I’m thinking of getting a new point-and-shoot camera, but maybe not. There seems to be a sustained pattern of phasing out sensible design (i.e. use of standard AA batteries), apparently for the purpose of selling outrageously overpriced single-purpose batteries (and incidentally making it necessary to carry a single-purpose charger, which inevitably has extra bulk added to it in order to insure that it blocks both outlets of a standard wall plate).
The closest thing I can think of to a legitimate engineering reason is to make the camera look thinner, thus supposedly making it look sexier. (It doesn’t, any more than fashion-industry anorexia-chic makes women look sexier – devices that look like they’ll break if I push a button a bit too hard or women who look like they’ll break if their partner thrusts a bit too hard just don’t do anything for me.)
I was just looking at cameras today. I’ve somehow lost mine
Anyway, another thing they have done is take the viewfinder out completely, replacing it with the back LCD screen which literally sucks the life out of the battery.
It’s all about design obsolescence. If electronic gadgets called for using a standard battery size (AA, AAA, whatever), you would never upgrade. So those gadgets you “must have” only work with a proprietary battery. Oh yeah. The proprietary battery and charger will only be available for about 18 months and then production will cease. So if you want a replacement proprietary battery that is no longer available, your only choice is to but another electronic gadget, with its own new proprietary battery.
Laptop manufacturers got this process nailed down.
Most cameras have no view finder of any sort, just and LCD screen. Only 4 compact cameras made today have a real view finder, and only the biggest ultrazooms bother with an electronic viewfinder.
Size is critical to a digital camera, so the smaller LiIon proprietary batteries (which also pack more juice) are critical. I can understand the need and have one camera that uses AAs and one that has LiIons; the extra charger is just something that I deal with. The only cameras that use AAs at this point are the bigger ultrazooms and some very cheap (price and quality) entry level models. IMO, it has nothing to do with design obsolescence, it’s just that for most digital camera uses LiIons are better.
If you want a simple P&S with optical view finder and AAs the Canon A1200 is your best bet, IMO. It’s the only thing close on the market today, and I have no idea if its replacement will have either feature.
Real cameras (i.e. SLRs) still have viewfinders. The mechanics are also way more responsive - none of that delay between pressing the shutter button down and the shutter actually opening (unless you’ve set a delay on purpose, naturally). You can get a cheap, entry-level dSLR these days for not much more than a point-and-shoot would cost. They’re really not that hard to learn and you’ll get much better photos out of one if you do take just a little bit of time to learn it.
One time when I bought a digital camera I specifically looked for one that took AA’s so I could easily swap in new batteries. In reality the AA’s caused lots of headaches.
Using alkaline batteries got to be expensive and the camera drained them quickly
Rechargeable batteries were unreliable because of their quick self-discharge. I couldn’t just leave extras in the camera bag because they might be dead by the time I got around to using them.
The cameras now have proprietary LiIon batteries which provide power longer than AA’s and don’t quickly self-drain like normal Ni* rechargeables. The LiIon batteries work great for me because I can grab my camera after not using it for a few months and they still have a lot of power left.
Another reason to use proprietary batteries is that it gives you more flexibility when designing the camera. If you have to design around a pair of cylindrical AA batteries, you’re more limited than if you can design around a custom battery of whatever shape is convenient.
Compacts are real cameras too. And several DSLR-like cameras like the new EVILs and translucent prism cameras have no optical view finders and they are a very fast growing slice of the market. I need a small portable camera for skiing and hiking so my DSLR doesn’t travel with me. I’m desperate for a new compact with an optical view finder but I recognize that most people don’t value this feature anymore.
Low discharge NiMH batteries are already here and solve that problem.
And those are all available in the EVILs and translucent prism cameras. And camera makers could put all of that in a P&S if you wanted to, but the market isn’t that interested in it. Some cameras have some of those features available.
But the main point is that the purpose of a camera is to capture meaningful images. More people are capturing better images today with P&S cameras than ever before. Today’s cameras are better and easier to use and more versatile, and that’s a good thing.
How is the discharge compared to LiIon? I had some supposedly low-discharge NiMH, but it seemed they were always dead if they sat for a while. The LiIon battery seems to have almost no discharge.
I used to feel strongly about cameras that took AA batteries. But you know what? I found that it really doesn’t matter. The li-ion batteries in the last few cameras I’ve had have lasted at least a day and usually several, even with heavy shooting (excluding SLRs, of which I have a couple – SLRs are bulky and expensive enough that I don’t find an argument against extra batteries to be very convincing). Having to swap in batteries during the day has been a non-issue. They batteries last FAR, FAR longer than any AA batteries I ever used in my previous cameras that took them. And the cameras also tend to be smaller than ones that would take AA batteries. My last few Canon cameras all take the same battery form factor, so the chargers are interchangeable. And the chargers are tiny too, so they easily fit in a corner of a bag or something.
When I got over the religious argument I had about “proprietary” batteries and looked at the actual practical factors, I found them to be superior to AA batteries in every way.
Ditto the above quotes. I bought my first digicam partly on the strength of using generic AAs, but switched for my latest one (a DMC-TZ5) about 3 years ago. I take a lot of photos, and can count on one hand the number of times the battery was dead when I wanted it. In fact, I still use just the original battery, which (looking online), I can get for about 10$.
My parents took a lovely trip to South America recently, but took few photos due to their (AA consuming) cameras always being dead. Their last trip they took expensive lithium AA batteries, which did work, but probably cost more than the 10$ I’d need for a spare.
Since this is MPSIMS, the plural of anecdote is data, and you need to change your mind.
I typically use my AA camera once a month or so and the batteries have always retained a near full charge. LiIons are a bit better, but not enough to be noticeable in real world usage.
I always carry a spare LiIon with me on my SD700 since I shoot a lot of photos, often outdoors in cold temps. Since my camera has an optical view finder I shut off the LCD to save battery life, but even then I can drain two LiIons or two sets of AAs a day.
“Real Car” - Manual transmission
“Real Steak” - Cooked rare to medium rare (at most!), with no sauce of any kind
What’s the point of self-defining one subset of an object as the “real” object? Just to put others down or make yourself feel better about how much better/more discerning/legit you are?
Obvious cameras are obvious. Even if they’re not SLR.
Not that it helps you much, but P&S level cameras are being supplanted by smartphones.
On the higher-end side of things, Nikon has a reduced number of batteries available for their DSLR range, I can’t speak to any of the other manufacturers.
When buying a camera, I usually buy an extra battery. One is always in the charger unless I’m at an event, then I have both of them with me. I’ve never run out of juice using this method.
I’ll not buy that extra battery at time of purchase, however…THOSE prices are notoriously inflated.
Really? I’ve found that my camera store will often throw in things like an extra battery or a charger when I’m replacing a body. They used to include a UV or clear glass filter with lense purchases but holy price escalation those things are crazy now. I’ve had one save me the cost of a new lense so I’d never NOT put one on but I budget for it now instead of it being just a little bag of accessories I pick up.
