dknudsen

I think I have enough battery power and spares to last our 3 weeks in Australia, but with all of the unique sights and my itchy shutter finger, I'm not sure. It's not your usual over the counter battery. I have a charger with a standard U.S. power cable. If I bring my charger, will it be easy enough to find someone willing to set me up with an adaptor over there? Maybe the hotels or a camera shop?

Mucky

Hi dknudsen,
Its not unusual to charge these things up in oz.I am from UK so its a little different from US. However, you can get an adaptor from any electrical shop in oz but surely your electrical shop in USA can help?
it will alter the plug size from U.S to Australia as they have 2 pins but they are flat and angled, once you have that your hotel room will be perfectly ok to charge your batteries.
Not familiar with USA Power; but I guess your 220v-240v too?
In the past I have found a restaurant table near to an AC socket and charged whilst I ate ! The staff never knew.

Good luck

Muck

ALF

Mucky is right about the plug adapter - you just need to get a simple adapter that allows you to plug your U.S. cord into an Australian socket. The two parallel prongs on a U.S. plug are angled into a 'V' shape instead. As for the power itself, AUstralia uses 220v, while we use 110v. Most digital camera battery chargers can handle this, though. Either there is a switch on the side that lets you select between 110 and 220; or the charger autosenses the voltage and adjusts itself. My Sony charger autosenses voltage, but my laptop power block must be switched.

OzMike

G'day Dknudsen,
you already have the info regards charging from mains power.
Here is an alternative for you.
If you are traveling the country in a car you can use a chargerunit that plugs into the cigarette lighter socket. Check with the maker of your camera for availability and price.
Also tour operators, especially those that cater for small groups will usually allow you to plug it into the socket on their car.

Enjoy,
Mike

JohnInMiami

In the US, you can find the adaptor for Oz at any Target or K-Mart store. The price is reasonable, usually 3 or 4 dollars. You can also purchase a pack of assorted adaptors that will work in just about any country for around $15.

Look at http://www.sd4.com/australia/picbody1.asp?id=64 for a picture of an Aussie electrical outlet.

mary123

Just got back from Australia and we had the same problem. We took so many pics that the camera constantly needed to be charged. We bought an adapter in the US, but it took forever to charge anything in Australia. Most hotels have adapters. Just ask when you check in and some places ask for a deposit so you don't run off with it. Otherwise, I found it much cheaper to buy one in Australia.

Abby43

Could someone on this thread please help me? I just bought my first digital camera and have not a clue how to use it. I am going to have one of my camera-savvy students try to explain how it works to me. I am traveling to NZ and OZ for 6 weeks on June 29 and don't know if I have what I need to keep the camera working. I have a rechargeable battery but aside from the proper adapter what else do I need? I bought a 1 gb card so I should have enough memory as I won't take pics every day. Please help-I am desperate for information! Thank you.

ALF

What kind of camera do you have? They are quite different from each other, but most have a LCD viewscreen that allows you to frame a shot, and to look at it later. Also, most have a switch that changes the camera from off to 'still' (or something like that) for taking still photos. That switch also has a 'play' (or something like that) position for playing back what you have shot. There should also be a 'menu' button that you can use to select options, the most important of which will be 'delete'. You will want to review the photos you have taken and delete any bad ones to make more room in your memory card.

Here is a website that includes directions on how to best use a digital camera:
http://www.pcphotoreview.com/basic3040crx.aspx

Abby43

Hey ALF-I just bought a digital Canon ELPH 4.0 megapixel. I have no clue how to use it. Apparently it's easy. What's a still shot? Anyway, it comes with the rechargeable battery so I figured I could just recharge along the way if I get the right adapter. I assume the adapter is the plug I need for 220V?? Isn't this the kind of thing you buy in a travel store for a couple of bucks so you can plug your appliances into the wall?

ALF

Abby,
I assume that you have the model S400, right? If so, then the controls are pretty simple. You turn the camera on with the on/off button on top. Push the big button on top to take a picture. Push the lever on top to zoom the lens from wide-angle to telephoto.

On the back is a knob with little icons for selecting the picture mode: It should be set to the camera icon to take normal 'still' (i.e. not movies) photos. If you want to shoot a short (low-quality) movie, turn the knob to the movie camera icon.

There is a slide switch at the upper-right on the back. It should also be set on the camera icon to shoot pictures. To view what you have shot, move that slide switch to the little blue triangle ('play') icon. The little 4-button circle on the back is then used like a joystick to move up/down or left/right through the photos you have taken.

All the other buttons do neat stuff, but that is the quickie overview.

The wall-plug charger is capable of handling 220-240 volts, so you just need to buy the inexpensive adapter which converts the plug configuration from North American to Australia/New Zealand.

abramsdn

I had my digital camera in Australia last year and had the plug adaptor. However, the voltage converter on the camera charger apparently wasn't good enough and it started smoking the second time I used it. You may want to check on this before you leave just in case.

dknudsen

ok, so I just read the manual on my charger... It's an Olympus LI-10C. It says that no voltage conversion is needed, just the plug adaptor. I know I can find a cheap one somewhere, perhaps my Radio Shack will have one. Or maybe I will just wait until I'm over there. Thanks for all of the suggestions, esp. the one about asking at my hotels.