Quick Tip: Camera Batteries

I bought fancy NiMH batteries for my battery-eating digital camera. I expected these expensive batteries to last longer than the cheaper alkaline batteries I’ve bought in the past.

I was floored and mighty disgruntled when my camera displayed the “low battery” light! I had only used these NiMH batteries a few days! I was floored, I tell you! These NiMH didn’t even last as long as the cheapo WalMart batteries! Grrr!

Then a light bulb went off, you could say. You know where you insert the batteries? In that small compartment? Inside the compartment door are two small metal tabs. These tabs make contact with the batteries when they are inside the compartment and the little door is closed. I wondered if perhaps the tabs (which are easily bendable) had been pushed back the slightest bit, and therefore not making full contact with the batteries inside? Very carefully with my long fingernail, I gave the metal tabs a wee nudge forward. If I prodded the tabs too strongly, I risked bending those tabs or perhaps breaking them off, and then I would be out of a camera all together.

I inserted the NiMH batteries, and voila! We’re back in business! Try it at home! It’s not a big dent in the budget, not like I’ll be saving enough for fancy teak furniture or anything, but every penny counts! And it works!