Question about a non-slr camera.

[comradvolk]

I recently found a weird nikon coolpix 990. It's non SLR, but this camera is unique in the sense that part of the body (where the lens is mounted) can be rotated where it can be pointed in any direction (vertically.) I put in a new memory card and fresh batteries and I take a few shots and the whole thing just drains the batteries in a snap. I'm guessing this is either the fault of the camera internally or there's some "ultra battery drain" setting checked somewhere in the menu. i know it's far fetched, but i can't get enough time to go to the menu and find anything. Help?

 

[Garbz]

Battery could be dead, as in RIP dead, not give it a quickcharge dead. That sounds like the symptom of many older electronics. My laptop battery gives me about 3 minutes of life too.

Try new batteries. If it takes normal batteries try any NiMha's, and if it's a custom lithium battery then look on ebay.

In a very rare case there can be a short or something in the camera which drains the batteries, but if that's the case the battery should be very damn hot when you pull it out of the camera.

 

[Dwig]

I recently found a weird nikon coolpix 990. ... the whole thing just drains the batteries in a snap. ...

The cp990 ( http://www.camerapedia.org/wiki/Nikon_Coolpix_990 )takes standard AA batteries. Like any such camera, it requires rather high performance batteries (Alkaline, NiMH, Lithium). It will eat conventional AA batteries and cheap off brand alkalines in a rather short time.

Try again with fresh alkalines or new NiMH batteries freshly charged. It should give decent battery life, though probably half of what most modern cameras deliver. It is an older camera with older computer electronics. Also, the LCD screen's backlight is a bit power hungry compared to newer models today. Turn if off when not needed and use the optical VF.

You'll find that the cp990's lens is rather good. Few modern P&S cameras have lenses as good and none better. It also has extremely good closeup capability with a very flat field and excellent sharpness center to edge. Nikon offered a slide duplicator for it that was merely a film holder that attached to the lens. It relied solely on the camera's own "macro" capability yet it delivered surprisingly good images.