Battery Life ... YES, Again ... :-)

[JerryLyons]

I am new to the NZ90. This is the second one I had and with the first the battery dropped from 100% to 55% after I took just one image ... and then I could actually watch the battery continue to deplete itself ... 54, 53, 52, etc. I called Sony and they said there was something obviously wrong ... so I took it back and got another one. Circuit City was very obliging. Having some experience with digital photography, digital cameras, and batteries I tried something a bit different with the second unit. I completely charged, depleted, and re-charged the battery twice before I used it. I will not say this battery is now "gang-busters", but it is definitely much better. It is very common to have to condition a battery before it will perform to its maximum ... usually two or three complete charge and discharge cycles.

As for a new battery for the NZ90, I sincerely hope Sony is working on this. I know the NZ90 is not a camera, primarily a PDA; however, it is terrible unfair for Sony to put such a high quality (and trust me, this is a very high quality camera) camera in the unit and then cripple it with a weak battery. I think they may have surprised themselves on this.

Another issue with the camera ... think of it this way ... as a very high quality PDA and a high quality digital camera ... the 800 bucks starts sounding less expensive considering what you get. I don't know how much anyone in this forum has played with the camera, but rest assured it can take amazingly good images and a lot of them. I shoot on fine, but I read a review that said you could not tell the difference between fine and standard. I have printed an 8x10 of an image right out of the camera with no post processing at all ... and ... I was sincerely amazed. I never expected that level of resolution ... it is a truly amazing camera. Sony really outdid themselve on this thing. NOW, if they can just come up with a more robust battery ... !!! Cheers ...

[YTTAN]

Why my smartlithium battery alway shown ---- charge -----? No data? Is it normal?

[MAJI]

What do you think about the block Movie playback? I know you can't possibly like that feature?!?

[Rosenkrantz]

I might be taking my NZ back this week and either try to return it via the store warranty or I might be forced to exercise my maintenance plan.

I too understand that the NZ is a PDA w/ a camera: not a camera and a PDA. But I expect the battery life to be CONSISTENT at least. Sometimes I can take 30 shots, sometimes less than 10. Very disapointing.

[starstreak]

This is NOT a high quality camera. I've used Sonys 2-5MP cameras. This is a something better than a "pinhole" camera running at 2MP. Its good in that in good lighting (Outdoors) it will take good shots. Almost anywhere else, it will be grainy to some. Thank goodness for flash.Can't really blame Sony. The small size is why it requires so much light to take a goood picture. I still say this is a PDA with a decent backup camera.

The way this eats batteries(sometimes) Sony should've at least made a backup charger in the stand.

[the_iceman]

I agree with Starstreak. It would have been nice if Sony's Cradle had access to charge a 2nd battery. I know Nokia has some of these type cradles for thier older 6100 & 6200 series Cell Phones. If you invent it... I'll buy it! :)

[n2ifp]

I have a Nextel phone and a Samsung, both can charge the phones and their respective spare batteries.

It's obvious Sony has a major problem with the batteries. The smart portion is no help, it's more like a radar detector going off after going through the speed trap.

[jedix]

Originally posted by the_iceman
I agree with Starstreak. It would have been nice if Sony's Cradle had access to charge a 2nd battery. I know Nokia has some of these type cradles for thier older 6100 & 6200 series Cell Phones. If you invent it... I'll buy it! :)

I know that the cradle for the Dell Axim can charge a 2nd battery. I thought the same thing about Sony. If they made a new cradle that could charge a second battery, they would sell more cradles and more spare batteries.

[YTTAN]

The battery drop drastically immediately after use. If you check the battery life again say in less than 1-2min, the battery will go back to original like for example, 100%--use camera with flash--drop to 50% but in 1-2min later--it will goes back to 75-85% depend how much you had use. The battconsume a lot for the flash and the warmup of the camera mechanism inside although you can't see it but once you had a decent F707 or F717 5mb pixel camera you will see why the battery is behave in this way.

[starstreak]

Maybe I didn't understand you (its 2am) BUt are you saying Sony F707 has this same battery problem? I don't think so. Either that or now I'm at the opposite end of the deal. I had the Sony 707 before 99% of the stores got them in. Been using it ever since. I've never seen the battery gauge fluctuate(sp) as badly as this battery.
Again, I know the pda's camera will draw heck of alot more power from a 1200ma battery, sony shouldv'e known this and at least made it bigger. for $50 more Sony should've dropped the CF slot, added a larger battery and buil-in wifi. I know it would've done alot better in sales.

[n2ifp]

Originally posted by starstreak
Maybe I didn't understand you (its 2am) BUt are you saying Sony F707 has this same battery problem? I don't think so. Either that or now I'm at the opposite end of the deal. I had the Sony 707 before 99% of the stores got them in. Been using it ever since. I've never seen the battery gauge fluctuate(sp) as badly as this battery.

I never had a problem with my SX70 or 707 either!

The same goes for my brother who has several cameras that use the same battery.

We are talking a grand total of 6 batteries of the same type. No fluctuation, except when switching modes or using flash, then it reports a new estimate as the battery requirements have changed. It works very nicely with NO issues!

[MAJI]

Me either, I love my 707! I never had a battery issue! I'm a contractor and I take about 50 pictures a week and I only have to charge once a week!

[YTTAN]

starstreak, MAJI, n2ifp, i'm sorry that this is the 2nd time that i had give the wrong idea due to my limitation of my English again. What i mean is the warmup of the inside the camera mechanism which consume a lot of battery energy.

I just state a example of the how the F707 or F717 where you can see the lens inside is moving in or out when you switch it on and off as they got big len which you all can see it clearly.

[YTTAN]

I know that my F707 easily can operate for up to 4-5hours as stated in the manual bk. I even can finish 2 128Mb MS easily while the battery still got more than 50% left.

[oneeyesquare]

How big is the screen on the 707????.... That could be part of the "problem"....

[YTTAN]

You may be right about it as if i switch it to viewfinder mode to replace the small LCD it can use even more.

So maybe if we can some software control the rate or brightness to lower or dimmer the current lowest lcd display setting, we can use it enjoy longer usage.

Currently i using megalauncher with 16 bit colour setting, if i willing to set it to 8 bit colour, maybe i can prolong the battery life too.