What does it means when a digital camera begins to use up batteries quickly?

Answer

If everything else about the camera seems to work normally, I would be thinking about two or three things. Some rechargable batteries lose capacity to hold a full charge after they have been completely dead or if they have been dropped. It is also possible that the charger is not doing it's job. The most power hungry parts of some cameras are the display screen and auto-focus. If you have started using the screen more or changed the automatic power-off timer, that would make a difference. Auto-focus can be a factor in cameras that have large lenses and which have a mode for action where the focus is constantly adjusting. If you recently started using a cable to connect the camera to a PC, that uses more battery compared to plugging the memory card into a card reader instead. An increase in the use of the built-in flash or red-eye reduction can also cut into battery reserve. I hope that helps.

Micron: more regarding batteries...NiCads are notorious for losing capacity if they are left on charge for extended periods. They also have a "memory" such that if they are frequently recharged at some mid-point, that becomes the low charge state and you will never get a full charge in to them again, thus they do not last.