Has anyone done "scientific" comparisons to the Duracell Pre-Charge? My "unscientific" observations are that the Duracell's seem to have substantially more flash firings and have a longer life span.
The Energizer Pre-Charge are not worth the effort IMO.
I love my Eneloop rechargeable batteries, but I do notice that they don't last as long as regular alkaline batteries. It sure does beat having to buy new batteries all the time though!
It's hard to say how long the Eneloops will last though, since it really depends on the device they're in. They last quite a while in my wireless mouse, but I can use up a couple sets in a flash after an afternoon of shooting.
Has the change in their life been noticeably worse in the same device?
- Trowski
Originally Posted by Trowski
Hi TROWSKI,
When you say Eneloop batteries are you refering to the 'Low Self Discharge' batteries manurfactured by Sanyo? If you are, it's my understanding that these batteries don't quite have the same milliamp hour rating held by other batteries. I've recently bought some LSD batteries from a different manurfacturer and found this to be so. I thought I'd give LSD batteries a go because my usual NiMH batteries were failing. The NiMH batteries are great while you keep using them but if they sit on the shelf for a few months they're stuffed. They don't tell you that part in the advertising. Yes the batteries might be good for 1000 charges but you have to keep using and charging them, stop this cycle and you are up for new batteries. LSD will hopefully avoid this problem because they can reportedly sit on the shelf for over a year and still maintain 70-85% charge and work just as well as they did the last time they were used. Down side of course is the cost.
Why my batteries sit on the shelf for months - well that's another story...
I don't do a lot of flash work but I do use these batteries in my 30D battery grip. At this stage I'm not happy with their performance. The regular Lithium Ion batteries still seem to out perform the AA's in my experience. They charge quicker and last much longer. For the avid Canon flash user it would be nice to have a battery compartment that could accept AA's or Canon Li Ion batteries. This would be a nice feature allowing your camera and flash to use the same batteries. Probably lighter too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_self-discharge_NiMH_battery
Perhaps, but camera and flash have different power utilization curves. Li-ion batteries are optimal for the camera body, because they deliver more total energy per charge than other chemistries. NiMH batteries have lower internal resistance that other chemistries, which means they can deliver power faster - that's an advantage that directly translates to reduced recycle times for a flash.
That's true. Li-ions wouldn't be good for this application. (I think low internal resistance Li-ions are under develoment though - read that somewhere).On the other scale of things I've seen some good mods where some users put an external power socket on the flash and run it to a small 6V SLA battery. Heavy and not very portable but may suit some location needs. Over heating the flash with multiple busts is often stated as a risk ascociated with such mods but I've never seen an example of this happening in the real world.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8677764@N06/795903526/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8677764@N06/795903546/
Slightly off topic I know.
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