Education Which AA rechargeable batteries for camera?

Missus to the camera a Nikon L840 to takes some snaps of her sons daughters birthday party and unfortunately the batteries I foolishly bought from Ebay, 8 x AA Ni-MH Rechargable Battery 3000mAh 1.2v don't seem to last particularly long and ran out. Partly my fault as of course I should have changed the batteries for a fully charged set.

What should I have bought?

 

Never tried them personally but I always read good things about Eneloops. Alternatively read here: http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-rechargeable-batteries/

Edit: And yes, unfortunately, you really get what you pay for with rechargable batteries. My wife's first camera (some POS Sony iirc) would literally only take 4 shots before running out of power when used with cheap batteries but would last ages with decent quality ones.

 

My experience with cameras and batteries is - don't use rechargeables... Still have flashbacks of college and the SLRs only managing 6 shots per set of batteries because the college figured rechargeable would be cheaper...

4 batteries per camera, 18 cameras... there pretty much wasn't a plug socket in the building without a battery charger plugged in...

 

Would 2nd Eneloops (either standard or pros if you feel you need them), or failing that any low self discharge" Ni-MH Batteries (typically labelled "ready to use") with good reviews.

For general use I find them much better than higher rated traditional Ni-MH (especially cheap ones). They may be relatively expensive, but if they perform well you save a huge amount over disposables even in the medium term and it's much less wasteful.

 

Sorry not understanding what you mean? Would 2nd Enloops?

 

I would agree that Eneloops are a good choice.

 

Got you, I am going to pick up some tomorrow from Maplins as generally well thought, thanks.

 

Eneloop are great batteries! I use them in many gadgets like Remote controls, Joypads, Keyboards and Mices! Saved me a small fortune

Not sure how they'd perform in something demanding like a camera however. Be interested to learn of others experiences with the Eneloops in that setup.

 

I've used 2 AA Eneloops in a fairly old Canon A710 for a long time and always found performance to be good. They won't go on forever but I've never found myself worrying about battery life any more than I would with disposables.

 

I use standard Eneloops in my camera flash which can take a hammering on some sessions. The batteries perform admirably.

I'd get them from Amazon, they seem to be cheapest on there.

 

Lots of fake eneloops around, so make sure you trust the supplier.

Eneloops are more intended for slow drain applications like remotes etc so you will probably get as good/better performance from good brand high capacity batteries that will probably be a bit cheaper - again, buy from a trusted source.

 

With my Pentax, I use Imedion 2400mAh & a Panasonic BQ-CC51 battery charger.

 

It really depends on the low voltage cut-off of your camera. Alkaline sags under load, whereas NiMH starts off lower (full charge is 1.4V and dead is ~1.1) but holds up better under load. If your camera's low voltage cutout is 1.15V, you're gonna have a bad time, regardless of if you have the cheap or expensive NiMH. One trick I often employ is mixing alkaline and NiMH, which seems to work alright.

 

Bit above my pay grade but I do have one question, how do I find out the cameras 'low voltage cut out'?

 

It's above my pay grade too and what little I know (besides how to google) comes from watching the EEVblog. Unless you had time to kill and a small home lab, it would be far easier to just experiment with various batteries and see what works best.

All that being said, I just looked up the specs on that camera, and it says it takes 4x AA. The last camera I had that took 4x AA (circa 2007) ran all day /w occasional flash, even on cheap NiMHs. I'd investigate to see if the batteries even charged properly or if the camera Wi-Fi defaults to on and drained the batt, etc.

 

Good point about the wifi, as that may well be the issue as I set it up but have not used it as it is simpler to connect to a PC.
Will have a look when it is a more suitable hour, it is 4am and I should get sleeping.
Thanks for the pointer.

 

I use Maplin hybrid AAs in my flash and they work a treat. Best of all they were only £5 when I got a set of four, otherwise they would have been £11, in which case you are as well going for branded hybrids like eneloops (expensive) or Uniross Hybrio (a lot cheaper).

I also used to use Vapex 2900mAh AAs in my flash guns and they were exceptional, although sadly it doesn't seem like you can buy them any more. Whetever you find, make sure to buy the highest capacity that you can.

 

Going to try some Uniross first I think. I am sure I have used this brand in the past and might even have a charger.

 

You really get what you pay for. The cheap stuff has a really short life, in both capacity and chargeability. Eneloops are good, but not the best rechargeable. They're the best balance between price and capacity. Some places sell them with the charger as well, which is a good deal if you can get them cheap.

Energizer make the best rechargeable batteries, as seen in a few tests but they are so expensive.

 

The Eneloop Extremes are essentially the highest capacity AAs you can buy (edit - didn't see post above about the Energizers, sorry - I have no experience of these but my information is about 2 years old now), but they are expensive. I use them in my bike lights (very high power LED things) and they are worth it. For most lights and other uses I've since started downgrading to regular Eneloops but if you absolutely need the best possible capacity, the Extremes are worth the extra cost.

And if you're going to be using them a lot, get a Maha/"Powerex" charger. They do AA-only ones but if you've also got (or might get) other size NiMH rechargeables the 808 is a great investment.

Battery nerds all rave about the MH808 and honestly I don't regret buying mine, it's a fantastic charger. (Appears on UK sites as the Powerex 9000, confusingly.) It has separate charging circuits for each of the 8 bays, complicated measuring and safety circuits to prevent overcharge, trickle charge and health cycle modes to restore older batteries (nickel are all too well known for ageing badly) and its default charge mode is crazy quick without risking damage to the cells (other cheaper 'superfast' chargers lack the sophisticated safety features and tend to overcharge and gradually kill cells).

If I sound like a shill on Maha's payroll, it's only because I admire good electrical engineering and frickin' love this charger.

Edit:
Regarding RedFlames post above, the rechargeable vs non-rechargeable question, without meaning to offend I think this is old, super old information. As late as the early 00s rechargeables were rubbish, it's true, but they are now absolutely stonking batteries if you pay for decent ones. They also have a much better discharge output curve, as torch nerds often remark: non-rechargeable NiCd cells slope off their power output in a long steady curve to fully depleted, while rechargeables output close to full voltage for most of the duration then suddenly drop off power towards the end. This makes them far more reliable for anything that's power hungry and likely to cut out if it sees a drop in voltage. Non-res are therefore great for remotes, clocks and toys and pretty **** for anything else. I use expensive rechargeables in everything that matters now and swapping them out in lower power devices has become such a rare event that I forget half these things have batteries in them.

Edit 2:

Don't develop brand loyalty. Brand loyalty is dumb. Brand loyalty only hurts; it never helps.
Also, pairing some new swanky batteries with an old bundle-purchased wallwart charger may not be ideal. I lost the link but someone on candlepower forums did explain why; basically those cheap bundle chargers are often designed specifically for the batteries they sell with, having a very simple set charge rate and timed cut-off. This means that paired with different, newer batteries they may not charge them properly.