A newbie needs help urgently !


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kultchris

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Jan 28, 2004
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well i have been posting my queries for quite a while but no one seems to be answering them ... I really need help as i am very bad at all these . Really hope someone can give mi a gd advice regarding all my queries .. thanks a million ! :)

My questions are as follow ..


1. Why is it that sometimes when i take pictures , sometimes the cam seems to be ready real fast for the next shoot but sometimes the cam just takes quite a while to be ready for the next shoot . Is it a camera problem ?


2. Is Varta 15mins Rechargeables Better or is Gp better ?


3. Is a dry box needed for a Point and shoot camera ? Mine's a Powershot A570IS .
 

well i have been posting my queries for quite a while but no one seems to be answering them ... I really need help as i am very bad at all these . Really hope someone can give mi a gd advice regarding all my queries .. thanks a million ! :)

My questions are as follow ..


1. Why is it that sometimes when i take pictures , sometimes the cam seems to be ready real fast for the next shoot but sometimes the cam just takes quite a while to be ready for the next shoot . Is it a camera problem ?


2. Is Varta 15mins Rechargeables Better or is Gp better ?


3. Is a dry box needed for a Point and shoot camera ? Mine's a Powershot A570IS .

Im not an expert but wat i feel is..

1.) perhaps due the mem card, speed to next shot could be affected

2.) not relli sure bout batteries but if it can last long and good, i think its ok alr. i have some louya unknown brand rechargables that i've used since the day i bought it with my cam, and over a month or two now, its still in full power. i use my cam bout 3-4 times a week, each session lasting ard 4-5hrs.

3.) dry box for pns? totally up to u though i dun relli see a point.

hope this helps
 

thanks for the advise .. anyway my main concern is the lag from shots to shots .. sometimes fast sometimes slow ..
 

1. Why is it that sometimes when i take pictures , sometimes the cam seems to be ready real fast for the next shoot but sometimes the cam just takes quite a while to be ready for the next shoot . Is it a camera problem ?

Can think of 2 possibilities -
1. Is your flash on? If yes, then the flash needs to be recharged before it can be fired to take next shot, and that would give very slow shot-to-shot speed.

2. If the subject is of low contrast, or environment is dim. The camera struggles to focus.
 

ORIGINAL part of post left unedited>>

no offence, but i see that ur claim of nobody replying seems to be unfounded. i did a search n saw that most of your queries were replied. dun expect to have answers popping up the instant u asked the questions. in fact i think some answers can be found by doing a search.

EDITED part:

i kindly answered TS's thread after reminding him politely (as above). i'm totally fine with him not showing any appreciation. instead he PMed me and asked me to "MYOB". thus removed my answer to his queries. this kind of person does not deserve any help. :thumbsd:
 

My questions are as follow ..

1. Why is it that sometimes when i take pictures , sometimes the cam seems to be ready real fast for the next shoot but sometimes the cam just takes quite a while to be ready for the next shoot . Is it a camera problem ?

2. Is Varta 15mins Rechargeables Better or is Gp better ?

3. Is a dry box needed for a Point and shoot camera ? Mine's a Powershot A570IS .

Just to add on what the others had mentioned.

1) Did u shoot in low light or high light condition? In low light, generally ur camera will be slower in between shots. Usually, the reason is because the cam bump up the ISO and maybe do some in-camera processing of the pics, resulting the busy light showing up for quite a while. I don think this is a problem.

2) What do u mean by good? I like Fuji cameras but that does not mean Canons are no good. Varta are specialist in making batteries. They make car batteries as well (if am not wrong). I don have a good impression of GP, it is just me. In general, i think (IMO) don expect too much from the 15 mins batteries. They MAY die prematurely. Personally, i still find longtime chargers better. I have a set of sony NiMH batteries for >8 years that charge on longtime chargers, still as good as new till today.

3) No harm having a dry box. But is there a need? I have not heard of fungus problem with PNS. Maybe someone can enlighten me on that. Conclusion: i won't specially buy a dry box for a PNS.

Hope this helps.
 

Is a dry box needed for a Point and shoot camera ? Mine's a Powershot A570IS

I place my PnS in a tupper ware with some silica gel when I am not in use.

Cheap and easy.
 

The idea of a dry box is to keep your equipment dry, with a bit of convenience. It need not be a necessity if you have other means to keep your equipment dry, but if you constantly need to replace silica gel in the tupperware, there may be occasions where you forget and the silica gel are saturated.

That's why dry box are recommended.
 

Answer for Q1
This may happen due to few reason:
a. If you are shooting without flash and in low light condition, your camera are automatically using slow shutter, some camera can up to 30sec or even more. Within this time, if you move your camera, you will see a lot of motion blurr.
b. If you are using flash, normally the camera need some times to recharge back the flash into intial state, some camera is a bit slow but should not more than 5sec.

