newbie waving a hand

[handyhaver]

Hello All,

Just purchased a s2 and have been lurking out here for a few days. I purchased the camera Fri for a wedding Sat. Haven't had much time to read the manual, but got started pretty quick shooting all on "auto".

Took about 112 pics and most of them came out ok, but I got alot of reading to do. I know I could have done alot better, but to pull it out of the box and start shooting, I guess I really can't complain. To say the least, it was fun trying to get the shots I wanted with this camera being about 20 hrs old to me

One thing I can seem to find, or don't know if it even has it, is a battery power indicator to show me the life of my batteries. I looked in the manual, and it shows one but doesn't say how to turn it on. It also showed a display that looks like it comes on just before the batteries die. If anybody here could enlighten me, I would be ever so grateful. Oh, I could ask a thousand or so questions here so far, but I want to take my time, read and re-read the manual, and then check out past threads to see what I can learn here myself.

Anyway, hello to all and thanks for any response in andvance.

Mark

What a camera!!

[Salleke]

Hello All,

Just purchased a s2 and have been lurking out here for a few days. I purchased the camera Fri for a wedding Sat. Haven't had much time to read the manual, but got started pretty quick shooting all on "auto".

Took about 112 pics and most of them came out ok, but I got alot of reading to do. I know I could have done alot better, but to pull it out of the box and start shooting, I guess I really can't complain. To say the least, it was fun trying to get the shots I wanted with this camera being about 20 hrs old to me

One thing I can seem to find, or don't know if it even has it, is a battery power indicator to show me the life of my batteries. I looked in the manual, and it shows one but doesn't say how to turn it on. It also showed a display that looks like it comes on just before the batteries die. If anybody here could enlighten me, I would be ever so grateful. Oh, I could ask a thousand or so questions here so far, but I want to take my time, read and re-read the manual, and then check out past threads to see what I can learn here myself.

Anyway, hello to all and thanks for any response in andvance.

Mark

What a camera!!

Mark - Welcome to the forum and now to your question. The S2 don't have a battery power indicator build in.
About 10 shots (give or take) before the batterie's die you get the indicator like you allready mentioned.
Get yourself 2 sets of 2500 mA Energizer NiMh rechargebles with a decent 2 hour charger and your off.
Don't get a 15 or 30 minutes charger because your batterie's will become very hot and the lifetime of the
cells will be shortend that way. If you have 2 sets you can use the second set while the first is recharging.
If you use the batterie's as I suggest you can take about 500 to 600 shots before you must change them.

Good luck and happy shooting.

[nwyman]

About the battery situation.
I just came back from five days in Malta with my S2. I took two sets of rechargeables with me (fully charged when I left home) and two sets of regular AA alkalines, just in case.
I shot over two hundred pictures (using two 512 MB cards and used flash several times). To my surprise, the original rechargeable cells I used lasted for the entire trip.
These were Energizers 2100 MaH.

Nancy

[Salleke]

About the battery situation.
I just came back from five days in Malta with my S2. I took two sets of rechargeables with me (fully charged when I left home) and two sets of regular AA alkalines, just in case.
I shot over two hundred pictures (using two 512 MB cards and used flash several times). To my surprise, the original rechargeable cells I used lasted for the entire trip. These were Energizers 2100 MaH. Nancy

Nancy - That's about the amount of pictures you will get with rechargebles of that power.
Having a set of alkalines at hand is ok because you never know when you will need them.
But using them all the time is very expensive and timeconsuming. You have to change batterie's
every few hours or so. Whit good rechargebles you can use them about 500 times and more if you treat them well.

Good luck and happy shooting.

[handyhaver]

Salleke & Nwyman,

I did purchase 4 of the 2500 mA recharbables with the one hr. charger and also have the alks. that came with the camera for back up, for now. After shooting over 150 pics, (deleted alot)almost with the flash on, and 3 short videos, I'm still useing those same batteries. Ive been playing around with the camera ever since it came out of the box, so these batteries do seem to last a long time. It just boggled my mind that there was no indicator, just a so called idiot lite. I had to be sure and ask.

Thanks for the welcome and response.....

Mark

[Briancd]

Welcome. The reason that there is no indicator is because NImh batteries have full power right until the end. A battery meter would show them fully charged until just before they go dead. The advice from Salleke is sound and I would suggest that you get youself a charger that takes a few hours to charge to protect your batteries. Mine takes 14 hours to charge four x 2000ma batteries. I use one set whilst charging the other. Do not mix the batteries up, keep them in sets. Most battery chargers will cut out when fully charged or some are designed for particular battery sizes. If you are using 2500 ma NImh batteries then I suggest all sets of batteries be 2500 ma.

[Bentron]

I have a S2 as well, awesome camera. I am using two sets of rechargable batteries and an Everex MAHA charger. I get about 350 to 400 shots on one set though I don't use the screen much. This combo works great.

[handyhaver]

Thanks again for the welcome and advise. This camera is awesome. I've been busy reading and learning about this thing. I may need a new manual(worn out) before I get thru all the options.
Mark