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Battery capacity concerns using Fuji S2 - Please advise

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NU*Mommy

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I'm entering the realm of digital photography soon, as having been a fairly dedicated film photographer for 10 years.

I'm swaying towards the Fuji S2, but I have a concern about the battery capacity. It takes AA's, and I'm concerned about the life of the batteries during shoots.

I'm not sure why they didn't use a proprietary battery for a camera with such high regard...possibly someone can answer this question for me? It juse seems that I am swaying against this model, and this is the only reason why - otherwise I'm really impressed!

How does the battery limitation work for you? Just a quick note will do.

Thank you!
--
Brianna
 
Brianna - I have had an S2 since last October - I use rechargeable AAA's and a set of those rated at 1850 mah will last all day under typical shooting - the lithiums are ok but I find them not so long lived as I would have hoped although with regular use a pair might last two to three weeks on average. Whenever u download remove all batteries and use the mains power only to conserve the lithiums especially I find. Best option overall may be to find an external battery pack to power the unit all day. I use the battery which comes with my Image Tank and a step down cable rated at 5v - that's last for ages on one charge.

Hope that helps - it's a great camera!

Ian
Brianna Graham said:
I'm entering the realm of digital photography soon, as having been
a fairly dedicated film photographer for 10 years.

I'm swaying towards the Fuji S2, but I have a concern about the
battery capacity. It takes AA's, and I'm concerned about the life
of the batteries during shoots.

I'm not sure why they didn't use a proprietary battery for a camera
with such high regard...possibly someone can answer this question
for me? It juse seems that I am swaying against this model, and
this is the only reason why - otherwise I'm really impressed!

How does the battery limitation work for you? Just a quick note
will do.

Thank you!
--
Brianna
Click to expand...
 
I just typed out a long response to this within the last week. Search for battery and teski.

Teski
Brianna Graham said:
I'm entering the realm of digital photography soon, as having been
a fairly dedicated film photographer for 10 years.

I'm swaying towards the Fuji S2, but I have a concern about the
battery capacity. It takes AA's, and I'm concerned about the life
of the batteries during shoots.

I'm not sure why they didn't use a proprietary battery for a camera
with such high regard...possibly someone can answer this question
for me? It juse seems that I am swaying against this model, and
this is the only reason why - otherwise I'm really impressed!

How does the battery limitation work for you? Just a quick note
will do.

Thank you!
--
Brianna
Click to expand...
 
I wouldn't worry about the battery life, as long as you take reasonable precautions.

1) Always use rechargable AA's.

2) Charge them before any anticipated shooting. NiMH batteries don't develop a memory so partial discharge/charging cycles won't damage them.

3) Carry spares. In a pinch alkaline AA's (available in any drugstore) will supply emergency power.

4) I use CR123's as well. I also carry spares.

5) Use an external flash instead of the camera built-in flash.

6) For speedy battery changing, get an extra AA battery tray and put a spare charged set of AA's there. This makes it very easy to swap batteries and it's way cheaper than what you'd pay for an extra proprietary Nikon or Canon battery pack.

Anthony
Brianna Graham said:
I'm entering the realm of digital photography soon, as having been
a fairly dedicated film photographer for 10 years.

I'm swaying towards the Fuji S2, but I have a concern about the
battery capacity. It takes AA's, and I'm concerned about the life
of the batteries during shoots.

I'm not sure why they didn't use a proprietary battery for a camera
with such high regard...possibly someone can answer this question
for me? It juse seems that I am swaying against this model, and
this is the only reason why - otherwise I'm really impressed!

How does the battery limitation work for you? Just a quick note
will do.

Thank you!
--
Brianna
Click to expand...
 
Thank you for your replies! I really appreciate the link as well, Teski.

I'm glad to hear that the battery issue won't be as much of an "issue" as I thought!

Brianna
 
I agree and if you are really concerned about the CR123's, then you can replace them with the Nikon MB16 battery pack. Also uses AA's.

Actually, I find using the MB16 much better than relying on the CR123's. Why? 1) Using rechargeable AA's across the board. 2) Using freshly charged AA's every time I go out.

It's a GREAT camera. You will love it.

Declan
 
Brianna Graham said:
I'm swaying towards the Fuji S2, but I have a concern about the
battery capacity. It takes AA's, and I'm concerned about the life
of the batteries during shoots.
...
How does the battery limitation work for you?
Click to expand...
Just out of curiosity, why do you see this as a "limitation"? I see the use of readily available batteries as a big advantage. I have any number of devices that used proprietary batteries and for which no batteries can be found, at any price.

It's nice to know that I'll be able to use my S2 for many years to come. I don't think AAs are going out of style any time soon.
 
I shot for 5 hours yesterday on a single set of AA NiMH batteries and CR-123A's. Total of around 800 shots + review on the LCD.

My friend with a Fuji 4900 went through 3 of his NP80 propriatary batteries. He was on his last one when we finished, had we gone on for another half hour or so he would have been camera-less.

If I had run out, there was a grocery store about a block away.

My batteries still have life in them, although I'm going to put the AA in the charger tonight.

Proprietary anything is a liability.
 
