I've been using rechargeable AA batteries in my digital camera, but now the camera is dying, so I need a new one. The newer, smaller cameras have a rechargeable lithium battery. Has anyone switched from AA to the lithium? Do they last about as long as the AA batteries? I buy new rechargeable AA's about every 3 to 4 months (for daily claims). Do the lithium ones last that long?

Replacing the best recharagables ever three to fours months on the AA sounds Right. I switched to RayOVac , hybrid (nickel metal hydribe) (Walmart) and they come charged and seen to last longer on the shelf and in the camera and recorder. Get a toy flash light and run the AA &AAA all the way down this may help. A charger and 4 of each cost less than $12.00.

I have used them several months with out much use and the Shelf Life is good.

I still use a Canon camera that I purchased in 2000, have taken over 14,000 pictures with it and I believe I am on my third or fourth battery at this time.  It came with a lithium rechargeable battery, and all I need to do is plug the camera in for a few hours at night to recharge it.  I have never had a battery charge go down when I really needed it as far as working claims, but at times that I am not working and using it just sporadically I don't think to charge it and it has run down on me a few times.  I recently had a visit from my stepson and we did a lot of sightseeing where he used his camera that required batteries to be replaced versus our camera and after that I decided I will never own a camera that did not have rechargeable batteries in it, and based on the history of the camera I have I will try to find a camera with the same type battery setup.  Keep in mind when I did have to replace the battery it cost around $25, this divide that out between the total number of pictures taken and it turns out to be pretty cheap.

Like Steve said, Canon makes really good batteries. Always get a 2nd battery and just rotate them. My Canon S-60 is running on the same pair of batteries that I got early 2005. Lot's of photos since then.

I've gone through 6 digitals since the 90's.  The old Sony Mavica's chewed up batteries because they did physical work - writing to a floppy disk.  Then I found that the Nikon batteries stopped taking a charge within a year.  When my old Nikon Cool-pix 5000 batteries both crapped out - I got an adapter that held 6 AA batteries because I really liked the wide-angle lens on the camera. But even the expensive rechargeable AA's would not last as long as the little Canon battery, just keep a spare and rotate them.

You can get the discontinued Canon S-60 and S-70 on Ebay and they have a 28mm lens that is wide enough to take interior shots and see the whole room. Canon finally came out with one of those small "elf"cameras that has a wide angle lens, and that is going to be my next camera. The old S-60 is like a tank, and these newer ones are so small - yet the battery life is awesome. I have 2 family members with the Canon Elf cameras, they rave about the battery life.  Here's the one with wide angle lens:
http://www.steves-digicams.com/2006_reviews/sd800.html 

In the old days of 35mm SLR adjusting, a 28-105 was just about perfect.  I also had a 24mm super wide lens that I put on when I had to photo a small kitchen or bathroom.  That is what the pro's use at architectural digest in order to show the whole room.  A wide lens is also vital if you photo a vehicle that has been impounded or in the storage yard, squeezed up against other cars and the fence.

This is a 7 megapixel camera, but can be set as low as 640 x 480.  This camera was released November 2006 and should be coming down in price.  Put it on your Xmas list... and don't forget to ask for a 2nd battery.

Thanks Bob and Steve I will ask Santa for a Canon elf the 28 to 105 is what I need.

Remember the old days, having a 35mm camera with a neck strap?
I still use a neck strap with digital cameras, to take photos without stuffing it back-and-forth into a pouch on my tool belt.

My wide-angle Canon S-60 is very heavy for a digital camera. I know the smaller SD-800 will be much lighter as it hangs from my neck, but may not be as sharp at the edges when set a wide angle. There is always a compromise, but that is one I am willing to make. The SD-800 was released a year ago, so the 399 price has been dropped to 249 (Amazon).

The "new" wide angle Canon is the SD-870  http://www.steves-digicams.com/2007_reviews/canon_sd870.html but they did away with the optical viewfinder. If my batteries are about toast at the end of a long day, I like the option of turning off the display to save batteries. 

The SD-800 and the SD-870 are both wide angle.  Beware of all the other Canon "Elph" models that look the same, but are not wide angle.  Digitals that don't go to 28mm wide angle drive me nuts when trying to photo damage to the interior of a house.

Yeah - but some companies do seem to go the extra mile to make sure their batteries are high quality. We have all seen it with cordless tools. I have Makita batteries that just keep on going year after year, but the Craftsman stuff won't hold a charge after a year.

That was my experience with Canon vs Nikon batteries, the Nikon's just wouldn't hold a charge so I got a 3rd one in the rotation and it crapped out way too soon as well.  In my quest for wide-angle digitals I also had an Olympus for a year, then it's batteries wouldn't hold a charge anymore. 

I started to treat them like cell phones.  If the battery flaked out and I didn't really like the camera, I wouldn't invest in another battery for it.