Pentax/Optio Digital camera, whats the best batteries to use?

I presume we鈥檙e talking about AA sized batteries.

You can use alkalines for digital cameras but they won鈥檛 last very long. Add to this, when they're idle they will still bleed a bit of power so they'll continue to run down. It's quite possible that after a month there's not enough power left in them to keep the camera going. I bought some alkalines for my P&S one time when my rechargeable batteries were all dead. They lasted about an hour, about 50 pictures at most.

Next on the disposable list is the lithium batteries. These don鈥檛 lose power over time and they hold a lot more charge than alkalines. But they鈥檙e also quite expensive. I鈥檇 keep a couple of those as spares if you desperately need power, but I wouldn鈥檛 use them regularly, that would cost a fortune.

In the end you鈥檙e best off using rechargeables.

The cheapest are the nickel cadmium batteries and I don鈥檛 recommend them at all. They tend to run down faster than the alkalines, they take forever to charge and often you can鈥檛 top them up before they鈥檙e depleted, you have to wait for them to run down..

The best solution at the moment is the nickel metal hydride (NIMH) rechargeables.

These batteries also lose charge over time, sometimes 1% per day, but they are easily restored. If you have them sitting around idle for a month it's possible that they won鈥檛 perform until you charge them again. But you can top them up any time without damage and if you have a one hour charger they鈥檙e quick to restore.

Within that group of batteries select the ones rated at 2500 mAh or higher, I noticed that you can get 2700 mAh versions now. The battery will tell you its rating and so will the box you buy them in. If you get something lower than that you may save a little money but they won鈥檛 last long before they need to be recharged.

I鈥檇 get at least three sets for your camera and a one hour charger. This way you can charge them up as you鈥檙e getting ready to go out and with three sets you have more than enough power available to cover all your picture taking needs.

I hope this helps you a little.

duracell ultra

Any batteries that say 2000 mAh or any number higher than 2000. This is the capacity of the battery.

Also, get a battery that is NiMH (this is the chemicals in the battery).