You haven't been exposing the camera to the lovely cold a lot, have you? Winter temperatures are the sucking blood-vixen of battery life—doesn't harm the batteries, but a given charge won't last near as long.

Other than that, can't help much. I know several people who use rechargables happily enough; and when I was 8 or so we used 'em at home without much problem. You may have just gotten stinkers.

How many charges have you done? 5? 200? Charge life reduces with use.

Also note that different sorts of rechargables react differently to charging whilst holding a lot of or a little charge; and also differently to extended non-use while holding a lot of or a little charge. It is possible to basically destroy a rechargable by leaving it in the wrong state for a couple of months—depending on the sort of battery.

It is possible to basically destroy a rechargable by leaving it in the wrong state for a couple of months—depending on the sort of battery.

Oh noes! I generally stick 'em in the charger when I'm not using them, and only load them in the camera as needed.

Re cold, I keep the camera and batteries in my house 99% of the time - I don't leave them in the car or anything like that. I also heard a story from a friend who was in Peace Corps that people would set batteries out in the sun to try to squeeze a little more juice out of them.

I've had rechargeable AAs for, like, years now. I use the old school type that take like 8 hours to charge (not the 15-minute type), and I haven't noticed any degradation in all the time I've used 'em.

Rock, what brand are they, and where did you get them?

Are they NiCd or NiMH batteries? A quick Google search shows that Quantaray sells both types of AA batteries.

NiCd battery information
NiMH battery information

Why your batteries are losing their charge depends on the battery type. For example, NiCd's are prone to the so-called "memory effect" if they aren't being discharged fully every time. NiMH's can be easily damaged by cheap "quick" chargers, especially in trickle-charge mode. And there are lots of other possible reasons -- the wikipedia entries for both has quite a bit more information about care and usage for both battery types.

FYI, NiMH are more commonly used (and are generally better suited) for most digital cameras these days. On the other hand, NiCd's are better for certain applications, such as powering external flashes. If you have NiCd's in your digital camera, you may be better off switching to a set of NiMH's.

3-

Energizer 2500 mAh NiMH

I think probably Best Buy, but I see them everywhere.