Batteries for cameras

[ericmark]

My father-in-law got himself a new Fujifilm Finepix S2900 Camera. On the instructions it says you must not use Ni-Cd rechargeable, only new Ni-MH should be used.

It also says don't use manganese batteries. There is a selector for Lithium, Alkaline, or Ni-MH which I assume is so it can give one an indication as to life remaining.

But I am confused as to why the two types are not permitted and as to how to work out what not to use?

Alkaline batteries I though were manganese Zn/MnO2, there is also Lithium Manganese Dioxide batteries often 3v per cell rather than 1.3 - 1.5 volt. There is also Lithium-Ion and Lithium-Ion-Polymer which I would think the camera which uses AA cells refers to when Lithium is selected.

I realise there are now many types of batteries i.e.
Primary Batteries:- Carbon Zinc, Zinc Chloride, Alkaline Batteries (Standard Alkalines or Premium Alkalines), Lithium Manganese, Zinc Air, Silver Oxide, Mercuric Oxide.
Secondary Batteries:- Nickel Cadmium, Nickel Metal-Hydride, Lithium Ion,
Lithium Ion Polymer, Lead Acid.
To name just some. Clearly in AA format you will not get Lead Acid but there are some odd ones like I have a RAYOVAC rechargeable Alkaline AA cell 1.5v not 1.3v as most rechargeable with a warning to use special charger written so small I need to wear two pairs of glasses to read it.

If I can understand why some batteries are not permitted then it will make it easier to select the right type. I do remember with early cameras the flash gun shorted out the battery for a few seconds and using Ni-Cd batteries allowed too much current to run. However the Ni-MH will allow more current than the Ni-Cd so that's not likely to be the reason why in this case.

So any thoughts as to why manganese and Ni-Cd batteries should not be used. The camera does not charge the batteries.

 

[chivers67]

I always was led to believe the Nicads provided a slightly lower current than other batteries years back. Perhaps the camera needs that tiny bit of extra juice to perform at it's optimum?

Lithium Ion are the best non rechargeable in my experience - pricey though they do last well.

 

[Alarm]

Had the Finepix, now moved on to a Pentax.
However I still use the NI-MH rechargeable s (2500ma) and have no issues.
At full Mpix with Flash I can get 200+ pictures.
The batts were a good price and I saw no reason not to use them, as you say the camera isnt the charging medium.

Stick to the NI-MH IMHO.

 

[ericmark]

I also use a Pentax and although I carry a spare D-L150 7.4v 1620mA Lithium-Ion battery it is rare that I need to change it between swapping the 8Gb memory cards which will store around 500 images. Using the flash will of course give more of a drain. However my clip on flash gun and remote flash gun don't last so long, and I carry a pocket full of re-chargeable batteries all AA for the flash guns, the non-rechargeable take too long to re-charge flash gun.

Since he often comes out with me should his batteries go flat it would be normal for him to borrow some of mine. The same really for anyone else in the camera club. And I have a mixture of old and new so it could be any that I would lend him.

I would normally not have read the hand book well enough to know there was a problem. Only as father-in-law is 86 did I read it so detailed so I could help him. Looks a nice camera but will not work in RAW so no good for me. I have had problems taking 5 images at 2 EV stops apart to get the dynamic range I wanted and his will only allow 1 EV stop and 3 images. But a big difference in price between that and my K10D so it's very good for the money.

 

[IJWS15]

It may be that they cannot support the load.

First camera we bought would run a pair of standard duracell alkaline batterys down in about 3 minutes, the early rechargeables lasted less time, NiMh lasted a couple of hours.

Only once used the current camera with anything other than NiMh when they ran down. The displays are high usage.

 

[TicklyT]

IIRC fully charged Ni-Cd cells only give 1.22 Volts per cell. Most of the other battery technologies give a higher voltage per cell, even when nearly exhausted.