Which CCD digicams run on AA batteries? A checked list of 29 cameras

1. Which CCD digicams run on AA batteries?

At least 29 CCD cameras made between 1999 and 2012 run on AA cells, and this page lists each one with the page that says so. 20 take two AA cells (the smaller bodies) and 9 take four (larger bodies and long zooms). Each row below was included only because a Canon museum page, a manual or a full review that we opened states both the CCD sensor and the AA cells; where a source gives shots per set of cells, the table shows them.

This is a list of used cameras, mostly 2003 to 2012. It is not a buyer's guide to new cameras, and it is not complete: it holds the cameras we could confirm, not every camera that fits. 17 of the 29 cameras have a full review on this site, linked in the first column. The "Launched" column is the date or year on the cited page. "Shots" are the page's own figures, shown as alkaline first and NiMH second; "n/a" means the source gives no number for that cell type. The standards behind them are explained in the glossary.

Two-cell cameras

Our reading: two cells keep the body small, and the listed weights fit that: Imaging Resource gives the Canon A1200 as 185 grams with batteries, the Nikon L22 as 183 grams and the Panasonic LZ8 as 188 grams.^10,12,23 Several of these are reviewed in full here, and our power page quotes the manual lines for the AA cameras we cover.²⁵

2. Which of them take four AA cells?

9 of the cameras above take four AA cells: the Canon A80, S3 IS, A640, S5 IS and SX20 IS, the Nikon Coolpix 950 and L810, the Fujifilm S602 Zoom and the Olympus SP-570 UZ. Four cells mean a bigger grip and, in the sources we read, more weight.

The weights show the cost. Imaging Resource lists the Nikon L810 at 430 grams with batteries,³³ the Fujifilm S602 Zoom at 499 grams (that sheet does not say whether batteries are included),³⁴ and the Olympus SP-570 UZ at 555 grams with batteries, and says its big grip is home to the four cells.³⁶ Against 183 to 188 grams for the three two-cell cameras whose weights we read, that is roughly two to three times the weight. The reward is reach and resolution, not battery life by itself: the SP-570 UZ has a 20x zoom lens and 10 megapixels,³⁶ the L810 a 26x lens and a 16-megapixel CCD,³³ and the A640 a 10-megapixel CCD.²⁹ The Canon SX20 IS pairs a 20x zoom with 12.1 megapixels.³¹

The oldest row, the Nikon Coolpix 950 of 1999, is a 2.1-megapixel camera that Imaging Resource says runs on four AA alkaline, NiCd, NiMH or lithium cells,³² and the Fujifilm S602 Zoom of 2002 runs on four AA cells instead of the small NP-80 pack used in the 6900 and other earlier FinePix models, a departure Imaging Resource points out.³⁵ (Imaging Resource's data sheet says four NiMH cells and a charger came in the box; its review lists four alkaline cells.)^34,35 The oldest row dates from 1999, so AA power in this class goes back at least that far.

3. Is there a digital camera that takes AA batteries?

Yes, and there were many of them. This page covers the used market: CCD compacts, grip cameras and bridge cameras from 1999 to 2012 that run on ordinary AA cells. We link no new camera here.

That shape of the question matters, because the phrase "camera that takes AA batteries" brings up many pages about new models. This guide answers a different one: which old CCD cameras can you still buy, and still feed from a shop-bought cell, without hunting for a discontinued battery pack? The table gives 29 confirmed answers, from Canon's A-series and PowerShot S-series to Nikon's Coolpix L line, Kodak, Fujifilm, Sony, Panasonic, Olympus and Pentax.

The checking rule is strict on purpose. Retailers' "AA battery camera" lists are not evidence, and neither are forum posts. Where a camera appears in forums as an AA model but we could not open a page that states its sensor and its cell count, it is not in the table. The list headed "What we could not confirm" below says what fell out and why.

4. What is the best compact digital camera that uses AA batteries?

There is no single best, and we have not tested any unit. The sources point to different winners by need: the Canon A550 and A560 have the highest NiMH rating among the two-cell cameras (500 shots), the Canon S3 IS (550) and A640 (500, on an optional pack) have the highest figures among the four-cell cameras that have one, and the lightest bodies whose weight we read are the A1200, L22 and LZ8 at 183 to 188 grams with batteries.

Take the pocket case first. Among the two-cell cameras with a NiMH figure, Canon rates the A550 and A560 at 500 shots, the A590 IS and A1200 at 450 and the A570 IS and A720 IS at 400,^2,3,6,9,4,5 Sony rates the S600 at 460 on its 2500 mAh cells,¹⁸ and Panasonic's LZ8 is listed at 470.²³ Those are rated numbers from different makers, so the ranking between brands is loose. The A590 IS museum page lists a lens-shift image stabiliser and a 4x zoom;⁶ our reading is that if sharp handheld pictures matter more than a few dozen shots per set, that is the reason to look at it first.

