best compact camera that takes aa batteries?

[petemurphy]

HI,

want a small cheap compact camera for glasto that takes batteries. any suggestions? quick google finds this:

Nikon Coolpix A10 Camera - Black

anything better?

lightweight beats pixels! dont want to take my iphone!

thanks

[henrycrun]

I assume that as everything is so power hungry, you may get under an hour (instead of maybe a day using li-on rechargables) ?

[mikeveal]

henrycrun said:

I assume that as everything is so power hungry, you may get under an hour (instead of maybe a day using li-on rechargables) ?

That's a commonly held misbelief.
Akaline (Duracell) batteries hold more energy by volume than Li-ions.

Li-ions are used in cameras because they're lighter & rechargeable, because they really don't hold that much less energy than alkaline and because the manufacturer can make them fit the available space.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AA_battery

Li-ions can deliver a lot more current than alkalines. The wikipedia comparison table show capacity in Wh (joules/3600) at 50mA draw. If you increase the current the Li-ion capacity will drop a bit, but the alakalines will drop significantly. This is not normally an issue for cameras.

Alkalines have a significantly lower self discharge, making alkalines more suitable for standby or extremely low current applications, like fire alarm & clock batteries. In a watch, you'd pick a non-rechargeable lithium cell as it has low self discharge and a very high energy density.