[pct-l] digital camera batteries

[kdpo at gottawalk.com (Ken Powers)]

Contrary to what was mentioned earlier we have had good luck with Olympus
Stylus cameras. Some versions of the camera seem to have better lenses than
others. So you might want to test them out before committing all your trek
pictures to one. The other benefit of the stylus is that I think it is the
only big name brand camera that is sold as weatherproof. We think you should
still be careful to keep the camera dry and warm though.

We tossed the CAMedia program from Olympus a long time ago. It was slow and
not user-friendly. Plus they rely use the cameras batteries. I found buying
a cheap card reader was faster and easier than the Olympus program. I expect
the programs that come with other cameras are just as bad and slow.

Regarding the batteries: We just bought lithium AA and AAA from Best Buy. I
know it isn't the cheapest place to get batteries, but we saw them and
wanted to try them out. We will use them in Pocketmail and our GPS (No, you
don't need a GPS on the PCT). The AAA will go into my headlamp, if I decide
to carry it.

We just bought the Olympus Stylus 410 and are practicing with it. So far we
like it, especially the 7 ounce weight. It does use a proprietary Olympus
battery, but we found it much cheaper on the web. And the battery weighs 1.1
ounces on our postal scale.The reviews I read said one charge of the battery
lasts for 170 pictures. We will carry an extra battery and that should get
us to the next town. We didn't weigh the recharger, but it is really small
and probably weighs 2 ounces. The electrical cord is probably the heaviest
part of the whole recharging operation. I told Marcia I was going to shorten
the cord down to 6 inches. :) I think we will bounce the recharger, but it
is light enough to carry in places where bouncing is not convenient.

Ken