New A620 and questions!!

[midwestdvr]

Hmmmm, that is quite odd. Just out of curiosity, you're not mix and matching the batteries in the camera, are you?

 

[huskychemist]

I bought Energizer 2500 mAH rechargables that came with their own Energizer charger. I took 160 pictures on Saturday...never turning the camera off on three dives, using the flash on 90% of the pictures...and had lots of power left.

Not sure if this applies to your batteries, but mine came with a warning that it may take a few charge cycles out of the box to get them "up to speed" in terms of longer battery life.

Lowell

 

[Kirgan]

Hmmmm, that is quite odd. Just out of curiosity, you're not mix and matching the batteries in the camera, are you?

No, I read all the warnings not to do that. I was using the same type each time. For the last two days, I have been charging them and when the light turns green they are usually quite warm. I unplug the charger and plug it back in when they cool. Instead of turning green immediately, the light stays red for a long while again - in fact on two of the batteries, the charge light stayed red all night last night. They have been in the charger 4 times in the last two days and not used at all yet.

To me this seems to indicate they are not holding the charge if everytime I plug them back in, it takes a while for the charger to indicate it is done or the charger isn't working or it is a similar problem to what my friend has with his Nickel HID Light battery.

Anyway, now that they have been in the charger 4 times, I plan on using them tonight in a test to see how long they last. I'll let you know. If that test still goes bad, I think I will just go out and buy a new charger & possible new name brand batteries to go with it.


--Mike

 

[Cherokee180c]

ArticDiver,

I have the same set up and needed a cheap non-laptop solution for downloaing pictures after each diving day. I have a 2 gig card, which I highly recommend if you plan on doing any amount of Video which eats up the memory really quick. 2 gig = 15min of 640x480x30. I decided to by the $30 iPod adapter to use with my photo iPod. I tested the whole setup and it works well, although the photo iPod is extremely slow at writing to the disk. It takes almost 1 hour to download 1.3 megs and the battery almost runs out. It reads back off the disk in less than 2 minutes, but the photo iPod was not meant to write quickly. Does anybody have any experience with the newer video iPods? I bet these were designed to write quicker based on the requirement to deal with much larger file sizes. Anyway since I already had the iPod it was a cheap $30 solution. I plan to only use the iPod for video and use my Dell X50V with a 1 gig Compact Flash card to hold all the pictures. I doubt I will keep more than the 300 or so pictures. The iPod is bullet proof though. I have had mine for almost 2 years of use in the car each day. I have dropped it numerous time in its protective cover and it still keeps going.

 

[ocrmaster]

It takes almost 1 hour to download 1.3 megs

is this from your camera to your ipod photo?

Here is cost effective tip and it is fast

Requirements:
1. Multi card reader $5 to $10 (USB 2.0)

2. Ipod USB cable
3. Ipod 20GB/30GB/40GB/60GB
4. Compact Flash or SD Card
5. PC with USB 2.0

* CF and SD cards have different speed ratings.
* Example: 133x (21 MB/s read 15.5 MB/s write)
* Example: 150X (22.5MB/sec read, 15MB/sec write)

Unless your going to the outbacks. The resort will have a PC in their office.
If your nice and sweet, the will let you use their computer for a few minutes.
It takes about 10 mins to transfer 1GB from my ExtremeIII SD card to my Ipod Photo 30GB. Using a PC w/ USB 2.0. If your CF or SD card is slower it will take longer.

Attach your Ipod to the PC
Remove the SD or CF from your camera
Attach the SD or CF card to the card reader
Attach the card reader to the PC
Begin transfering images to Ipod Photo.

For those times that I know that no computer is available. I bring 2X 2GB SD cards with me and 3 extra batteries.

 

[Cherokee180c]

Thanks for the tip Ocrmaster,

Yea that time was from the 2Gig card which is very fast (SanDisk Ultra II) directly to the iPod using only the $30 usb camera connector. I guess the iPod does not have USB 2.0 capability directly through the connector. My iPod is fast on my computer as well, just not with the direct set up.

