[MrTea]

Hello Everyone,

In 4 weeks I am going on a two week camping holiday, which means it is very unlikely I will have access to any battery chrging facilities. With this in mind, I recently purchased the K100D, so I can use AAs and CR-3Vs.

I am currently using some old 2000mah Uniross NiMh batteries, which give about 175 - 200 shots per set. This with a fair bit of reviewing, and downloading to the PC (I do not have a card reader), but no flash (I think I have only activated this about 3 times so far). It is unlikely these have ever been charged properly, as I currently only have a cheap charger.

I plan to get some Eneloops and a "proper" charger (Ansmann Energy 4). I also have a set of Energizer lithiums.

My questions, to those of you are experienced in these matters, are:-

1) Does it sound to you as though my camera is working as properly? I have read that some cameras have the shutdown voltage set too high, thus battery life is not as expected; but from what I gather, often these cameras are so fussy they fail to work at all with ordinary rechargeables.

2) Assuming the answer to question 1) is yes, my camera is fine, do you think it is worth me shelling out for a set of CR-3Vs, or would 2 sets of Energizer lithiums - which are much cheaper, and more readily available - do the job? I don't know how many pictures I will take over 2 weeks, but I would have thought it is unlikely to be much more than 1,000. A lot will be weather dependent. When it rains, the Pentax will stay in the bag and I will have to use my old compact, which I reckon should be easier to waterproof. Do CR-3Vs give that much more than AA lithiums, to be worth the extra cost?

For the reasons stated in the first paragraph, and for reasons of space and weight saving, I may well decide to leave the charger at home, so it is pretty essential that I take enough power to last.

Thank you in advance,

Aidan