Interpreting compact camera battery metrics
Original post
Hello. This isn't specifically tramping but I figure people here will have some experience with cameras and camera batteries.
Have compact cameras reduced in effective battery power capacity since the AA days, or am I mis-interpreting the metrics?
My last couple of trampey cameras have been a Canon Powershot A710 and then an A720. Both awesome little cameras albeit now dated, and both of which take AA batteries. With them, I've never had any low-battery-capacity issues as long as I stuffed them with 2x 2500 mAh NiMH rechargeable batteries, and kept a charged spare set just in case. I never thought about this objectively until now that I need to compare it, but review sites such as http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/A720IS/A720ISA6.HTM rate its CIPA battery life for that type of battery at between 400 and 900 shots, depending on the whether the LCD is switched on at the time. (Unlike today's compact cameras, they still gave it a viewfinder.)
AA batteries are dead in the compact camera market replaced by the more compact and light-weight lithium-based camera batteries (I'm sure others know more than me which is why I'm asking), and the sorts of cameras I've been looking at are these ones: http://bit.ly/VM0lG0
If you scroll down the page, the CIPA battery life stated for these cameras is only 230, 320 and 260 by comparison... and according to the reviews, the one in the middle is considered really really good in today's compact camera market.
So I'm starting to get concerned about what to expect, especially since camera batteries these days aren't as easily bought on the road. Obviously battery life depends on how you use the camera, but I'm looking for something that'll last at least as well as my current camera if I use it in a similar way.
Has effective battery power really gone down-hill from what was possible with AA batteries, or is there something about the CIPA standard which has changed over time that I'm mis-interpreting here?
if they dont have viewfinders then the assumption is made you have the screen on a lot and they give the battery life as such.
if you just power it on only when you're ready to take a shot and turn it off straight after you'll get a lot more battery life than the life stated. depends how big hte screen is
i have an nex as one camera and have to make sure i dont leave that on or it goes flat in no time, the screen on it is massive... dont have that problem with other cameras.
get a spare battery if you're really worried.
i've got a sony rx100, i take hundreds of photos with it and the battery lasts fine. same with my sony g12 and gx1
three days on a track never had to worry about a flat battery..
remember the volume of a compact camera battery is smaller than that of aa batteries as well. although the compact batteries pack a bit of power, some aa batteries can be pretty crap. depend on the brand...
if you're looking at sony compact , get the RX100, has a larger sensor than any other compact except the RX1 but that ones 3k, zeiss lens, absolutely fantastic quality for a compact.
although i also like canon , you have more control on the panoramic shots with them...
Battery that comes with my Pentax and olympus are both 3.7v 900mAh. Compared to 2500mAh at 2.4v for 2xAA that's about half the power. The higher res screens, higher res sensors and more pixels to process into jpg must also take a toll. Though i'd have expected the cpus to be more efficient these days which should compensate a bit.
Hovever spare batterys are about $4 from deal extreme so I carry 4 rechargablr LIon batteries on long trips.
Thanks for the tips and confirmation that I'm not misunderstanding the standard so much. Does the CIPA standard merely refer to 'shots' because it's a term that typical camera buyers can understand and it's averaged out, or do cameras actually use most of their power when you take a photo, even if you leave them switched on or use them for other things?
I guess I'm a little disappointed that cameras have shifted away from AA before they're completely redundant, and I'll miss the ability to pick up replacement batteries from nearly anywhere if I've messed up packing spares, but whatever. Maybe my bias against proprietary batteries is because I bought my first Nikon Coolpix digital camera in 2001, and the battery was both awful, uncommon, expensive to replace and deprecated by the manufacturer soon after the camera was released. I should probably just suck it in and see how I go.
Volume doesn't concern me as much as weight and I'm not sure I want to splash out extra for the RX100, but at the moment part of my interest is also in experimentally finding something with a built-in GPS, even if it's not a great one. My tramping hobby got me into the habit of geotagging photos, which makes me want to geotag them when I'm not tramping, and I'm getting sick of carrying and fighting with a separate GPS everywhere I take a camera.
That said it's a little frustrating trying to find info about camera GPSs in reviews. Most online camera reviews seem to be written by people who have very little experience using GPS technology, so many of the comparative things I'd like to know such as the antenna sensitivity and how it operates between cold and warm starts are reduced to short ambiguous phrases like "it sometimes doesn't get a fix in cities or indoors" and "we're sure it's accurate to within a few metres".
i dont know exactly how htey work out the shots per battery , i just know if you are prudent in power consumption you can exceed it, its a reasonably conservative figure... for the average tourist who isnt thinking about power consumption and leaves the camera on for a while...
but having said that you can get more power out of a good set of aa batteries.
i've doubled the no of shots a battery can take on the proprietary camera batteries. ...
in cold weather keep the camera warm, the cold can shorten the life of the battery.
remember compact cameras are a bit of a compromise, they need a smaller battery in it to keep the size down. if you step up in size camera you can get a lot more shots esp if it has an optical viewfinder.
up to you if you're on long trips how you want to go about it, compact camera maybe with a spare battery or a larger camera with better battery capacity...
i take the G1-X for long trips unless its a repeat trip, better capacity.. otherwise it is the rx100 or both if my girlfriend is coming..
the g1-X has a near SLR size sensor in it... only really use that because of the panoramic ability combined with the high quality. the rx100 is the next best thing though. i can't believe a compact camera can take such great shots.... fantastic in low light, sharp as up to 800 ISO... taken shots i thought would be totally crap because of poor light but it just excels itself. next best thing in quality to an slr... and when you're finished it just tucks into a pocket dpreview said its the best compact camera on the market... gave it a silver award.. and they are pretty fussy about dishing those out... i think they didnt like the controls that much rather than an isue with quality of photos
Thanks. I'm aware of the regular tricks to extend battery life. Just a bit miffed that there's less battery life available to extend in the first place.
I realise AA batteries are bulkier and flash charging can be slower, but I rarely use the flash and they worked okay for compact cameras in the past, and have the advantage of being universally and generally cheaply available globally on a whim. At least from the specs it seems that more modern compact cameras from the last several years have entirely focused on sacrificing longevity and that certain convenience to include additional power-hungry features. Oh well.
I checked out the RX100 and the G1-X, but at this time I don't think they're really in the class that interests me.
Other things that can shorten battery life are the amount of times the flash is used, auto focus,
Zoom motor, lens stabilizers, and sensor cleaning but I think the big thing is the screen. (touch screen is probably more power hungry also)
izogi, check your messages i sent you a link to my shots from the rx100
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| Forum | Gear talk |
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| Started by | izogi |
| On | 10 October 2012 |
| Replies | 23 |
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