Fuji Finepix S4300

[solo]

Doesn't seem to be a photography section on here, but if this post is in the wrong place, please feel free to move it.

Daughter has the above bridge camera. She's had it a while but doesn't use it as much as she would like to due to batteries not lasting too long. She normally just sticks Duracell alaline batteries in.

Just had a look at the user manual and the other battery options are lithium or rechargeable Ni-MH.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to which might give her the better battery life.

I've had a look round the net and this particular camera seems well thought of and I haven't seen any else complain of poor battery life. Would like to get it sorted so she can get more use out of it.

TIA

 

[EFLImpudence]

There is a lot of difference in battery lives:

http://www.batteryshowdown.com/

 

[JohnD]

Lithium.

 

[solo]

Thanks to you both. Looks like it's lithium.

 

[ericmark]

It seems there are two factors with Ni-MH batteries, capacity and self discharge. With AA cells 800 ~ 2800 mAh capacity batteries can be bought in general low mAh means long shelve live and high mAh means more shots day after removing batteries. Although this is not always the case the DSLR I use has high capacity batteries which also seem to have a long shelf life. I use "Ready to use" Ultra Max 800 mAh batteries for my clocks, but 2800 mAh batteries for my flash gun, the 800 mAh in flash gun will give around 4 flashes only, but the 2800 mAh will last some 100+ flashes. However in my clock the 2800 mAh batteries last around 1 month, but the 800 mAh around 3 months.

Although most batteries do give the mAh very few give a shelf life. But "Ready to use" normally means good shelf life. Some Ni-MH batteries can lose half their charge in a week, others are much better, but sorry to say hard to work out how long until you use them.

This Wikipedia link says:-

Self-discharge
NiMH cells historically had a somewhat higher self-discharge rate (equivalent to internal leakage) than NiCd cells. The self-discharge rate varies greatly with temperature, where lower storage temperature leads to slower discharge rate and longer battery life. The self-discharge is 5–20% on the first day and stabilizes around 0.5–4% per day at room temperature. But at 45 °C it is approximately three times as high.

Low self-discharge
The low self-discharge nickel–metal hydride battery (LSD NiMH) has a significantly lower rate of self-discharge. The innovation was introduced in 2005 by Sanyo, under their Eneloop brand. By using an improved electrode separator and improved positive electrode, manufacturers claim the cells retain 70% to 85% of their capacity when stored one year at 20 °C (68 °F), compared to about half for normal NiMH batteries. They are otherwise similar to other NiMH batteries, and can be charged in the typical chargers. These cells are marketed as "hybrid", "ready-to-use" or "pre-charged" rechargeables. Retention of charge depends in large part on the battery's impedance or internal resistance (the lower the better), and on its physical size and charge capacity.

Separators keep the two electrodes apart to slow electrical discharge while allowing the transport of ionic charge carriers that close the circuit during the passage of current. High quality separators are critical for battery performance.

Thick separators are one way to reduce self-discharge, but take up space and reduce capacity; while thin separators tend to raise the self-discharge rate. Some batteries may have overcome this tradeoff using thin separators with more precise manufacturing and by using a more advanced sulfonated polyolefin separator.

Low self-discharge cells have lower capacity than standard NiMH cells because of the separator's larger volume. The highest-capacity low-self-discharge AA cells have 2000–2600 mA·h capacity, and AAA 1000 mA·h, compared to 2800 mA·h and 1300 mA·h for high-capacity AA and AAA NiMH cells.

Sorry I expect not what you wanted to hear. I find the idea of having a camera ready bag I can grab, and take to a photographic opportunity with camera special batteries is OK. But the flash batteries which are AA often let me down. Unfortunately non rechargeable batteries have a higher internal resistance so using them increases by around 4x the wait before I can use flash again.

 

[ChrisR]

I can recommend Sanyo Eneloop AAs. I'm sure there are others as good.
I've had a dozen or so for 4-5 years, in frequent bursts of use, then they get left. I only ever use a BRILLIANT Energizer 15 minute charger. They come out HOT.
I expected the capacity to drop but it hasn't, they last as long as new ones. They're about 2000mAH. Slightly more expensive than some but worth it.
The charger is key - works from a car too. When it's only 15 minutes for a fresh set of 4, you always have some spare before the previous ones go flat. After a month or three they still have plenty of life to start using again.
I sue them in flashguns, sometimes 12 at once, then only use one gun for a while, hence the variation.

 

[ericmark]

I am glad my cameras use special batteries now. The Nikon EN-EL15 is 7 volt and 1900 mAh or 14 Wh Li-ion they are chipped it seems to stop other manufacturers making cheap replacements. They last quite a long time and I use a non Nikon charger which plugs into a USB port so I can charge at home with USB sockets I have built into 13A outlets, or the car with USB adaptor in cig lighter, our use a phone recharge battery pack. I have two Nikon batteries so can use one and charge the other if required even in my back pack.

The whole point is the EN-EL15 as a very unique battery so I can say it will still work after a month on the shelf and is unlikely to run out on a photo shoot unless I am using built in flash gun.

I use Tronic NiMh 2500 mAh AA batteries from Lidi and I find they work well in flash gun. But as already pointed out some chargers have a time limit set for the older lower mAh batteries so may not fully recharge the batteries after use. In the main power turned from electric to chemical makes no heat so while charging the battery is cold, but once charged then the power is turned to heat, so a charged battery will often feel warm to the touch in a constant current charger showing they are fully charged. But it is still a bit of hit and miss.

However a delta V charger actually monitors the voltage curve, they are very clever, and these do not over charge the battery or under charge the battery and show a LED normally changing from red to green when charged. This is what the Nikon EN-EL15 charger does so no guess work, LED is green so ready to use. You can get delta V chargers for AA cells they are a bit more expensive and often not very fast, often need 12 hours to charge, but they don't damage the batteries so in the end well worth it.

 

[motorbiking]

Best rechargeable AA's I've found are the 2900mAh ones from 7dayshop. I have a friend who is a wedding photographer and she swears by them. In terms of li-ion's If your camera can take an external power supply from a USB. I'd find either a 2, 4 or 8 bay 18650 power supply from ebay (£2-4) and then find an old laptop battery or power tool and screwdriver. Most older/larger laptops have 18650 (18mm x 65mm O-cylindrical ) lithium cells and they will be at least 2.5Ah at 3A easy.

Energy density of an 18650 is about 3 x more than the very best AAs. The problem is 90% of the 18650s you get on ebay are fake, hence old laptops. The best cells i've come across are Panasonic NCR18650B - fairly genuine 3.4Ah at 2A discharge.

 

[Sam Gangee]

I use Sanyo ENELOOP rechargeable AA cells in my Fujifilm Finepix S8200. Best ones ever (and I've tried plenty). Mine are rated at 1900mAh, which is more than enough for a week's shooting.