The long-zoom case has fewer candidates. Imaging Resource prints 110 alkaline and 550 NiMH shots for the Canon S3 IS,²⁸ the A640 is rated at 500 shots on the optional Canon cells,²⁹ and the L810 is the camera in the table with a long-zoom lithium figure as well (300 alkaline, 450 NiMH, 740 lithium).³³ If you want an early, cheap, simple camera, the A80 is the oldest Canon in the table, a four-cell camera with a vari-angle screen that Canon says was a first for the A series.²⁶ If you want the biggest zoom, the SP-570 UZ and L810 are listed at 20x and 26x.^36,33

Read the full reviews before choosing: we have written 17 of them, and they cover what these tables cannot, such as picture quality, handling and what reviewers disliked at the time. The cards and cables for each of these cameras are on our card lookup and cable lookup.

5. Do AA digicams last longer on NiMH or alkaline cells?

Yes, NiMH lasts longer, in every case where a source gives a figure for both cell types and says the second is NiMH. Across 14 cameras the NiMH figure is 1.5 to 6.7 times the alkaline one, and for 7 two-cell Canons it is 2.3 to 3.6 times.

The table shows the figures. The ratios are our arithmetic on the page's own numbers: NiMH shots divided by alkaline shots.

The spread is wide. The best ratio is the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H2 at 6.7 times; the lowest is the Nikon Coolpix L810 at 1.5 times. The two highest are the H2 (6.7) and S3 IS (5.0); the three lowest are the L22 (1.8), L3 (1.7), L810 (1.5). The seven two-cell Canons from the Canon museum and manual sit between 2.3 and 3.6 times. These are different makers' ratings, made in different years with different cells (Sony's are on 2100 and 2500 mAh packs), so we do not draw a rule from the gap. Canon's own manual for the A590 IS warns that alkaline performance differs by brand and that the cells you buy may not last as long as the ones in the box, and it recommends NiMH for cold weather and long sessions.⁷ Its SX130 IS manual says NiMH lasts much longer than alkaline, especially in the cold.³⁷

The oldest evidence agrees. In 2002 Imaging Resource's Dave Etchells bench-tested sets of four cells outside any camera. The three alkaline sets delivered 3.3 to 3.4 watt-hours, roughly half of the 6.7 watt-hours from the best NiMH sets, and he called ordinary alkaline cells close to useless in AA digicams.³⁸ That was a constant-load test on 2002 cells, and he later noted that some newer cameras had become much more efficient with their batteries.³⁹ So treat it as a direction, not a figure for any camera on this page.

A final caution about the table: a few rows are partial. The Kodak C875 has only a NiMH rating on the page we read, the Panasonic LZ5's 235 shots are on the Oxyride cells supplied with it, not on NiMH,^15,22 and the Canon A640's 500 shots are on an optional Canon pack that the museum page does not call NiMH.²⁹ They are shown in the first table, not in the ratio table, because the pair is not alkaline against NiMH.

6. Which AA batteries and charger should I buy?

Rechargeable NiMH AA cells and a charger. Every source above that rates both cell types gives NiMH the higher figure, and Canon names its own NiMH cells as the rechargeable it recommends. We do not rank cell brands, because we tested none and the sources do not agree on one.

Canon's A590 IS manual lists a Battery and Charger Kit (CBK4-300) with a charger and four AA NiMH cells (NB-3AH), and notes that two batteries are used for this camera.⁷ The manual's cautions are specific: it says NiCd cells can be used but performance is unreliable, and it does not recommend them.⁷ Some of the cameras above came with the right cells in the box. The Sony H2 and Sony P72 each shipped with NiMH cells and a charger, according to Imaging Resource (for the Fujifilm S602 Zoom its data sheet says the same, but its review lists alkaline cells);^19,20,34,35 the Canon A590 IS and A640 and the Nikon L3 and L22 shipped with alkaline cells.^7,29,11,12 Etchells' view in 2002 was that an AA camera owner needs high-capacity NiMH cells and a good charger, and that cell brands and especially chargers vary a lot.³⁸ A used camera often arrives without either.

Practical buying: two cells for the pocket cameras, four for the grip and bridge cameras, and a second set so one is always charged, which is also Etchells' advice to carry spare sets.³⁸ The links below are searches for the cell type, not a statement that a listing fits a particular camera. Charger and cell compatibility with your camera is something to read in your own manual; the Canon pages we read name Canon's own cells, and we did not test third-party ones.

