Best Choice For Digital Camera Rechargeable Batteries

Digital Camera rechargeable batteries take abetter).
tremendous beating. Due to the nature of digitalThe Ni-Cad and Ni-MH are the most popular and
cameras, they require a good amount of voltagealmost every major brand of battery has multiple
and also need the battery to maintain a goodversions available. The latest technology is the
charge for long periods of inactivity. Many of theNi-ZN which has superior storage capacity and a
current digital cameras have a flash and can takelong shelf life. Most types of rechargeable
short movies. Both of these features are greatbatteries can be recharged many times but what
but can drain a battery twice as quick as normalthey don't mention is that the amount of charge
photo shooting.drops off considerably after x amount of
Most people are familiar with the basicrecharges.
rechargeable battery but the key to finding aAnd therein lies the real factor to consider. Let's
good one for your digital camera is to look atsay when you get your new batteries you can
what material the battery is made out of, howtake about 100 photos before they go south. As
quickly it will charge, and how long the charge willthe number of recharges increase, the number of
last both in using and sitting on the shelf or in thephotos decrease. Some may only last 25-30
digital camera.recharges before they start loosing the ability to
One of the things I look at before I purchase anyfully charge. Cost wise that's still a good savings
digital camera I buy is to make sure it has asince a normal AA alkaline battery costs about
common battery size. The reason is that no$1.15 and the comparable rechargeable is $2.50 to
matter how well you plan a photo shoot, things$5.00 depending on the mAh numbers.
happen and you may have to resort to good oldThe newer Ni-ZN cost about $5 each and claim to
alkaline batteries in a pinch. My first choice is a settake over 500 recharges before suffering any
of rechargeable batteries but you never knowloss of charging capacity. But they also kick out
and it's a very good thing to be able find a freshmore voltage so as an example your flash
set of batteries.recycles in half the time of normal alkaline
There are a couple of important factors tobatteries. And if you get 100 shots out of a set
consider on which rechargeable battery is theof alkaline, you should get at least 175 shots out
best. First is the amount of voltage, the next isof the Ni-ZN set of the same size. Plus the
how long the battery will perform, next comesstorage life of the N-ZN is better than any of the
the time it takes to recharge, and the last is theother choices.
shelf life of the charge (how long the battery willFaster recycling of a flash can be a big deal since
hold the charge in storage).it's really a pain when shooting photos indoors and
Here's a list of typical rechargeable batteries andneeding to wait up to 2 minutes for your flash to
their voltage output:be at full strength again. Or if you are shooting a
Ni-Cad rechargeable batteries - 1.2 voltsseries of short one minute videos, running out of
Ni-MH rechargeable batteries - 1.2 and 1.5juice in the middle is not a good thing.
Ni-ZN rechargeable batteries - 1.6 voltsSo based on the above pricing and abilities, if you
Standard alkalines are 1.5 voltscan recharge the highest price batteries up to 500
There also is a rating that gives a reference totimes, they are far cheaper to use in the long run.
the amount of stored energy capacity calledAnd if they hold up anywhere near the claim of
mAh, which stands for milli Amp hour. These500 charges, well, you can do the math. It's a no
ratings generally run from 750 mAh to 2100 mAh,brainer, the Ni-ZN offer both more voltage, better
the higher the number the greater the amount ofshelf life, and more charges per battery.
energy storage capacity (higher the number the