The latest release from Olympus, their D-620L inspired by the design of their 35mm cameras, is the fastest affordable digital camera on the market. A new burst mode allows photography of 3.3 frames per second in even the highest resolution of nearly 1-megabyte files. These three enhancements make the D-620L the first digital camera to be fast enough for action or sport subjects. Power Digital cameras may not consume film, but they eat up batteries. Most, in fact, can drain the juice from a full set of disposable alkaline batteries in just 20 or 30 minutes of operation.
Some cameras get around the power problem by using rechargeable batteries and include a recharger.
The rate of battery consumption is dictated by a number of camera characteristics and your photographic technique, including how often you use the flash, how many images you shoot or erase from the camera's memory, and whether the camera has an LCD screen. Although the convenience of an LCD screen outweighs this problem for most photographers, you can ease the battery burden by choosing a camera that also includes an optical viewfinder. With such cameras, you can turn on the LCD only when necessary. The most common feature is an automatic power-down that switches off the LCD after a set period. Others include a brightness control or the ability to switch the LCD on and off manually.