Gunner wrote:

I was fortunate enough this week, to swap for a minty Olympus C-3000
Zoom digital camera with 128meg smart media. Friend of mine is
upgrading to hip slick and cool wonder camera

Having had some very elderly digital cameras...this thing blows me
away. And its obsolete...chuckle...but is way way cool and will do
EVERYTHING I need a camera to do for me.

I didnt get any batteries with it..he uses nicads and kept them, So I
loaded it up with fresh Alkalines..and got about 10 daylight pictures
out of them....damn thats a battery hungry *******!!!

So Ive been doing some research on digital camera batts this evening,
along with chargers etc

It would appear that everyone is pushing Nickle metal hydride
rechargables.

Which for me..is better..NIMH or NiCads? It may be weeks or longer
before I need to take any pictures and am worried about the self
discharge of the NiMH batts

On the other hand..NiCads appear to be only 800mah at best, based on
ebay descriptions

On the gripping hand...NiMH appear to have over twice the amp hour
rating..1800 is average for AAs, going up to 2500 mah

Is this what I want?

http://cgi.ebay.com/MAHA-MH-C204F-CHARGER-w-AA-Batteries-Kit-Brand-New_W0QQitemZ7600147921QQcategoryZ64349QQtcZphotoQ QcmdZViewItem

Or do I want to buy nicads and a smart charger with a conditioner
circuit?

Any input would be appreciated.

Also..anyone have one of these cameras AND the proper AC wall wart? I
need to know the voltage and polarity. The manual I downloaded didnt
have any specs

For digital cameras, unless there is a Lithium Ion battery available or you
need long shelf life with no charging available, NiMH is the way to go.
There are lithium AA batteries that also work nicely but they are hideously
expensive and not rechargeable--these would be the choice if shelf life was
more important than cost.

The discharge curve for NiCD doesn't work nearly as well with digital
cameras as does NiMH. Alkalines the same.

Two links for batteries if you're into digital photography:

http://www.thomasdistributing.com/
http://www.amondotech.com

Note that Thomas Distributing has several rechargeable lithium CRV-3
batteries that should work in that camera, give about the same number of
shots as NiMH and hold a charge much longer in storage. For your use this
might be a better way to go. Downside is that they cost more.

I believe they may have an external lithium ion battery pack that will work
with it as well.

They've also got a wall-wart purpose made for Olympus cameras--it's made by
digipower, and you might want to check http://www.digipowersolutions.com
to be sure of the part number--digipower also lists the voltages with the
product description.


--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)