how's *YOUR* K200D battery life ??

[khardur]

I'm up to around 650 shots on the current charge. (in-camera AA's + grip)
Both battery meters still read full.

[Aristophanes]

I get about 750 shots on my Sanyo Eneloops. This also includes substantial histogram viewing and showing my 2 year-old the photos I just took of him!

I am raving about the superiority of AAs for their flexibility, durability, availability and longevity. It's proven, workable tech. Good for Pentax on sticking with them.

[madbrain]

Originally Posted by Aristophanes

I get about 750 shots on my Sanyo Eneloops. This also includes substantial histogram viewing and showing my 2 year-old the photos I just took of him!

I am raving about the superiority of AAs for their flexibility, durability, availability and longevity. It's proven, workable tech. Good for Pentax on sticking with them.

I agree. They should come up with an upgrade to the K20D that uses AAs. I might buy one then.

[Moo]

Originally Posted by madbrain

I agree. They should come up with an upgrade to the K20D that uses AAs. I might buy one then.

Like this?

As far as I know the bottom of the K10D and K20D are the same.. At least, the same official Pentax battery grip fits both cameras, so this should too.

On ebay

You'd have to get the AA battery holders for it from somewhere though.. Maybe ask the same seller..

[madbrain]

Originally Posted by Moo

Like this?

As far as I know the bottom of the K10D and K20D are the same.. At least, the same official Pentax battery grip fits both cameras, so this should too.

On ebay

You'd have to get the AA battery holders for it from somewhere though.. Maybe ask the same seller..

Thanks for the link, I wasn't aware of that option. While having a battery grip is nice for some occasions (and I'm considering it for things like very long exposures), it also makes the body a lot larger and heavier to carry. I have very small hands and having the grip on all the time would be a major inconvenience to me. It also would mean having to get yet another (bigger) camera bag.

I would much prefer if they had a K20D upgrade with native AA support. But I have to say the K20D was out of my price range at the time of my purchase, so I didn't really consider it very carefully - I only learned that it didn't use AAs after I purchased my K200D. AA support was one of the major reasons I chose the K200D over all other cameras.

When time comes for me to upgrade (and I have no idea when that would be), I would like to have another higher resolution Pentax camera that works with AAs.

[cucme]

Originally Posted by K200D

That could be the case if you are using older NiMH AA's that's seen its share of charge and discharge cycles. It was like that for me as well.

I have similar but worse problem: my K200D does not turn on with my NiMH batteries that has been working fine for Fuji S6500FD. I even inserted fresh AA alkalines but the same problem. Only the original Lithiums work... I am looking for eneloop now and will see what happens..

[madbrain]

Originally Posted by cucme

I have similar but worse problem: my K200D does not turn on with my NiMH batteries that has been working fine for Fuji S6500FD. I even inserted fresh AA alkalines but the same problem. Only the original Lithiums work... I am looking for eneloop now and will see what happens..

That's not good! The lithiums are very expensive.
Alkalines should work. Duracell alkalines worked me the one time my NiMH failed. But I didn't get too many shots - maybe 150 - 200 over the next 3 days on a trip..

I am using Eneloops now and they are fine with the K200D.

It seems that my Energizer regular NiMH have been a problem with the K200D though. Sometimes they just won't power it up even after being recharged 3 days before. I have been measuring them with my MAHA C9000 charger and it says they are among the highest mAh batteries I have when discharged a couple hours after charge. I have yet to figure out what the exact problem is but the K200D does seem to be picky about which NiMH batteries it likes.

[FotoPete]

Yea same problem here. I've been using a couple sets of Energizer NiMHs for a year on K100D without problems. Bought a set of Sony CycleEnergy Precharged one day when I was caught without a spare set.

When I upgraded to K200D, The Sonys seemed to be the only set 'holding' their charge. My energizers show like half or empty even having been recharged recently. Its only been recent but I added a set of RayOVac Hybrids and 2 of Eneloops. Seems the K200D only likes the LSD type NiMHs.

(Energizer's selling some new NiMHs...2450mAH ones that boast 40% more charge retention over the 2500mAHs that sold in 2005 according to the packaging...I wonder how those will work out.)

[expatCanuck]

Originally Posted by Aristophanes

I get about 750 shots on my Sanyo Eneloops. This also includes substantial histogram viewing and showing my 2 year-old the photos I just took of him!

Thanks for that. Gave me a flashback to when I was taking movies of my boy (now 12) a decade or so ago, and flipping around the viewer so that he could see what I was seeing.

Cheers,

- Richard

[Rob]

Originally Posted by cucme

I have similar but worse problem: my K200D does not turn on with my NiMH batteries ..

I just took 280 10Meg Jpegs with 4 AA NiMH 2300mAHr Engergizers.
That includes downloading most of them and ALOT of fooling around with the LCD, Menus etc, because I was getting familiar with my brand new camera.

This is adequate for me, I always have extra batteries and even in a long day of shooting I'm not likely to take that many pictures.

