5050 battery life/charger

[sdwho]

Just back from the T&C Aggressor. Hopefully, I'll figure out how to post some of my photos -- first outing with my 5050/pt015. Very pleased with the results, even without a wide angle or strobe.

Only fly in the ointment: the short life and long battery charging time of the 1700 NiMH batteries that came with the camera (I did take a spare set, thank goodness).

1. Are there longer-life batteries out there that can be used with the Oly5050?

2. Is there a better/faster charger than the one that comes with the camera?

Thanks!
Seth

 

[O2Addict]

I use the NiMH that came with the camera and have no problems with either charging times or capacity. However I do not use it in a housing.

Typically you will be taking photos more rapidly and using flash a lot when in a housing. The Olympus disposable lithiums are a possible substitute, they offer greater capacity and faster recycle times.

 

[jlyle]

You can easily obtain some 2000 mAh or 2200 mAh NiMH batteries which will last over three hours, with the LCD display on. I normally change batteries after two dives, but have pushed the envelope and done three with my 2000's.

I like the Maha C204F recharger that I bought from Thomas Distributing.

Go to their web site and look around:

http://www.thomas-distributing.com/

 

[miked]

Hi, sdwho,

I agree about the long charging time of the charger that came with the 5050.

I've had good success with the 2200mha batteries and the chargers (#401??) from
www.thomas-distributing.com/

On a trip, I'll have 3 sets af batteries-one in the camera, a second charged set to change out after 2 dives-just to be safe- and the third set in the charger-charging during the day. One of the "used" set recharges at night. That way, at the start of each day you have 2 charged sets to use.(If you use a strobe-double everything I said) not sure what to do if you do >4 dives a day.
You could also use the "quick charge" (~100 minutes)setting,if you can get to the charger to swap sets.

Good luck,
Mike

ps: Sorry if this mostly repeats what jlyle said. I type very slowly-when I started to reply, there was only the original post and 1 reply.

 

[Mike Newman]

Well, that's the claim I've seen made by many digital photographers who have solved battery charging problems by using them. I have their Powerline 4. One real strength of this charger - quick charge times aside, is that it genuinely charges each cell individually - no weak cells in a group. It also has a discharge and re-charge function - and it's good for NiMh or NiCads. Finally, if like me you do a bit of travelling, it has changeable plug modules to fit most of the World's sockets. They all work well with the auto-sensing charger (i.e. It doesn't have to be switched between 110 and 240 volts, it does it automatically)

 

[sdwho]

Thanks for all the tips!!

Seth

 

[Dee]

I'm another fan of the MAHA 204 smart chargers and NiMH 2200 batteries from Thomas Dist. The charger that came with the 5050 is in a drawer collecting dust!

 

[fpoole]

I just got the MaHa C401fc w/2300, too soon to test them on lenghth of time, but got the international kit. It's looking good - Thomas batteries.
Before them, using the Anman 1600 and had to replace them on every dive... otherwise it'd stop in the middle of the 2nd dive...
Since I had to change the mem card, 46pic (128mb max for the oly 4040), I just replace the battery's to in the routine.

So carry 3 sets of batteries, plus one for the strobes and a back up set.. Needless to say on a trip, I have to carry 2+days worth of batteries. One being used for the day the other being charged for the next daty.. sounds like a Battery Management System.. heheh... almost is.. hopefully the 2300 will reduce that.

 

[Warren_L]

I've stopped using the cmedia ones that came with my 5050. Got a couple sets of the sanyo 2300s from RipVan and they've been working great.

 

[justleesa]

Same here, not happy with the batteries that came with the camera, but am very happy with the panasonic 2100's that I picked up at costcos. Right now I have three sets and with all the little extra UW toys I have I think I will get 3 more in the future (two packages= 3 sets of 4 batteries).