[pcfranchina]

I am currently using Power2000 2900mAh HiMH and the charger that came with them and I am really not sure if its a good setup. I believe its all Adorama's branded stuff and its about 2 years old. When I use my flash with TTL in my house or small room its not bad, but if I am in a church or larger room its brutally slow and kills batteries very fast. I know it would be slower but not this bad. Anyone have any recomendations for batteries?

Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[kittykat46]

A 2-year old NiMH battery, even if unused may have lost a substantial amount of its charge holding capacity. I had a set which was only lightly used, but after 2 years of cycling it was basically junk.
If you can get your hands on a battery tester (there are good and cheap ones available) its easy to confirm how much charge your battery is actually accepting "fully charged". My 2-year old Energizer recyclables were taking only 30-40% when "fully chaged"

Eneloops and MahaPowerex rechargeables work very well, and keep their charge for months. I get hundreds of AF540 flash shots on one charge.

Bounce flash in large rooms and high-ceilinged buildings like churches use a lot of power, of course. It takes longer to recycle the flash, and you get much fewer shots per re-charge on the battery.
Keep another set of 4 fully recharged batteries always in your camera bag, and you'll never worry of running out of juice halfway through an event.

[pcfranchina]

an extra set? i went through 4 sets in a 1 hour christening and i really didnt shoot that much. Ok now i need to shop for some batteries.

[pcfranchina]

Anyone have any experience with the Sanyo Enelope batteries?

[Ash]

You shouldn't be going through 4 sets of AAs in an hour unless you're discharging them non-stop. You may just need a good set of AAs like the Eneloops you suggested to yourself!
They're one of the best rated AAs, along with Maha's Powerex 2700mAh AAs, for high discharge devices like flashes.

[kkoether]

That's all I use in my K200D. I also use them in my old AF200S. They work quite well in both and last a long time. I probably get 1400 to 1500 shots using my battery grip. Never really checked how long they last in the flash. I don't take that many flash pictures. You won't be disappointed.

[dosdan]

I am currently using Power2000 2900mAh HiMH and the charger that came with them and I am really not sure if its a good setup.

1. I don't think there any genuine 2900mAh AAs available. Also the high-capacity ones (2700mAh) have a high self-discharge rate.

2. Unless it's a smart charger, the charger if very quick may have stuffed up the batteries through overcharging. How long does it take to charge a set?

I use Sony Eneloops & a La Crosse BC-900 and charge at the 700mA rate (0.3C) so it takes about 4 hrs. I could charge faster, but I want the batteries to last.



Dan.

[egordon99]

Anyone have any experience with the Sanyo Enelope batteries?

They worked great in my 540FGZ, and now power my 580EXII and 430EXII. I highly recommend eneloops

[Pentax_XTC]

Eneloops are well worth the price. I have 8 of them and I only went through 1 1/2 sets of 4 when I was in Florida for 5 days. And it was not sunny...

[code4code5]

Every now and again you can find the external battery pack for the 540 on eBay. It attaches to the flash and draws on 6 C cell batteries. Supposedly, the recycle time is extremely quick and they last forever.

[RobReab]

I've noticed that the age of rechargeables seems to be very important. I've got many different brands/mah sizes/ages. When I got my new K2000, the only rechargeable set that worked was a new set of Kodaks that I purchased on vacation when I ran out on my old camera. I have an number of sets with higher mah ratings than the kodaks but none worked even though they work fine with my old camera. I purchased a couple of sets of 2700's and they work fine. I think these batteries lose some of their punch after a period of time or so. just mho...