K100D and batteries

Folks


Is it just me , my K100D seems to be absolutely atrocious on power consumption when using Alkaline AA's , trying CR-V3's now. Doesn't like NIMH 2500 Mah Hama or Uniross AA rechargeables at all !!

How does everybody else power their K100D's ???????

I'm off to buy shares in the AA battery market !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ALL digital cameras are terrible with Alkaline AA cells.
The reason is the back LCD takes a whopping amount of current (from memory around 750mA :shock

I think you'll find that everyone round here uses, or has used, NiMH AA cells in their Pentax DSLRs. (Some use special rechargable CRV3s, and a few use Lithium CRV3)

Absolutely cannot understand why your K100D "doesn't like" NiMH...
(Sure you've got decent NiMH batteries???)
EDIT: Can you be much more specific about "doesn't like"?
Matt

Hi Matt

I charged some recharegable AA's 2500 mah about 2 weeks ago and put them in the K100D to replace alkaline AA's on saturday 1st Sept , camera didn't even acknowledge them.

Just given them a 1 hour "boost" and put them in and just shot of around 200 shots. Is their a decent brand that has a good charged shelf life ???

Wouldn't want to resort to only rechargeables in the field and have no back up , may be keep AA's or CRV3's for that..... may be the HAMA's and Uniross are just crap batteries for storage over a period of time but two weeks .....

Cheers

I use the 2500 NiMH Energisers with a 1hr charger and i get at least 300 shots per charge more if i am not using the on camera flash.
They cost a bit more than the others but they are certainly the better brand.

Edit: and they don't appear to lose much charge when left sitting idle. Never had a problem with them and i keep 3 sets

all nimh's have a degree of selfdischarge which can lead to the things you mentioned quite quickly.
Another thing is, what kind of charger do you use? You need a good charger which charges and monitors each cell seperately.
New rechargeable batteries need a few cycles to get to their peak performance.
You mention 200 shots after a two week shelf life, did you use the internal flash? Do you have the back LCD on for a longer time (reviewing pictures and such)?
Did you use long exposure times?

There are a lot of factors which can cause the batteries to die quickly. If you need long shelf life when charged you could opt for the new Uniross batteries which have a long shelflife but the number of charging cycles seems somewhat lower then from normal NiMH batteries.

Normally NiMH batteries have a self discharge rate of 5-10% in the first day and after that about 1% per day. As a rule of thumb you can say that how higher the capacity of the cell, the higher the discharge rate is.

I allways have my charger within reach and have a couple of extra sets of batteries. For the best results (if I have the time) I set the charger to use only a 200mA current, this takes longer but it prolongs the life of the batteries.

NiMH batteries have quite a fast self-discharge rate. That is, they'll run out even when on the shelf. This self-discharge rate varies between battery brands. Some may be a couple of weeks... others longer.

There are some special (more expensive) NiMH cells that have very low self-discharge rates. Can't remember the link right now...

But 200 shots sounds about right.
Matt

Thanks guys , looks like I'll plod on with the recharegables for a while with the old CRV3 for back up (non rechargeable).

I only shot around 200 because I'd already taken 250 on the SD Card ,
just downloaded the card (450 shots ), cleared it and loosed off another 200 and the battery level still seems (fingers crossed) to be showing okay.

Looks like I just have a problem with shelf life storage then.

Thanks for the prompt answers.......

Matt, I think you were looking for Eneloops ( http://www.eneloop.info/ )
This is the Sanyo brand, meanwhile there are other companie's varieties as well.
There is a thread about the Eneloops at another forum, I think it also mentions other brands.
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1036&message=24486010

I use the same batteries as Clarky, though my charger is old and takes around 6 hours, not that that should make a difference. I too get around 300-400 shots even with the odd flash shot. I also use some old Kodak 1850 NiMH and even those manage around the 250 shots mark. The Alkaline batteries that came with the camera managed around 60 shots before dying.