Re: memory card question

From: Gary R. (roberthouse_at_geocities.com)
Date: 07/20/04 

Date: Mon, 19 Jul 2004 21:00:36 -0700

Sounds like you should study up a bit on digital cameras. NIMH batteries
are a basic necessity, alkalines and such are and always have been a joke
and waste of money. NIMH batteries are $10-15 for a set of 4, you can buy
them at drugstores, walmarts, or online...if they're AA, look for 2000 mah
or above. For $15-30, you can get a charger with a set of 4 included. They
will outlast alkalines many times over, and can be recharged. Fast chargers
are better, especially if you limit yourself to one or two sets of
batteries.

All digitals produce heat if left on; it won't be a problem if you use
decent batteries that will have the capacity to run the camera for a while.
Your description of a "day" of use for a set of batteries is not realistic;
I shoot full days of activities where the camera is on most of the time, and
would easily expect to go through 3-4 sets of good NIMH; if you're using
alkalines and got most of a day, that's practically a miracle, you should be
thanking Vivitar. $10 isn't much for a set of batteries that can be charged
thousands of times and lasts for years.

As far as powering down shutting off your interpolation mode, it's doing you
a favor. Having the camera interpolate your image larger doesn't add a
speck of detail, and fills up your storage quicker. You should be able to
get a decent 5x7 from that camera without any upsizing or interpolation; if
you need to go beyond that, interpolate from software later, the camera
doesn't do it any better.

Most digitals that go to 'sleep' will let you wake up the camera by pressing
a button; I don't know if yours does or not, but you just have to think
ahead and adjust to powering up the camera when a photo situation is
approaching or likely to. If needed, keep it awake by
focusing/half-pressing the button at intervals. Check your camera's setup
mode to see if you can vary the time before it goes to 'sleep', many allow
that, but in general an auto power down is a good thing.

As far as memory, you can buy a SD card that will hold hundreds of photos
for probably $25-40, and it doesn't get used up like film. Many cameras
take SD cards so if you buy another there's a good chance it will be usable
; if not, sell it with the camera.

I think you're causing most of your own worries by being so reluctant to buy
the right batteries and storage media. It's not a fancy camera, but it's
not a disposable either, if you want it to work right, you've got to give it
the chance. 

-- 
Gary
Photo Albums: www.pbase.com/roberthouse
"Greg Hanson" <Greegor@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:35120b16.0407171028.707262f6@posting.google.com...
> Don, Rusty et alia:
> I also bought a 3345 and am on the second unit
> after noticing less than one day battery life.
> The second unit does the same thing of course.
> The Vivitar web site recommends using
> Metal Hydride batteries.
> Whew! How much are those?
>
> I delayed buying the memory expansion and
> so far still believe that was a wise move.
>
> One thing I noticed that I thought very
> important to mention is that I noticed
> that the camera was actually generating HEAT!
> If you put a fresh set of batteries in,
> and hold the bottom left corner of the side
> normally toward operator up against your
> cheek, you can feel HEAT!
>
> Can anybody decipher from their web site
> an e-mail address for an authoritative
> contact at Vivitar to ask about this?
>
> Such heat generation implies to me that
> these units might have some sort of
> serious engineering defect.
> Harsh conclusion?
>
> Even more interesting, if a person did
> as advised and installed Metal Hydride
> batteries, wouldn't that just increase
> the potential for the HEAT problem
> to become worse, possibly a fire hazard?
>
> I really LIKE the unit!
>
> Aside from this battery/HEAT problem,
> I wish there was a way to change the
> timeout power conservation feature.
> A way to disable timeout or lengthen
> would be a great help.
>
> There seems to be no connector for
> an external power supply, but if
> somebody resorts to an external
> power supply or battery pack, they'd
> probably want to disable the timeout.
> I lost chances at shots I knew were
> upcoming because of the timeout.
> (And it turns off the interpolation
> resolution!)
>
> Do they make another model number (yet)
> that has the same great optics/CCD,
> but fixes the deadly battery life/HEAT problem?
>
> A revised version of this camera could
> cause a bit of a revolution in consumer
> cameras.  I hope Vivitar fixes it!