It seems that my Canon PowerShot G9 may be giving up the ghost – now I have to decide on a replacement. One of my main concerns (after image quality, of course) is the number of exposures that can be expected per battery. With the G9 and aftermarket batteries, I was able to get 1500+ exposures w/o changing the battery. Are there any cameras out there that have long battery life and a zoom that reaches at least 200mm? I’m using an original EPIC, but I’d have no problem moving to a new EPIC 100 if I can find the right camera.

It looks like I could get a Canon Powershot SX40-HS, and wire the camera-end of an AC Adapter Kit ACK-DC80 to an external 6-cell pack of eneloops to power the camera.

Mosley,

My 1900 image Mount St Helens & Spirit Lake ~11Gpix monster (http://www.gigapan.org/gigapans/57636) was shot on a set of fully charged AAA batteries in a Canon SX-10IS at full zoom (565.2 mm equivalent). The SX40-HS is the most recent in the same line of descent, but I can’t speak to battery life because Canon has switched from AAA batteries to propriety batteries somewhere along the line. I’m quite satisfied with the SX-10’s performance and wouldn’t hesitate to buy another one in this line as a workhorse GigaPaning camera.

Thanks Ron. Just curious – are you still using the original EPIC, or have you upgraded?

I actually have two Beta units that have added “extension ledges” that are the precursor to the Epic 100’s extendible tray. But since I got the Epic 100 (I now have two) that’s been my workhorse. The Epic100 will also accomodate my Canon T2i with lenses up to an EF70-300. Until I can afford a larger format camera the Epic100 will remain my workhorse.

[Just saw your more recent post on G9 exposure issues and it reminds me of a similar, but not as dramatic effect I’ve recently noticed in some of my SX10 images. I’ll add a comment over there, but I wanted to qualify my recommendation of the Canon SX line now that your other post reminds me of the issue.]

Were you able to use your SX-30 with the EPIC without the “ledges”? I pulled the trigger on the SX-40. I’ll keep you posted on the external battery hack.