Batteries run out fast

It sounds like you have a charging problem-alternator is not recharging batt when drive, batt will only go so far before it runs out then you get your symtoms. you would need a volt meter to double check this. Fully charged batt will be about 12.7volts once car is started and running you should see about 13.8 to 14.2 volts at batt terminals if alt. is chariging batt. the other item that can cause this is the volatge regulator that controls alt. which are sometimes built-in alternator and sometimes they are external to alternator. and of course make sure your belt is turning alternator to allow it to work. One other small note if you do the engine running test-somtimes- if your car idles low(600 or 700 rpm) you need to give a little throttle (1000-1200rpm) to make sure alternator is turning fast enough for output test.

Most of the time is very good indication of water/liquid damage

Are you using normal AA batteries? i.e. non-rechargeable ones? If so, this is probably why... Digital cameras will **** these dry super fast. You will need to use some AA Nickel Metal Hydride rechargeable batteries (NiMH) with at least 2500mAh capacity to get some decent run time.

There are different types of battery, the old ni-cad (nickel cadium) batts lasted longer if you let them run right down before recharging them as they had a 'memory' which meant if you charged them from half life they wouldn't charge as much after a while. The new Ni-mh (nickel metal hydrate) and li-ion (lithium ion) batterys don't suffer from this problem so you can recharge them whenever you fancy. The li-on batts don't tend to run compleetely out of charge as when tehy have lost a certain amount of power they just stop anyway. If your batt has lost some life it is possible to get it re-formatted' in some cases by having it put on a battery discharge tester. This is a bit of kit that fully discharges a battery from full in a short space of time and measures it's capacity by timing it. Because it completely discharges and recharges teh batt acouple of times quickly it can someetimes reinvigourate the batt.

You need high-power re-chargeables - 2300 mAH or 2500 mAh

The "last time" on std batts is weak 15 mins according to manual I went to rechargable 850 miliamp batts charge immediatly on bringing home (who knows how long on shelf) any way shot 30 min video and 18 still pict yesterday still running on the first charge.
Note charger and batts were about 22.00 at wal mart
KIT

try energizer lithium batts- some cameras very very strange about batterys-have a sony that will only work w/ sony or energizer lithium-bought all other types and they do not work-i get 300-500 pics per set of lithiums-good luck

I had the same problem. 1 of four way's can fix it. #1 Put a batt. that has a little charge in that flashing spot 1st. and see if that works. #2 put the batt. in that flashing slot first and then in the 1st slot, If that did'nt work, #3 Put Batt. in backwards for 1 sec. in and out fast. and I do say very fast, In that flashing spot. #4 buy a new one. The one that fixed mine was #1 and it stoppppped flashing, The order I put them in was - 3-1-2-4 I put in #3 batt. first, it was the one flashing And it worked, You may have a bad batt. or it's on it's way out, but try It. worked for me!

bad battery.. RMA that back to where you bought it from. probably wasnt a new battery they sold you. id charge it from completely dead to completely full one more time and if you dont get at least an hour out of the batt then i would return it..

If you have the idiot proof switch on, it makes everything AUTOMATIC and drains the batteries fast. Open the LCD door and check if the switch is in the wrong position and change it. Go into the menu and set thing s the way you want them. The more Auto stuff you have on, the faster the battery goes. Are you using a light? Even using the LCD uses more power than the viewfinder. Also, batteries do go bad. It's best to run them all the way down and recharge, if you haven't been doing that, short life. I buy my batts on ebay. Instead of one for $150 I get 10 three hour batteries for that.