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I was happy with some compact kodak models, IIRC olympus used standards accumulators too, but i am not sure there are still selling on the market ?
Update:
I think Canon PowerShot A1400 is the most recent product that would fit my needs.. wondering if there anything newer, or more sophisticated ?
Let me update post with my findings
I own a Canon DSLR and they sell an attachment to allow the camera to use AA’s (8 of them) instead of a lipo. That’s maybe a bit extreme, but it’s doable.
DSLRs all have optical viewfinders, since the SLR bit basically means "uses a mirror and a pentaprism for the viewfinder".
Most digital interchangeable lens digital that I know of use proprietary form factor lithium batteries. Lithium is a lot more energy dense than an alkaline battery and are rechargeable. They also offer much more stable voltage as the battery discharges, which probably makes them more attractive to camera OEMs.
Why shy away from lithium packs? Even for my ancient D40 I can still get new, but aftermarket, batteries.
Most newer cameras can charge the battery in the body without removing it. Some even support USB-PD and can be externally powered indefinitely.
I think pentax are the only company still making cameras with optical viewfinders, but of their current models only the K-1 II can take AAs and that's only with the accessory battery grip.
Correction: Leica still make optical viewfinder cameras as well, but they don't take standard batteries either.
This isn't what you are looking for but many old cameras have a mini USB power port to provide power if no battery is installed or to recharge the battery. Combined with a AA USB power bank you could power the camera on AA's but with the hassle of a power cord running to the power bank in your pocket.
I did this a few times with my PDA 25 years ago.
A number of newer cameras also support USB-PD. I'm sure there's some devil in the detail here, but you should be able to run them connected to a PD rated power bank indefinitely.
That's neat. Which USB-PD battery bank have you found that takes AA's? I've only seen USB A.
I am not aware of any USB-PD power banks that take AA's. The idea behind my comment was "you don't have to worry too much about availability of OE batteries".
For Olympus, i know only about the PEN and the OM-D series. They all use a big non-standard lithium cell.
Olympus OM and Olympus Pen have not an optical viewfinder,
Man, I wish. I love my Fujifilm, but I hate the damned batteries.
Check out the Kodak AZ255. Oh nvm that doesn't have a viewfinder.. I feel like all modern cameras are missing at least the viewfinder or the battery part, I guess the viewfinder drains the battery too much?
Optical viewfinders don't drain the batteries.
Well yeah, I've only seen digital viewfinders the last few years though.