Some info on Alkaline Batteries that might explain why....
What you really want is rechargable NiMH's either 2000mAh [milli-amps hour] to 2300mAh are good and including a charger under £20 - will do up to 1000 charges also, so saves you loads of £££ in the long run also.

Anyway HTH....

Why do alkaline batteries run down so rapidly in my digital camera?

Alkaline batteries weren't designed to supply the high power drains demanded by digital cameras and other modern digital equipment. Despite having a large energy capacity, alkaline batteries aren't capable of delivering their energy rapidly enough to supply your digital camera, causing it to shut down. Digital cameras, and in particular their LCD screens, demand large electrical currents from your batteries. An alkaline battery's internal resistance means that it can't provide a sufficiently large current, so its voltage drops and the camera shuts down. This is despite there still being energy left in the battery! - don't throw alkalines away when they fail in your camera, use them in a low power device.

NiMH batteries are able to power your device for very much longer than alkalines - enabling hundreds rather than handfuls of photos to be taken - they are also rechargeable again and again. Digital photography with NiMH batteries is not only more convenient, but can be done at a tiny fraction of the cost using alkalines.
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Are "Ultra" alkaline batteries better in digital cameras than standard alkaline batteries?

Marginally. "Ultra" alkaline batteries do have more capacity than the standard ones, but as explained above, capacity isn't really the issue. Alkaline battery technology has an underlying problem in supplying large electrical currents. You should be able to take a few more photos with Ultra type alkalines - perhaps a third more, but this will still be a disappointingly small number before they fail.