 

[ocrmaster]

That is most likely the case. I was also thinking of getting one myself. But decided otherwise. I bring 2x 2GB SD corsairs with me on each dive. I usually do two dives in a day. So while on STI i switch to my secondary battery and sd card. I can't wait for them to release a 8GB SD card. It is only a matter of time till they do.

 

[Cherokee180c]

I was a bit worried about flooding the camera and losing the pictures, since I am new to underwater photography. People told me that sooner or later you will flood the camera, so I purchased flood insurance from DEPP. An 8 gig card would not help me much as I would still want to off load all the pictures and video each day.

 

[mach2plus]

Thanks for the battery suggestions. I too have rechargeables. But much of my picture taking is where I don't have convenient access to AC to run a standard recharger. I may have to build a DC-DC recharger. Depends on the economics after I get some experience with this camera vs. my old Canon F1s.

Also thanks for the housing references. I have contacted zipzoomfly. They have hit me with a billing address vs. UPS shipping address problem I have never encountered before. I've sent them an email asking to clarify.

Nice to have a source of info like you folks.

Hi Artic. No need to build a DC-to-DC converter if you have access to an automobile or something else that has a standard 12DC cigarette type socket. I have used a RAYOVAC PS4 charger for years and it runs on either 110VAC or 12DC. So when I'm in the car I just plug it in while I'm on the road and it charges away. I would highly recommend this charger, even though some folks may complain that it runs batteries too hot. The PS4 charges 4aa, 4aaa, or 1 9v, both NiMh and NiCad. There are a couple of charger reviews on the net: just type in best battery charger.

I may not be much of a diver yet, but I do know a little something about batteries. As already noted by some, you can either wait from 5-12 for a charge, or 1 hour. The trickle type chargers (less than 1/2 amp or so) will take the longest, and will also keep the batteries cooler, and they will supposedly last longer. The fast charger types (typically 1-2+ amps) will run the batteries hotter, with supposedly less life. That said, I personally don't care if I "only get 500 charges" versus 600+ out of a battery. What's important to me is being able to grab a sandwich between dives and know that I can charge my batteries in an hour if need be. (Though it would obviously be smart to take several spares with you).

If you're really worried about battery life, get a trickle charger for home use and a 1 hour charger for on the road. By the way, the RAYOVAC PS4 uses LED's to indicate battery faults, charge status, and also has a trickle charge maintenance current which will keep the batteries completely charged (remember that NiMH types lose from 1-3+ of their capacity each day just sitting idle).

I might add that my decision to purchase a Canon A620 was greatly determined by its using AA batteries versus unique Lithium types. The PS4 costs about $20.

Safe and Happy Diving to all! Mach

 

[mach2plus]

Sadly, there are a lot of companies out there that have policies like this nowadays, because of credit card fraud. Internet companies selling small electronics are particularly juicy targets for this type of fraud, and the smaller ones are less capable of absorbing the losses than larger merchants (like Amazon), so thats where you see it the most. I've seen it a number of times. Frequently, if you can arrange to have it shipped to the billing address the first time, order one thing to establish a relationship, and use the same credit card for a second order, sometimes they'll be willing to accomodate those special requests, I've found.

Most credit cards will allow you to list an alternate, valid address with them (such as a work address) for use as a shipping address for this very reason. Some credit card companies don't have the computer setup to do this for you, for some odd reason. My biggest issue has been with my BofA debit card/Visa, which isn't set up that way. But it wasn't a problem with any of my regular cards. I live in a condo with no easy way to have packages delivered and always have things shipped to work when possible, so I've dealt with this issue a number of times ordering online.

Something to consider trying out before writing them off completely. I've ordered a number of things from ZZF, and they're a decent little company, IMO.

Hi Compu. I've run into this billing address versus shipping address several times myself, but in my experience, it wasn't an omen of bad service. Maybe I'm just lucky. I called my credit card companies (visa, mastercard, etc.) and had them put an "alternative address" on file (ie, my shipping address), and ever since that time I haven't had a single problem. Sure, it was a little hassle, but it was worth the pain.

Safe and Happy diving to all. Mach