The Always Ready Digital Camera

As I briefly mentioned in my last post, I’ve always buy canon cameras. I haven’t owned any other brand of digital camera and I don’t think I’ve owned any other brand of camera period. So when it came time to buy a new digital camera, the only question was which Cannon digital camera will I buy?

Obviously I bought the Canon S5 IS. I did it for a variety of reasons. There was one benefit I didn’t really think about at the time. The batteries.

Big Batteries, Big Camera
When I considered the S5IS, I was initially turned off by the fact that it used four (4) double A batteries. These things are practically antiques in the camera world. Most all digital cameras nowadays use a proprietary digital camera battery. My old Canon powershot had one. These big old AA batteries make the Cannon S5IS way bigger than it had to be.

A Digital Camera With No Waiting
Digital cameras like the Canon SD line come with only one proprietary battery. So when it dies you’ve got to recharge it and your camera is out of commission. That is unless you buy another battery which means more money. And I’ve never tried to buy one of these proprietary Canon batteries, but I’ll assume it’s a pain in the ass. Not like you can go to Rite Aid and pick one up.

When the S5IS batteries die you just pop in four new ones. Granted this can become costly after a while but you can buy a set of rechargeable double AAs for 20 bucks. A new Canon battery will cost you around the same. But one of the great things about off the shelf batteries is, you can always find some good ones ready to go. You don't have to worry about your backup battery being charged. This is great if you want to travel portugal and you forget to pack a battery changer.

So what I initially viewed only as a disadvantage, proved to give the S5 IS a leg up on the SD800, Canon G9 and other Canon powershot cameras I considered.

UPDATE: The battery life of my Canon Powershot S5 is seeming shorter and shorter with every battery change. I think it's time to invest in rechargable batteries for my favorite digital camera