went wheeling today thought i went ready to take lots of pictures, but nooooo the camera's batteries dies after three pics. the back up batteries i brought were dead also  

so this is all i got to show for my day, and if you could see my rig now it's caked in mud big time  

Yeah, dude the batteries really drain on these thing badly, especially if you leave the LCD screen on.

Do yourself a favour and buy some NiMH recharchable batteries and charge station... It'll save you tons of money and headaches in the long run.

i do have recharable batteries, but my second set must have lost it's charge sitting in the cupboard for the last few weeks. do they lose there charge when just sitting ?

They can if they are a few years old and of the Nickel Cadium type which no one is really using anymore, it's all about the NiMH's now.

Go to Futureshop/BestBuy and check 'em out, or even better check out ebay for some.