On Mon, 8 Sep 2008, Ed Loach wrote: > I'd like a cheap digital camera to use when I'm out noting things for > mapping purposes; our existing camera eats batteries.
I have an old Canon IXUS 400 that I picked up off ebay, which I find is pretty reasonable as a simple and small point & shoot for when I don't want to lug around my SLR. I do tend to find that the battery life of the camera is the limiting factor when I'm mapping on foot (camera turned on the whole time), but the batteries are quite small so carrying a spare wouldn't be a problem. Pretty robust, optical viewfinder, takes compact flash, rechargable lithium ion battery, a bit of optical zoom, 4 megapixels and the lens seems good enough to make use of the resolution. I think the newer IXUS models have removed the optical viewfinder though, which is a shame. > Can anyone suggest either a camera or a good comparison website. http://www.dpreview.com/ is pretty good for comparing cameras. > Alternatively if anyone can recommend some good quality, reasonably > priced, high capacity rechargeable AA batteries that work well in their > digital camera then that may work out a cheaper option. I used to use 4 AA size NiMh cells in my old HP Photosmart 850, which seemed to last well enough and you can now get some fairly high capacity (2800mAh or more) cells. NiMh cells do suffer from a short shelf-life though, so it is very much a "charge just before you need them" option, whereas lithium ion batteries will hold their charge for ages when not in use so your camera can always be ready for use. But you won't get AA size lithium ion cells, so NiMh is about your best option. - Steve xmpp:[EMAIL PROTECTED] sip:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.nexusuk.org/ Servatis a periculum, servatis a maleficum - Whisper, Evanescence _______________________________________________ Talk-GB mailing list Talk-GB@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-gb