Answer for Q2
a. I will never recommend to use quick charging battery, as the lifespan of the battery will not last, unless you buy for travelling.
b. Always use normal rechargeable battery. I cannot give you good comparison on each battery, they all just look the same both Varta and GP is very good battery. Of course if budget supporting enough, you always can buy Panasonic, Sanyo, Sony,..etc. But to me is still the same.

Answer for Q3
First of all let me tell you this. Dry Box is just like insurance, "You dont think you need it when you buy, but when something happen, you are hoping that you have it"
Ask yourself, how long do you want to use this compact camera ?
1-3 years~No need dry box (Million of people in Singapore have compact camera without drybox and they still shoot good moments)
3-5 years~Good to have but still not necessery
5-10 years~Simple dry box + servicing is good enough
above 10 years~Dry box is a must
 

i think a dry box uses silica gel as well unless ur talking bout dry cabi thats a different think as you dun need to keep changing silica gel.
 

1. Why is it that sometimes when i take pictures , sometimes the cam seems to be ready real fast for the next shoot but sometimes the cam just takes quite a while to be ready for the next shoot . Is it a camera problem ?


2. Is Varta 15mins Rechargeables Better or is Gp better ?


3. Is a dry box needed for a Point and shoot camera ? Mine's a Powershot A570IS .

1. this depends on camera; there are two main factors for a long lag in between shots usually - they have been mentioned already, in summary, ON-CAMERA flash recycling, and LONG EXPOSURES (for noise reduction processing if you have the feature turned on)

2. i haven't used both. GET SANYO ENELOOPS :thumbsup::thumbsup:

3. yes, would be recommended
 

thanks for all the great advise ! :)
 

Been using the Varta15... Never regret. Currently own 44pcs of it and 3 chargers.

Have tried many other brands, Sanyo, Maha, Sony, Energizer & GP. Mostly experience using these brands on my SB800 + SD8a previously, ie, each battery change is 11pcs, 5pcs on the SB800 and 6pcs on the SD8a. Before switching to rechargeable cells, those who have know me much earlier can vouch that I use only energizer akaline cells for my event shoot. Well known to bring along boxes of 20packs 4pcs/pk with me for bigger events. The comments below on the issue of power rating of mAH is compared with my experience on using 1.5V/batt akaline cells based on how long I need to change the batteries on my equipment during an event shoot. Here is my comments:

i. Sanyo 2200 - Not recommended! :thumbsd:
Bought 200++ pcs of it as at one point got a good price thus did a mass sales in my office. However all turn out to be a big disappointment. Besides the biggest known problem of not able to hold charge, the battery may leak in the device if device is used for a short period of ~2weeks. And personally I suspect the battery is over rated of the 2200mAH. Seems to me only ard 1800mAH at most. Maybe that is due to the problem of not able to hold charge. Ultimately thrown all away, it total 40++pcs. A total lost!

ii. Maha Batteries - Not Recommended! :thumbsd:
Bought 8pcs to try. Usage and charge holding not bad, but kenna a bad experience as 1 of the battery exploded and leaks during charging makes me fear of using them anymore. Thrown all away including the charger. A total lost!

iii. Sony 2000 - Average
Disposed all my Sanyo and changed to Sony. Not as bad, battery can hold charge, however I still suspect on the overrated issue. Although lasted long than sanyo by a bit. Only prob is the battery gets burning hot during charging, but so far no issues on leakage or exploding. I ever experience the battery having memory effect, ie when the charger claimed a full charge, but the cells cannot last, flat after a short use. However this original Sony charger does equiped with a discharge function which I triggered on those affect batteries and it does helps. The batteries has later sold to a nice guy is CS after upgraded to energizer cells.

iv. Energizer 1750-2500mAH - Recommended! :thumbsup:
Since have good experience using energizer akaline cells, decided to buy a batch to try. Performance is good. 1hr Fast charging and the batteries can also hold charged. Tried using batteries charged 2mth ago and it still gives somewhat acceptable performance. Power rating is also good. Lasted much longer than Sony cells for the same power rating. In fact the 2500mAH lasted almost the same as the energizer akaline ones. Having so many pervious bad experience on rechargeable cells, I decided to buy them in batches, thus I got batteries from 1750mAH to 2500mAH, total 40++pcs also. And all these while still using my Sony 1hr chargers to charge the batteries. Have not experience memory effect on the batteries so far during my use. Have sold all batteries & chargers in a batch to another CSer due to upgrade to Varta15.

v. GP Cells - Not Recommended! :thumbsd:
Was given 4pcs by a friend. Do not recommend for use on photographic equipment, cos this batteries is confirmed over-rated. Currently using it on my Universe Remote Controller. And yes, it does give good performance on the remote controller though.

