Battery Life

[Col Colt]

I just got a Kodak Z612 camera and let the battery charge for three hours. After playing around with it for a while, viewing it's different capabilities, decided to try some shots with it. I got maybe 20 pics and the battery died. Is this usual for a digital camera? That's not very long and you'd need to carry quite a few batteries if going on a trip. Doesn't sound like a good design to me.

[Steve R Jones]

What does the manual say about charging? Three hours doesn't sound very long to me.

[Col Colt]

That's what Kodak indicated in their manual but, the light turned green after 2 1/2 hours so, I took it out, being anxious about trying the camera out. today after it died (gave me a two minute warning) I plugged it in for a recharge and the light hasn't turned green yet...that was three hours ago. Surely they last longer than what I've experienced.

[Nix]

I think it takes a few charge / discharge cycles to get it up to full capacity.

See

http://www.dcresource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27036

Also


from here

http://www.kodak.com/global/en/servi...5&pq-path=8815

[Col Colt]

All in all, I think it was two problems. First, they probably put a small charge on the battery and it set around for who knows how long on the shelves. When I charged it up, it just bumped it up to it's capacity (2 1/2 hours) I then, being new to it, used the LCD screen as a viewfinder going through all the functions/features the camera had and it was in auto focus mode, which I didn't know how to shut off until I went through the tutorial. The second charge took 3 1/2 hours-an hour longer than the first. Maybe it'll all work out as you indicated after a few recharges...hopefully. Meanwhile, I got a good deal on the CRV3 battery as Walgreen's had them on sale for $5.50 each-I bought two!!

Thanks for the info and the links.

[Train]

Hybrid rechargeable batteries have caught my eye.
http://www.digicamhelp.com/accessori...ers/hybrid.php

Might want to check them out further.

[Col Colt]

I see nothing wrong with hybrids. No need in purchasing OEM when there's many more as good or better out there. The two CRV3's I got the other day were Duracell and for a lot cheaper than Kodak's. Now, if I can just decide what mode i want to shot in...Auto, Program, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, etc. Too bad the camera only goes up to f/8. sometimes you want a little more depth of field-especially when doing a group and there's four rows of people...not like my old Nikon F2.

[Topdog]

Most portable devices I have bought usually tell you to do an initial charge of between 8-16 hours, depending on manufacturer and device and full working capacity will take 3 or 4 charge/discharge cycles...