tips-accessories, canon a20 review

Why would anyone use regular batteries? If you are that rich, give it to the poor.
If you only use this camera occassionally (e.g. 30 photos / trip), then you can buy those cheap $10 Nimh charger.
For heavy usage, 1600mah Nimh is a must. My config is - Maha 204f 3 hour charger. 3 sets of Nexcell 1600mah batteries + 1 set of Maha 1600mah Powercell batteries.
2 sets of the Nexcell batteries last more than 200 photos with heavy LCD usage and flash. 1 set of Nexcel and the other Maha batteries only last 30 to 60 photos before it die.
So it's a matter of luck how well you batteries perform.
With LCD off, you basically can take photos indefinitely.
The nimh batteries will lost around 1% power/day, faster if warmer, slower if cooler.

It happens to all nimh batteries.

You can buy the batteries from thomas-distributing.com I paid US$70 for my 4 sets plus 1 Maha fast charger. They give you lots of free junks (one is a free table cleaning cloth). It's free. It's better than nothing.