mike_proudlock

<p>as an Olympus user, with in-body IS, I don't have any issue with framing, at least not from a stabilisation issue. Practically, is any IS system going to help with a wobble large enough to affect framing? That sound s more like trying to take a picture from a moving vehilce on rough ground.<br>

The advantage I see with in-body satbilisation is a major price difference in each and every lens I buy, and not needing to amkie a choice between stabilised and unstabilised versions. This is what made the choice of Olympus for me over other brands.</p>

<p>I cannot cite technical literature etc., although an article in a UK PC magazine made the same points when looking at how best to manage rechargeable batteries in laptops, phones etc. Lithium Ion batteries suffer far less from memry effetc than previous technologies, but it has not been eliminated.<br>

From empirical experience, from personal equipment (all with LiIon batteries), an electric toothbrush that was repeatedly unplugged during the recharge cycle died after about 9 months. Its replacement which has been run donw and only then recharged is still going strong. Similarly, rechargeable AA batteries used by my family that have been drained bfore recharging are holding consoderably more charge than those that have been topped up. The on electronic device I have that gave any info in its manual on battery life also provided a charger with a facility to discharge the battery safely. This particular battery is still going strong after 4 years. These are, of course, small samples, so no necessarily statistically valid.<br>

Professionally, I am responsible for an estate of several hundred laptops and mobile phones. Over these devices, a significant number of batteries start failing well within the lifecycle of the devices (~18mths for laptop batteries). These are frequently partially discharged while their users sre in meetings, then dropped back into a docking station and topped up. Clearly this is not the only factor at play here as there is a clear variation between users. The number of devices, hwoever, does make this a valid sample. <br>

Although battery and equipment manufactures don't supply anything on battery care, in discussions with specialists, they all say that it is critical to battery performance to fully charge and discharge several times when it is new, and to try to maintain this in normal use.<br>

Getting back to cameras, I have always drained my camera batteries before recharging. I have been using an Olympus OEM battery and a generic repalcement over a year and not only can I not see any difference between the 2, but also no apparant dfference between the old batteries and a new pair purchased when I upgraded my kit.</p>

<p>As a physicst ( and having worked with battery technologies in a previous carerre), recharging a partially discharged battery will damage the battery in the long term. Current battery technology is much more resistent to this than older types, but there is still a memory effect in time, resulting in a drop-ff in performance. To maximise battery life it should be fully discharged before recharging.<br>

I have found the battery indicator in both the E-520 and E-30 are actually pretty reliable, and give a good degree of warning when the battery is getting low (i.e. still with a few tens of shots to go). Carrying a spare, fully charged battery with you covers the chance of the battery dying duringa session. I have found you can find some much cheaper, but good quality, equivalent batteries on the Internet (£10 rather than £50) with no perceptible diference in performance. With both OEM and replacements I get 500+ shots with a full charge on either camera.</p>