That's no good at all. My shooting rate with the phone has been 14,000 shots a year, and if the Leica is now going to handle that instead, or most of it, then I need batteries that will hold their charge for more than 200 to 300 shots per charge. That's all I'm currently getting from the El Cheapo set I bought online in 2015, to replace the original pukka Leica batteries.
200 to 300 shots per charge is low, and most inconvenient. I should explain that only one battery goes in the camera (it's a BP-DC4), but I always carry a spare so that I can swap in the spare and carry on shooting. Then, once home (or back at the caravan) I can recharge the exhausted battery, and I'm good to go next day. I've never yet used up both batteries in one day. It could hardly happen with the original Leica batteries, which at their best averaged 530 shots per charge (that was after four years' intensive use, during November 2013), and on one occasion (on 25th April 2010) gave me a stunning 653 shots from one charge - all from a rather small 1150 mAh lithium-ion battery.
Even when dying, those venerable Leica batteries did significantly better than the current set from some Chinese outfit called DotPhoto. To be fair, the DotPhoto batteries spent almost five years in the boot of my car, with the Leica, which had become my 'spare' camera (although in practice hardly ever used). They'd been idle most of the time, and would have suffered from cold in the winter. Perhaps I shouldn't really have expected them to give me much performance now.
Anyway, I'd now ordered two fresh BP-DC4 batteries from Duracell. I didn't care about the cost, which certainly wasn't the cheapest around (£25.51, including next-day delivery). But I wanted high-performance batteries that would last. I did it online yesterday. And they are arriving, courtesy of DHL, sometime today.
And there's the rub. I don't know when today - only that it will be (according to the latest tracking information) 'By End of Day'.
Grrr. That means I can't go out, because DHL want a signature. I'll have to stay in, and maybe waste an entire day, just to receive a package that could have been popped through my front door.
And this is the problem with online shopping. (Well, one of the problems! The thing ordered may, for instance, turn out to be unsuitable, or not exactly what was asked for) If you want the item next day, then you must sign for it personally, and that means waiting in until it comes. If it's a large item that won't go through your front door, then you still have to wait in to open the door for it, even if you didn't specify 'next day delivery'.
The 'convenience of the Internet'. Ha.
Online shopping is supposed to avoid the effort of going to a shop, which could at least have put the item in one's hands straight away, the same day, within hours of deciding to buy it - if they have it in stock. And that's the major benefit of online shopping: someone, somewhere, will have it in stock. It'll be in a huge warehouse. And it may be the only way to get hold of a battery for an outmoded camera from yesteryear!
Well, another email has just come through, from DHL. My Duracell package, having reached their Gatwick depot at 8.06am this morning, and placed in the hands of a courier at 9.36am, is now 'out for delivery', although they still can't tell me what time my doorbell will ring. I suppose that's up to the courier's whim - or at least how efficiently he orders his calls for the day, and when he takes a break for a sandwich, or a pitstop for coffee, and when he reads his paper, and when and for how long he makes time for the lady he has on the go.
Sigh.
Better hit the bathroom, before the courier catches me in my nightie and dressing gown!
Sequel
The DHL courier arrived in his yellow-and-red van at 1.22pm - so I had to hang around all morning. However, that much was expected, and I used the time well, so I can't say it annoyed me one bit. Actually, the call had its humorous side. I'd just finished a long session photographing coins and stamps - there may be a post or two on that; look in Flickr anyway - and was ready for some lunch. 'Let's just see, before I start to cook, whether the chappie is outside and about to ring my doorbell,' I said to myself.
I opened the front door, and as I did so the DHL van pulled up.
Well! What a coincidence! The courier glimpsed me on the doorstep, apparently waiting patiently - although in truth I'd been there for only a moment. As he approached, I explained to him how I'd peeked out, to find him arriving. We laughed heartily. He really was very jovial. I gave the usual electronic signature, and he was away for his next call, no doubt very cheerful about not having to waste time getting me to the front door.
The two Duracell batteries were very well packaged, and were the ones I'd ordered. One is now charging up as I write this; the other will get charged up after a late lunch.
