much more powerful (you can tell with how fast the flash 're-sets'), but they're expensive. I have a couple of sets of AA rechargables for the camera and the external flash, and I can get off about 50 shots before I notice the flash start getting weaker. At max resolution, my memory cards only hold 52 shots, so I just take the oportunity to swap the batteries and memory card all at the same time. I think those rehargables are 1600 mAh, but as I've said, I've seen much higher capacities these days...

Actually, I don't know how many digital cameras these days take AAs anymore (though I haven't looked, to be honest). Most that I've glanced at seem to come with some type of rechargable battery pack with a seperate charger or a cord/cradle to recharge a non-removable rechargable battery. This is especially true of the smaller ones, that just don't have the room for a couple of AA batteries.

Here is a link that might be useful: Energizer 2500mAh AA 4-pk w/ Charger

Hi lmychajluk..

[Say that real fast 3 times.."G>]

Wow! Well, you can see that I am electronically challenged. [g] I just don't like technology. I DO learn it eventually but it is work to me. I can use my remote and operate the old VCR more or less, but program it to record when you want to? I figured it out once and then if you don't get in the habit, then you forget again. Doesn't matter now though. I find it a real chore to understand and work all these electronic gadgets. The camera is one of my kids not mine. I would like to use it too though.

I can't believe that. I guess I just thought, how nice, free photos, no film, no developing. No just batteries like candy. OK..and I guess I tried to get away with buying an inexpensive camera and it is probably an older model that was on sale. You get what you pay for I guess. I will have to figure out if it is worth it to buy the rechargeable batteries or upgrade to the camera I should have bought in the first place I guess.

Thanks so very much lmychajluk..for taking the time to explain it and for the link.

Appreciate it..
:-)
Adam

No problem.

Remember, though, once you have a charger or two, you can always buy extra batteries seperately and use them in anything you want. I probably have 3-4 chargers and about 20 AAs, a handful of AAAs, plus some C-cells laying around for all my gizmos. About the only disposable batteries I buy these days are the 9v, and I think the smoke detectors in the house are the only thing that uses those...

-Lee

My Sony digital camera, just an older 1.3 megapixel model, will only take about 7 or 8 pictures on a set of 2 AA alkalines. And that's if you're pretty careful not to leave it on much between shots. I get about 30 pictures on a freshly charged pair of NiMH AA batteries.

Definitely buy the NiMH rechargeables. If you can get a Lithium-Ion for your camera (one is available for mine but I didn't want to spend $79.95 for it), that's even better except for the high price. The nice thing about the NiMH batteries is if they start to lose capacity, you can buy new ones and they're not very costly.

When I first bought my pack of Duracell rechargeables, I charged them up, put them in my digital camera and they only lasted a day. I recharged them that night, and ever since then they've been fine. They last almost a week. I also bought a second set as backup, with slightly more power (higher number on the side of the battery). They all work fine now. And the one-hour charger is great.

That's a good point; sometimes it takes one or even a few charge-discharge cycles before rechargeable batteries reach their full capacity. Plus, they'll discharge on their own if you leave them sitting for more than a couple weeks. But on balance, they are the only way to go with a digital camera, unless you own stock in an alkaline battery factory.

Old message but I just saw it.

My guess is you all need to read your camera instruction books. My camera uses batteries that look like regular AAs, but they are LITHIUM not plain old alkaline. It will work on plain alkaline AAs and rechargables but it dies really fast.

Gee, I am so glad I wrote this post. I am learning so much. You are right, I didn't read the instruction book. Only because it was a gift to a family member and I don't even know where the instruction booklet is. I will try to dig it up and see if it does indicate the lithium batteries. How often do you have to replace those Gammy? Are they expensive?

Thanks,
Adam