High Sierra Topix

My cameras (elphs and elph-oids) don't use those sort of batteries. My cameras use little, narrow, squarish or rectangular re-chargable batteries (not a bunch of AAs that you throw away then they die).

Someone of all you photograghers out there must know what I'm talking about. Are there solar chargers for the type of batteries I have in my tiny cameras on the market?

The battery on my Canon SD960 IS is labled "Battery pack NB-4l, 3.7V 760mAh(Li-ion)." The batteries on my other two elphs, and on my Panasonic, are similar, but of course all different sizes (thus each has its own sized charger unit). I can charge 3 of them at a time in my Toyota on the road, but once in the backcountry, I can't; and they die after 2 or 3 hundred pictures, despite my carefullest care to conserve energy. I could just buy extra batteries, but they are expensive, not like buying AAs at Costco.

That's why I'm inquiring if anyone knows about solar units that will re-charge them in the field.

I found this charger that is compatible with NB-4L and uses USB charging. That should allow you to charge your camera batteries using a typical solar charger.

http://www.amazon.com/Universal-Battery ... 744&sr=8-6" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I want to thank you all for the information. I will investigate the Brunton Solo Power Plants. Each of my cameras take different kinds of pictures, from being better at very close up to better at landscapes. They are so small that they weigh almost nothing collectively. But I realy love my Mountain Hardware sleeping bag that weighs only 24 ounces...

Didn't notice this thread before posting the following on another thread:

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Buy a few spare batteries and remember to religiously charge them right before any backpack.

Also have a 12v DC to AC converter for a vehicle cigaret lighter socket, that one can plug their battery charger into and thus charge batteries actively during road trips. Two years ago I met an in anguish botanist gal visiting Carrizo Plain National Monument at the peak of an outrageous spring wildflower bloom. She had a G10 camera like mine but her one battery charge had long gone. I told her about my converter and charger but could not wait around to help her out as it was late Sunday afternoon and I had a long drive back home with work the next morning.

I've always had at least 3 or 4 spares even for my G10 which has a hefty 1500 ma-hr battery. For we are backpackers that go places where one cannot charge batteries so having extra batteries is especially important. Almost every person I've backpacked with on week long trips the last decade even though carrying one or two spares has run low on battery capacity and had to limit picture taking. For those of us that take our battery operated toys into the wilderness, the better system is one which uses as few different types of batteries as possible so one can move them around. My external flash, light meter, pocket one-cell flashlight, headlamp, and the new SX130IS all take AA batteries and are all high end NIMH. Thus buying a camera that uses AA's has real value for a backpacker.
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Several extra batteries are a small price to pay. Although NIMH have a lower capacity than the best lithium, they have way more capacity than the best alkaline and can be used over and over and over.