Pre-mature battery warning levels on D-540..

[Syringer]

I'm using 2 2300MaH NiMH batteries on my Olympus, and after only a few shots the battery light starts warning that the level is low. However when put into any other device, it'll show the batteries have plenty of life left..and indeed it will still work in the Olympus for a long time with the warning light on.

I've read reviews of the camera and plenty of them have said the same thing. Is there any way to get around this?

 

[JimPhelpsMI]

Hi, Some older cameras were designed to run on Alkaline batt only. Alkaline has different discharge characteristics than rechargeables. The low warning always comes on early on those. Some newer cameras have a switch, usually in the batt compartment, to tell the circuit which type of batt you are using. These have a batt charger built in. The amount of use you are getting is a better indicator than the warning. My oldest camera gets about 90 more low res shots after the warning comes on. Hope this little bit helps, Jim

 

[Syringer]

Hm, it's kind of a newer camera. And I don't see any switch inside the battery compartment..

 

[cheesehead]

It's because NiMh cells are 1.2v as opposed to 1.5v. A NiMh cell at 1.1v still has a good deal of charge left, wheras an alkaline cell (1.5v nominal) would be almost finished.
Perhaps you could use a Li-Ion battery? They can give pretty darn good battery life, and you do'nt need to worry about pesky warning lights-they all operate on 3.6v.