Hi, I'm using a Canon Powershot S5 IS, and have been doing so for coming up to a year.
I bought it second-hand, from a friend of a friend.
At first it worked fine and was very pleased with it.
Since before Christmas though I've been noticing some serious problems with the battery life.
It sometimes lasts less than 2 hours, and never any longer than 3-4 days, and that's not even with extensive use, that's just during light use.

I didn't notice any of these problems before but that could be for two reasons: A) I didn't use the camera extensively when i first got it. And I used better quality batteries and rechargable batteries.
Now that the battery life is so short, I'm not sure whether it is the camera itself that is failing, or whether it is the rechargable batteries that have stopped working and aren't charging properly. I'm more persuaded to believe the latter since the rechargable batteries haven't been working well in my portable speakers either.

So this leads me to two quetions,
Is it Usual for this type of camera to suffer poor battery life as it gets older and should I just give up on it?
Or is it a battery problem, and if so, which brand and type of rechargable batteries should I look into purchasing.

I'm living in the UK, and I'm only 16, so photography is just a small time pastime for me. But i still enjoy it thoroughly and wish to get this fairly pricey camera up and running so that the money i spent on it wasn't completely wasted.

Please reply if you have any information that might help me, thanks a lot.

Seiborg: sounds to me like your batteries are the problem. You might also want to check the power saving options in the menu (go to the hammer and spanner tab).

Responses to your questions:
1) Is it Usual for this type of camera to suffer poor battery life as it gets older and should I just give up on it?
Battery life doesn't alter with camera age and I wouldn't give up on it.

2) Or is it a battery problem, and if so, which brand and type of rechargable batteries should I look into purchasing.
Sounds like a battery problem to me. See http://mandenomoments.wordpress.com/2009/0...able-batteries/

Thanks, I'm also pretty sure that my batteries are the problem.
I'll definitely look into buying some new ones, as well as the power saving options.
Thanks for the tips, it's really helpful.

You're welcome, the bill will be in the mail