vi. Varta15 2000mAH - Recommended! :thumbsup:
Tried and never regret. Design of the charger is also good. Although the batteries are burning hot during charging, but the charger somewhat have an internal cooler system for the batteries. It such air and blow onto the batteries. 15mins is really the charging time of the batteries. Nothing more. However upon finish charging, the charger fan will still be on for at least 10mins to cool down the batteries. My advise is not to remove the batteries upon cut off as it is really hot, and not sure the hot temperature will affect the battery life or not in the long run. The charger is also very recommended. It is really intelligent. I've tried re-charging ½used batteries, and the charger really did cut off the power when the batteries is full, ie 3-5mins. And when I insert non Varta cells, ie my GP cells into the charger, the charging process takes 1hr+ then cut off as it really know that you're not inserting the Varta15mins charge batteries. Just some technical specs, the charger rated output as 7.5A. Imagine your TV only rated 3-4A at most, and this charger alone is 7.5A! The only setback for this charger is that the fan is really noisy. When the battery is fully charged, you could really experience the silence.

As for the batteries, performance is good. Lasted like the energizer for a 2000mAH cell, if not longer. Tried using batteries charged ~2mths ago and it can still performance almost as well. I don't really have good habits like drain fully before re-charging again, and to my surprise, the Varta15 niMh battery really don't have any memory effect issues as claimed. In fact you'd feels like as it they are litium-ion cells. Further more, the 15mins fast charging is really a saviour on many occasion.

If anyone wants to get the Varta15, my recommended place is to get it from Changi Airport if you happen to go for a tour. They are sold for only $44.90 for the highest-end Varta charger + 4 batteries. Most places sells this set for $65. For info, there are 3 kinds of Varta15 charger kit set. Price range from $22 onwards depends on which charger and no of bundled batteries. So make sure you get the highest end one which is a seperate 4pcs charger and 7.5A adaptor. I've not tried the other 2 smaller charger so can't comment on their performance.
 

I've been using the Sony Stamina battreries. 15 minute charge, the charger is like the Varta one and it just laaaaaaaaaaasts
 

alright ! thanks for all the great feedback . So varta is a gd choice :)
 

1. One thing not said yet is the focus lag. In some situations, your PNS needs more time to focus, and in others less. I'm assuming of course that you did not pre-focus.

2. No clue.

3. Yes. PNS cameras also suffer from fungus problems.

well i have been posting my queries for quite a while but no one seems to be answering them ... I really need help as i am very bad at all these . Really hope someone can give mi a gd advice regarding all my queries .. thanks a million ! :)

My questions are as follow ..


1. Why is it that sometimes when i take pictures , sometimes the cam seems to be ready real fast for the next shoot but sometimes the cam just takes quite a while to be ready for the next shoot . Is it a camera problem ?


2. Is Varta 15mins Rechargeables Better or is Gp better ?


3. Is a dry box needed for a Point and shoot camera ? Mine's a Powershot A570IS .
 

ORIGINAL part of post left unedited>>

no offence, but i see that ur claim of nobody replying seems to be unfounded. i did a search n saw that most of your queries were replied. dun expect to have answers popping up the instant u asked the questions. in fact i think some answers can be found by doing a search.

EDITED part:

i kindly answered TS's thread after reminding him politely (as above). i'm totally fine with him not showing any appreciation. instead he PMed me and asked me to "MYOB". thus removed my answer to his queries. this kind of person does not deserve any help. :thumbsd:

i can understand how you feel. i myself got enquiries on pricing, quotations and someone even ask me if i can provide him/her with the B+W product number, as if i'm running a customer service. when i refer them to the list of shops to get quotations or to contribute to the pricelist, most disappear without thanks and never return to contribute.

and nonetheless many like sykestang have contributed altruistically in the true faith of sharing an art form, and information here are useful for compilation, which i will add to the newbie thread when i;m free.
 

I guess it varies from user to user on the battery issues...

I have used the Maha charger and PowerEx batteries for more than a year now and never had any issues with them. I have 20 AA batteries and 12 AAA batteries from PowerEx.

As for Sanyo's I have gave up on them after they operated at a high temp each time....
 

what happened to all the eneloop supporters?

anyways, i guess ts is just one of the typical singapore boy who wants to be spoonfed information. sad.
 

i can understand how you feel. i myself got enquiries on pricing, quotations and someone even ask me if i can provide him/her with the B+W product number, as if i'm running a customer service. when i refer them to the list of shops to get quotations or to contribute to the pricelist, most disappear without thanks and never return to contribute.

and nonetheless many like sykestang have contributed altruistically in the true faith of sharing an art form, and information here are useful for compilation, which i will add to the newbie thread when i;m free.
Thanks for your compliments... :) And do keep up the good spirit of sharing. :thumbsup:

Help comes in many form... by what I don't like is those that started to demand. :)
 

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