Canon s500, had it about 18 months, picture count about 3700 and around 10 minutes of video.
Last year I lost the battery charger and bought an after market one. (Probably a bad move - I got it at CompUSA.)
Now, I have less than one hour of use out of a fully charged battery. And, the charger takes an undoGly time to charge - or at least to get to the steady green light, meaning the battery is supposed to be fully charged. Between 3-4 hours. :eek:
So, my questions:
Is this about the life expectancy of a lithion-ion battery?
Could it be the charger and not the battery?
How can I tell, or should I just buy each anew, OEM?
Thanks.
(I am getting conflicting advice from Canon CS and from electronics sales persons.)
Quick battery chargers (ones that charge the battery in less than an hour) often damage the batteries due to the high heat that results from such a quick charge. My Li-Ion batteries for my SD300 have been going fine for 15 months and I abuse them heavily (long, cold days out skiing and winter hiking).
Consider a new battery and a Canon charger. Check with http://www.dcresource.com to see if people have other charger recommendations.
I’ve been told that the average expectancy of a Li-ion battery is somewhere between 500 and 1000 discharge cycles (can’t find the cite at the moment) - one reason why I use my laptop on the mains whenever I can.
Re: batteries; the good people on the forums at www.dpreview.com have often noted that third-party batteries are just as good, and often better than the more expensive ones that Canon wants you to shell out for.
Anu
True, I have an aftermarket battery as well. But I’d be careful buying a charger; a bad charger can ruin a good battery.
Get thee to SterlingTek.com.
Here’s your battery
and here’s your charger.
It’s a better, longer-lasting replacement battery, as well as the proper charger for it, for about half of what Canon USA will charge you for the battery alone.
I use the BP-511 replacements in my Canon 20D, and heartily endorse them.
Holy moly, postcards, thank you for that site!
Their battery is $8.99, I think getting it from Canon was about $50.00, and about the same for the charger.
Really, you’ve used their products? I’ve had bad luck with some aftermarket items for electronics and autos, but I know it’s not universal…
And thank you Telemark and Dervorin, I am definitely learning stuff here. 
I bought a Power 2000 battery for my SD300 from B&H Photo because I trust them. But you definately don’t need to spend $50 for a battery.
You’re quite welcome. I love it when people see the prices on that site.
Be assured that Sterling Tek gets great reviews for their products from photographers at the message boards I frequent. I’ve been using three of their batteries in my Canons (20D and Rebel 300D), and the only difference I see is that the Sterling Tek batteries last longer.
Absolutly no reason to waste money on Canon batteries.
drool!
OK, I hate to hijack this, but since the questions seems to have been answered, I’m going to…
So… tell me about the s500. I’ve been looking into digital SLRs and I’ve pretty much decided on that camera. What do you like? What do you not like? Tell me anything!
E3
Well this is most embarrasing.
It’s the Nikon D50 that I’m wanting to buy.
continue on.
Good, because I wouldn’t be able to answer intelligent questions about digital cameras…I’m strictly point and shoot, and get confused easily by the more complex machinations of the thing.
But it’s small. It’s cute. And, umm, it takes nice photos.
And, umm, it got the highest possible rating on DPReview, who say:
DCResource also gave it a pretty good rating, overall.
Apologies for not being able to contribute personal experience; I’ve only handled the D50 once, and that was briefly. I’d already set my heart on the Canon EOS 350D. The D50 definitely was cute and small, and pretty responsive. Can’t find much to fault with it, and if you go by the reviews, it’s a pretty good introductory SLR. The main reason that I went with Canon was that I already owned Canon lenses, and it made sense to continue with that system.
Anu