We're leaving for London April 9 and I just bought my first digital camera -Canon A520 - and installed the batteries the camera came with. After just using the camera for a very short time, the screen said "change batteries". Does anyone have any experience with this particular camera? If I buy rechargeable batteries will they last all day? I don't want to get stuck with my camera shutting down on me when I'm out for the day. Thanks for any advice.

Why don't you buy some "NB5H" batteries on ebay, cheap as can be.

Good rechargables should easily last all day (unless you're taking a ton of pictures, as in hundreds, with flash and the LCD), though it's still a good idea to carry around either a spare set (if it takes proprietary batteries) or a set of normal batteries (if it takes AA, though a spare set of rechargables is fine, too, and will last longer than normal AA).

I have two sets of rechargeable batteries for my Canon and always carry the spare recharged set with me. I've never had fully charged batteries not last for a full day. I typically get 2-3 days when I'm shooting 50-80 pics a day, but there are too many variables to be accurate here. (And I also keep a set of regular batteries just in case.)
I really like the camera, but I wish it would give something like a 5-pic warning before the batteries go or the memory card is full.

Same thing happened to me with my new A520 - dead batteries quickly.

You said you used the batteries that came with the camera - so did I. Also, when I got it out of the box I spent quite a lot of time messing with the zoom, setting up preferences, taking quick shots and video, dinking around with viewing and deleting shots, etc.

I realize now after the camera has consistently been running well for better than a day on run-of-the-mill AAs that:

a) the batteries that Canon packs with it are weak.

b) you burn a lot of juice in those first few hours of familiarizing yourself with the camera.

I think you'll be fine - and the bonus is that at least it takes AAs, which are available almost everywhere.


(By the way, have you upgraded from the 16MB memory card that comes with the A520? You'll want to do that - it will fill up after just a few shots.)

The AA batteries supplied with Canon cameras are alkaline types, which are only meant to get you started. Buy a set (or two) of NiMH batteries with a worldwide charger, as you see on this Best Buy page: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....questid=134915 You should be able to find them in any good camera or electical shop. Just make sure the charger will work on 240V electricity.

My Olympus uses AA batteries. After trying several different types I found that lithium batteries, brand name Energizer, last far longer than others. They are available at K-Mart. They are difficult to find in Europe so bring extras. Mine lasted about 4 days at about 50 shots per day. All alkaline batteries are junk in a digital camera.

I have a Canon S2 and recently bought a charger and 2 sets of 2500 maH batteries from Thomas Distributing. The MHC204W charger is fairly new and has great ratings. It works worldwide with a local plug adaptor and takes about an hour to charge a set of batteries. I bought one set of Maha batteries and one set of Energizer so that I'd be able to keep them separate. I've been very pleased with both the charger and batteries. Also, the package arrived in about three days.

I have an A510. It's just that the batteries initially supplied aren't up to much. Rechargeables are a worthwhile investment, as is using a card reader, rather than the camera's own cables and power supply, to transfer files to a computer.

Up to you whether you want to lug a charger (?plus transformer and plug adapter) along on holiday, or just buy ordinary AA batteries locally. But a card reader takes up very little space and adds flexibility.

There is no reason not to use rechargeable batteries, even if lithium last longer. You still have to toss them when you are done. I just bought a charger, 6AA and 2AAA batteries at Costco for $20. The charger is the size and weight of a deck of cards. If you use the LCD panel for composing pictures, it uses more power. Personally I use the viewfinder 98% of the time, like I have always done with a camera.