[Tom Swaman]

Mike,

I believe this is the reason that new cameras are usually shipped with partially charged batteries these days. If you were as old as I am you would remember when you had to charge new camera batteries for 16 to 24 hours before using.

By the way, I believe the time, namely "a while" is between 150 and 300 hours. This is all related to the electrochemistry of the cell.

Tom