[Alfie1965]

Had mine about 2 weeks nowstarted straight away with 2700ma Rechargeable AA's taken over 700 photos so far and used camera 3 times to show slide show on the TV lots of reviewing and approx 35% flash - battery meter is showing half battery still when switched on, but quickly drops to empty (not flashing) after a few shots - got picture review set to 3seconds as well - well impressed. I just upgraded from an ist*DL2 and that would have died long before now.

[madbrain]

hi,

Originally Posted by Rob

I just took 280 10Meg Jpegs with 4 AA NiMH 2300mAHr Engergizers.
That includes downloading most of them and ALOT of fooling around with the LCD, Menus etc, because I was getting familiar with my brand new camera.

This is adequate for me, I always have extra batteries and even in a long day of shooting I'm not likely to take that many pictures.

I have some 2300 NiMH energizers that cause problems with my K200D. I recharged a set on friday 8/8 - I did a "refresh" on my Maha C-9000 charger, which charge/discharge/charge cycle on my NiMH. This showed the batteries as having capacities between 1600 and 1900 mAh. Not new batteries, but not dead.

Yesterday (8/11), after doing some long exposures, I needed a new set for the K200D, and put those energizers in. The K200d would not turn on.

I tried another set (cheap grey Lenmar 2500) which was fine. I took off one Lenmar, and tried every one of the 4 Energizers in the last battery slot. The camera only powered up with one of the four Energizers in place, and the battery indicator did not show full.

I used my Maha to discharge those energizer and measure their remaining charge. One had already gone down to about 1300 mAh and another 1000 mAh . That's pretty bad for sitting 3 days in a drawer ! But still, there was some charge left, and I feel the K200D should have powered up.

Since I got the Maha C9000, I labeled all my batteries with a sharpie, and put them all in a spreadsheet, along with their charge date, and the available capacity measured. This will help me weed out the bad batteries.

It certainly seems the K200D is picky about the batteries. It may be the voltage. However, my Nikon Coolpix L1 digicam also sometimes doesn't like some of the recently batteries too. I think I will need to also test the batteries in the cameras right after they are charged, along with writing down the measured capacity ...

One thing I can say so far is that the Sanyo Eneloops have always worked after being charged, but I have only had them a few weeks.

According to my measurements, between Energizer batteries, the 2200 are better performers than the 2300, both for measured capacity as well as ability to retain charge. I will post some of my spreadsheet data later.

Between Lenmar, the Lenmar 2500 purple batteries (http://server2.electronicsmicro.com/...-L._SL500_.jpg) are much worse (around 1700 - 1900 mAh measured) than the Lenmar 2500 grey batteries (http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA280_.jpg), which measure about 2300.

[madbrain]

Originally Posted by madbrain

hi,
I have some 2300 NiMH energizers that cause problems with my K200D. I recharged a set on friday 8/8 - I did a "refresh" on my Maha C-9000 charger, which charge/discharge/charge cycle on my NiMH. This showed the batteries as having capacities between 1600 and 1900 mAh. Not new batteries, but not dead.

I recharged the Energizers 2300 today. Put all 4 directly from the charger into the K200D. It would not power up. The K200D still worked with other batteries. I tried 2 of the problematic Energizer batteries in my Nikon coolpix L1 digicam (it only needs 2 AAs). The battery gauge on the Nikon did not show full, but I was able to take over 400 pictures, including some with flash. That was quite some strain on my wrist given I don't have a shutter release cable for it it. I stopped the test when the 1 GB SD was full.

It does seem like the K200D is very picky about the batteries.

I also checked the batteries that were discharged on monday out of the camera - one of them had another 664 mAh, another 490, another 377, and another 12. Clearly all batteries, even from same brand and model, and purchased together, are not made equal.

[jimboberella]

Too early to tell for me and if I'm going out to shoot I always charge the batteries the night before anyway. I've had my K200d for a month and have taken about 700 exposures with a set of 2700mah rechargeable NiMh and have only charged them once because I was shooting the next day. The battery meter still says full.

[Clicker]

Originally Posted by madbrain

That's not good! The lithiums are very expensive.
Alkalines should work. Duracell alkalines worked me the one time my NiMH failed. But I didn't get too many shots - maybe 150 - 200 over the next 3 days on a trip..

I am using Eneloops now and they are fine with the K200D.

It seems that my Energizer regular NiMH have been a problem with the K200D though. Sometimes they just won't power it up even after being recharged 3 days before. I have been measuring them with my MAHA C9000 charger and it says they are among the highest mAh batteries I have when discharged a couple hours after charge. I have yet to figure out what the exact problem is but the K200D does seem to be picky about which NiMH batteries it likes.

I have the same issue even when i use the battery selector (grip or body or auto) it works on auto so far...if i choose either grip or body it shows up briefly then dies LOL even after a full charge.

btw i have well over 2000 now on the included batteries but i'm going to test out my rechargeables at the local zoo today.

i also have to add, i did have "cold" issues with the original li-ions showing as "dead" while riding one of those open top buses in SF on a cold morning...after a quick panick attack and realizing it was a 'cold" battery issue i just cradled the grip between my legs to warm them up heh