Battery In Older Cameras

[Knikki]

Hi all,

Like many on here I have a couple of cameras that should use 1.35V Mercury batteries, mainly for the meters.

I know you can get "wien" cells and adapters but question is, how much of difference will it make, to the meter reading, if you use a 1.5V Silver Oxide battery instead?

I am aware that these have a drop off when compared to the Mercury ones but that's fine I can work around that.

Cheers.

 

[droj]

A useful resource here: https://www.smallbattery.company.org.uk/sbc_px625.htm

And I quote from it: "Because the S625PX silver oxide cell produces a steady 1.55V, you are able to compensate for the higher voltage by a fixed number of stops or by adjusting the ASA setting. There may be as many as two f-stops underexposure by a camera that uses 1.55v instead of the original 1.35v, but the compensation you require is constant."

I use a MR-9 voltage reducing adapter and a silver oxide 386 cell in my Lunasix ...

 

[john.margetts]

Fortunately, film has a great deal of exposure latitude. I find that many of my cameras that were intended to use mercury batteries work just fine with alkaline batteries. Some, like the Pentax Spotmatic series, use a bridge circuit for their exposure meters and so the voltage is not critical at all. Others, the effect of too large a voltage depends on both the design of the light meter circuit and the intensity of light received by the meter. On these cameras, adjusting the ASA (ISO) setting will compensate for most of the discrepancies.

 

[Harlequin565]

The other thing to consider is the accuracy of the meter depending on the age of the camera and type of meter. Best thing to do is plop a battery in there and run a short roll or cheap test roll through it to see how it does.

I have an Olympus 35RC and a Minolta Hi-Matic-F and both run fine on standard batteries. Good news is that the meter is wrong by about a stop which means using the ISO dial lets me shoot at 1600 by setting the dial to it's max of 800. Happy days.

 

[Cluster]

I used a zinc-air hearing aid cell in my Konica in place of the original mercury cell. The zinc-air gives an output of 1.45v so is nearer that of the original.
I found that it worked very well with no compensation.

 

[Knikki]

Thanks for all the info, certainly somethings to think about, guess I will just try the camera out with a film and see what gives.

@droj thanks for the link I was looking for it but couldn't remember it.

 

[Nod]

I used a zinc-air hearing aid cell in my Konica in place of the original mercury cell. The zinc-air gives an output of 1.45v so is nearer that of the original.
I found that it worked very well with no compensation.

How long did the hearing aid battery last? I know mine only last 8 or 9 days in their original application but the lower demands that a light meter might put on it might make them a viable alternative, even if a short lived one!

 

[Cluster]

How long did the hearing aid battery last? I know mine only last 8 or 9 days in their original application but the lower demands that a light meter might put on it might make them a viable alternative, even if a short lived one!

In my Konica C35, it ran for a season and in that time perhaps had 4 or 5 rolls through it. The batteries were bought in a pack of 6, so there's spares.

 

[Plain Nev]

I used modern batteries in a couple of Fujica's and they didn't miss a beat. Tried it in my Canon FT's and the meters went bananas. Although, the meters seem to behave in the FTb.