7. Can I use lithium AA, Oxyride or USB-rechargeable cells?

It depends on the maker, and we cannot give one rule. Some pages we read list lithium AA as supported, Canon's SX130 IS manual says it cannot recommend cells other than alkaline and Canon NiMH, and we found no maker page for USB-rechargeable lithium-ion AA cells at all.

Where lithium AA is named as supported, the page is a maker's guide or a reviewer's spec sheet, and we tested none. Kodak's own C875 guide lists "2-AA lithium" among the power options.¹⁴ Imaging Resource lists lithium for the Nikon Coolpix 950, the Sony P72 and the Nikon L3 (630 shots on lithium against 200 on alkaline),^32,20,11 and gives the Nikon L810 a rating of 740 shots on lithium AA against 450 on NiMH.³³ The same site's Panasonic LZ8 and Pentax E50 data sheets list lithium disposables as usable.^23,24

The counter-evidence is just as direct. Canon's SX130 IS manual answers the question in its own words: it cannot recommend batteries other than the ones it lists because performance varies widely.³⁷ Imaging Resource's review of the Sony H2 says alkaline, manganese, lithium and NiCd cells are not recommended for it.¹⁹ The two positions are not contradictory; they apply to different cameras. The takeaway is to read the manual of the camera you buy before you trust a general answer, including this one.

Oxyride is the case we can say least about. The one page we read that mentions it is PhotographyBLOG's review of the Panasonic LZ5, which says an Oxyride cell pack was supplied with the camera and gives 235 shots on CIPA;²² we did not read a maker page that says whether Oxyride is safe or advisable in other cameras. The same is true of USB-rechargeable lithium-ion cells shaped like AA batteries: we found no maker statement, so we do not say they work or do not work. These are in the list of things we could not confirm below.

8. Why do so few CCD digicams take AA batteries?

In the one maker we could count, AA models were a minority of CCD compacts. The only share we can measure is Canon's: about 37 percent of the museum pages that name a CCD also name AA cells, and the other 94 do not name them.

Canon is the only maker we could count. Of the 150 Canon compacts whose museum page names a CCD, 56 also name AA cells in the power line (about 37 percent), out of 240 Canon pages in our catalogue; 12 of the other 94 CCD pages have no power line in our catalogue, so "do not name AA" is not the same as "take another battery".⁴⁰ We have no equivalent count for other makers. Our reading of the Canon figure is that AA power was a deliberate product line, not a curiosity: in our table the smaller A-series models take two cells and the A80, A640, S3 IS and S5 IS take four.^41,42

It also explains why the tables are dominated by Canon. The Canon Camera Museum prints the sensor type and the power source for most models, so Canon rows were checkable from one maker page; other makers needed a manual or a full review for each row, and those that we could not open are left out. The balance of the table says as much about our sources as about the market.

The practical reason people look for AA cameras now is on our power page: a camera with a proprietary pack needs that exact code, found on the maker's manual, while an AA camera takes cells sold in any shop. The battery and USB charging page has the manual quotes for the cameras we cover, and the Canon battery codes page lists the codes for every Canon compact. Our reading: for a first used digicam, an AA model removes the need to match a battery code.²⁵

9. What should I check before buying an AA camera?

Check how many cells it takes and what is in the box, the memory card type, and the cable. Those three decide whether the camera is usable the day it arrives, and each is documented for the cameras above.

Cells and box. Two or four cells decides the body. What comes with it varies: the A590 IS box held two alkaline cells,⁷ while the A640 shipped four supplied alkaline cells,²⁹ so a used one may have been sold with neither. If the listing says rechargeable, ask which cell type, and ask for a photo of the battery compartment.

Cards. AA cameras span every card family of their time. The Canon A590 IS manual lists SD memory cards,⁷ the Sony S600 takes Memory Stick Duo,¹⁸ and the Olympus SP-570 UZ takes xD-Picture cards of up to 2 GB.³⁶ A card from a newer camera may not fit or may not be supported; the card lookup and the memory card guide show the maker-stated limits.⁴³

Cables. The Canon A590 IS manual lists an IFC-400PCU interface cable in the box,⁷ and Imaging Resource lists the same cable with the S3 IS.²⁸ Other makers differ, so check the cable lookup and the cable guide before buying a lead.⁴⁴

The rest. Our ten-point buying checklist covers screen, lens, speed and eBay's condition words, and the comparison pages set pairs of cameras side by side. We print no used prices: the sold-listings links below show what these cameras fetch.