C-5050 CR-V3 Lithium Battery

[Kim]

Hi -
I bought my C-5050 in Japan about 4 months ago. In Japan it doesn't come with the rechargable batteries and chargers - it comes with The CR-V3 Lithium. Until now - having taken maybe 150 photos, and played with the settings etc over a 4 month period - I'm still waiting for the original batteries to run down!! According to the battery monitor on screen they are still "full". I find this quite amazing and wonder if other people have experiences with these batteries ( and a double set of replacements here only cost about $11 or $12 - which for the time period involved seems quite reasonable!!!)

 

[Gilligan]

Kim,
The Oly cameras all come with Lithium bats. The end users are buying the re-chargeable bats and chargers.
I can't speak for how long the Lithium bats will last as I don't use them other than to keep in my camera while charging my re-chargeables.
I take about 65 pics on 1 dive so 150 pics would add up quickly. The re-chargeables are a better choice for underwater use as you want a fully charged set of bats to start out with since you can't change them once your in the water. I personally wouldn't totally trust the accuracy of the battery indicator.

 

[ScubaRon]

Kim,
The Oly cameras all come with Lithium bats. The end users are buying the re-chargeable bats and chargers.
I can't speak for how long the Lithium bats will last as I don't use them other than to keep in my camera while charging my re-chargeables.
I take about 65 pics on 1 dive so 150 pics would add up quickly. The re-chargeables are a better choice for underwater use as you want a fully charged set of bats to start out with since you can't change them once your in the water. I personally wouldn't totally trust the accuracy of the battery indicator.

Olympus packages various batteries and chargers with their camera's: some with lithium, some with rechargeable NiMH. It depends on the geography/channel what you get.

Be aware that both Lithium and NiMH batteries keep delivering full power until they're dead: so when they do go you will have virtually no warning. If that happens at the beginning of your dive, you're SOL, so Gilligan's warning is a very good one.

Has anyone tried the new rechargeable Lithium batteries yet?

 

[Kim]

Yes I realize the point of new batteries before a dive - I already have several sets of Ni-MH and a charger that I use with my MM2-Ex and YS-50 strobe. I wouldn't dive the Oly on these old batteries at all - I'm just more curious about how long they will last! I DO however carry replacement CR-V3's that are new and if I find that one set will handle 3 dives a day for three days (a normal Okinawa trip) then it might make sense. I think that my cards will hold 150-200 shots so when they're full that's it anyway as I don't take a laptop with me so can't dump them while away. When these lithiums do finally run down I'll stick in some rechargables to see how long they last. (Anyone already know the answer to that?)

I'm also curious as to the accuracy of the battery meter and I know both Lithium's and Ni-MH's go fast from full to empty when they finish the charge.

 

[Dee]

I have found either of the 3 models of Oly's we have to have a very accurate battery meter. Mine goes from full to about half then empty. I just took the chance on a thrid dive and kept shooting in my regular mode, ie., monitor on, internal flash set to lowest setting to trigger strobe, etc. and shot until the batteries ran out. I got through the 3rd dive, just barely, but had no battery power to download the pics through the camera. So I don't chance it, especially when on a dive trip I change batteries every second dive.

 

[MaresMan1]

I noticed that there are re-chargeable CV-R3s from Thomas Distributing (that I have found. See link below). Has anyone looked at these batteries?

http://www.thomasdistributing.com/rcr-v3-index.htm

Dive Smart; Dive Safe
Enjoy the ride
:cool1:

 

[ScubaRon]

Has anyone looked at these batteries?

http://www.thomasdistributing.com/rcr-v3-index.htm

Thanks for repeating the question I asked 3 posts earlier:biggrin:

 

[Kim]

Hi-

Well I just checked in Japan to see if the rechargable lithiums were available here - they are.
I found this review (with a comparison chart):
http://www.steves-digicams.com/2003_reviews/rcrv3.html

Also on a Japanese site I found this list of cameras that you can use them with:
NikonCoolpix2100/3100OlympusCamediaC-700/720/730/740/745/750/755/2100 Ultra ZoomC-300/450Zoom (D-550Zoom)X-200/250C-350Z/D-560ZC-120 (D-380)/150 (D-390)　C-211/2040/3000/3030/3040/4040/5050ZoomC-3100/3020/4000/4100ZoomC-2Z/220Z/ D-550ZC-40Zoom (D-40Zoom)/200Zoom (D-510Zoom) C-990Zoom (D-490Zoom) C-21C-2 (D-230) C-990ZSD-460ZoomE-10/20EPSONC900Z/Photo PC 3000ZCP-920Z/Photo PC 3100ZMinoltaDiMAGEF100/200/300E203/223/323KodakEasy ShareDX6340/6440/4900/4330/4530/3900/3215/3700/6330/6200/4300/4230/4200PantaxOptio230/33L/33LF/330GS DIGIBINODB100/200 *ist D*ist DKyoceraFinecamL3/4/30/3v/4vToshibaSoraPDR-T10/T15/T15 KTAllegrettoPDR-M700　KonicaKD-200Z/210Z　DigimasterS500M3Mouse210/310PremierDC 2070/2302/2320/3301/4311/5331/3A30SANYOXatciVPC-S1SamsungDigimax V3/V4/420/360/240/101/350SECasioQV-4000/3500EX/300EX/20QV-2000/2300/2800/4000/2900/2400UX

I will definitly be trying them out!! They sound really good.