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Old June 10th 05, 10:06 AM
Susan (Graphic Artist)
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Rod Speed wrote:
Its terminally stupid to be limiting your choices with
that silly requirement that it must use AA batterys.


I think I understand your point about AA batteries.
One the one hand, the battery has nothing to do with the pictures.
So, you are correct. I am an idiot for making AA a requirement.

On the other hand, when I vacation, I carry with me:
- a Nikon CoolPix 5700 (which needs at least 2 proprietary batteries)
- a JVC video camera (which needs at least 2 proprietary batteries)
- a Garmin GPS unit (which takes AA batteries)
- a Maglight flashlight (which takes AA batteries)
etc.

That means I have to carry additional batteries (one or two are never
enough as you well know) and of course I need to carry separate
additional battery chargers and I can't substitute one for the other
and (much worse) I can't stop at the local A&P to pick up an emergency
battery if I need to.

Add the fact that battery packs (by their electrical nature of
positive-minus butt-to-nose abutment) ALWAYS go bad (one cell reverse
polarizes) and, therefore, need to be constantly replaced at an
exhorbitant cost (NiMH cost about two bucks ... try to get a battery
pack for a camera for two bucks).

Add to that the waste to the earth's resources (personally I think the
government should mandate single-cell batteries in all electronics in a
save-the-landfill effort like they mandate the 5 cents per soda
waste-return program).

And the horrid cost!
Recently I paid over $75 dollars retail for the JVC replacement battery
(the only one in the store was the Everready Energizer ERC620 camcorder
battery).

Now for paying $75 for a stinkin' battery, you _can_ call me a
terminally stupid idiot!

I could have purchased a fifty pound car battery for that much.

End result:
I am never again buying any electronics that does not take single-cell
rechargable batteries! I'm sure I'm not the only one so please come to
my defence if you agree, so we can get back to the photographic
equipment question at hand.

Are these really the only three digital cameras on earth that take
single-cell batteries and have decent picture quality, zoom, and
compact flash cards?

- $350, 3MP, 10x zoom, Canon PowerShot S1IS I takes AA batteries native
- $550, 5MP, 8x zoom, Nikon CoolPix 5700 is $150 more for AA batteries
- $800, 8MP, 7x zoom, DiMAGE Minolta A2 is maybe $100 more for AA?

Susan Henderson