I shoot roughly 800 photos per event, and have so far only once needed to change batteries midway through. I use microdrives, which I am told are more power-intensive than flash-ram cards.

Yesterday I took 2 gigs of shots over the course of 4 hours, and then took another 100 shots this morning on the same batteries.

So, as far as I can tell, nothing to worry about - batteries on my S2 last a lot longer than the proprietary one in my Canon G1.

--
Charles Bandes
http://www.bandesphoto.com
 
Ian Chapman said:
Brianna - I have had an S2 since last October - I use rechargeable
AAA's and a set of those rated at 1850 mah will last all day under
typical shooting
Click to expand...
surely you meant AA's ...I agree that being able to run the camera on AA's is a great advantage & that the S2 is pretty good on energy comsumption ...I don't believe I will ever buy a camera that uses proprietary batteries again
Ian Chapman said:
Whenever u download remove all
batteries and use the mains power only to conserve the lithiums
especially I find.
Click to expand...
one only has to remove the lithiums
no problem with the AA's being left in
same was true for the S1
--
pbase & dpreview supporter
Fuji forum member since 5/2001
http://www.pbase.com/artichoke
 
It's great to carry only AA's for the S2, MB-16 & SB-80's. I use 2 camera setups at weddings and carry 15 sets (of 4) Powerex or Lenmar 2000 mah rechargables. That gives me 2 complete sets for each camera/flash combo and one extra full set. I have extra battery trays for the S2's and MB-16's so a battery change only takes seconds.

So far I have never used more than 12 of the 15 sets in a full days wedding shooting. Approx 800 to 1000 frames per camera. I use 8 microdrives and 4-512MB CF cards, and usually worry more about running out of storage than batteries.

I use the Maha "cool" chargers and "top off" all batteries the morning before I shoot. These chargers are nice because they have indicators for each battery. That makes it easier to identify a weak cell if a set doesn't seem to be performing as expected. These chargers also have a rapid charge setting, so even if I'm on my last set of batteries I can be recharging others.

Dan.
 
Dan Christenson said:
It's great to carry only AA's for the S2, MB-16 & SB-80's. I use 2
camera setups at weddings and carry 15 sets (of 4) Powerex or
Lenmar 2000 mah rechargables.
Click to expand...
Dan:

Sounds like you are an intensive S2 user. How many times have the shutters fired on each camera? Have they ever failed you? Any concerns about using these for weddings? What kind of workflow do you follow to process all those images? And how do you deliver them to the couple, on paper or CD?
--
Carl Feather
Photographer/Writer
Wish I was in West Virginia
 
Ian Chapman said:
Brianna - I have had an S2 since last October - I use rechargeable
AAA's and a set of those rated at 1850 mah will last all day under
typical shooting - the lithiums are ok but I find them not so long
lived as I would have hoped although with regular use a pair might
last two to three weeks on average. Whenever u download remove all
batteries and use the mains power only to conserve the lithiums
especially I find. Best option overall may be to find an external
battery pack to power the unit all day. I use the battery which
comes with my Image Tank and a step down cable rated at 5v - that's
last for ages on one charge.

Hope that helps - it's a great camera!

Ian
Click to expand...
Ian ...I have a digicam power pack which is small and light. I get between 300-400 pics per charge but the camera will only work when the 123s are in position.

Is this your experience?. With the usual 4AAs in position I can remove the 123s and then I will get about 180 pics per charge. Does not maj

ke a great deal of sense. Anyone with experience with this problem please speak up.

Leon
Ian Chapman said:
Brianna Graham said:
I'm entering the realm of digital photography soon, as having been
a fairly dedicated film photographer for 10 years.

I'm swaying towards the Fuji S2, but I have a concern about the
battery capacity. It takes AA's, and I'm concerned about the life
of the batteries during shoots.

I'm not sure why they didn't use a proprietary battery for a camera
with such high regard...possibly someone can answer this question
for me? It juse seems that I am swaying against this model, and
this is the only reason why - otherwise I'm really impressed!

How does the battery limitation work for you? Just a quick note
will do.

Thank you!
--
Brianna
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
--
leon
 
I'm glad you've proved my "theory" wrong - about the batteries being a limitation. That's the answer I was hoping to receive.

I agree that proprietary batteries are inconvenient. In my opinion however, they last longer.

I will look into the options posted here. Thank you for the wonderful advice!

Brianna Graham
 
leon Woolf said:
Ian ...I have a digicam power pack which is small and light. I get
between 300-400 pics per charge but the camera will only work when
the 123s are in position.

Is this your experience?. With the usual 4AAs in position I can
remove the 123s and then I will get about 180 pics per charge. Does
not maj
ke a great deal of sense. Anyone with experience with this problem
please speak up.
Click to expand...
The CR123's power the autofocus and other electronic items, including the builtin flash. When you remove the CR123's, all the energy requirements for those functions (except the builtin flash) are transfered to the AA's. So a reduction in the life of the AA's is to be expected.

Fuji says to remove the CR123's when using an AC adaptor. But I am not sure about your power pack, but I would suspect the same applies. I believe, if you leave the CR123's in thay will drain much faster. Something to do with the dual power supply electronics and the external power plug.

Declan
 
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