A76 vs S76 batteries with Nikon Cameras...your experience.

[Robert Ley]

Yesterday I picked up my Nikon FA to load with some of my new Kentmeer 200 and the camera was DOA. I couldn't get it to fire and the meter wasn't working. I hadn't checked the batteries recently so I pulled the batteries out and replaced them with some new A76 batteries and the camera worked as it should, so dead batteries were the culprit.

I then decided to check my FE2 which uses the same batteries and has been consistently over exposing by one to two stops and replaced those batteries with new A76 batteries and sure enough the camera reads the same as my FA, so the batteries seemed to be affecting the exposure. Both my FA and FE2 use the onboard battery to run the shutter so I suspect that they use more battery than a camera that just uses the battery for the exposure meter only.

When I first got a Nikon camera that used these batteries they were all the silver S76 and you would put them in the camera and pretty much forget about them as they seemed to last forever and they would give you good accurate exposures until they died.

My question to members is what has been your experience with A76 batteries with Nikon as well as other brands of cameras?

 

[Chan Tran]

I found the A76 doesn't last at long but found no differences in meter readings or shutter speeds. These cameras don't need precise battery voltage.

 

[fstop]

I have a FA that gobbles batteries, other FA's don't for some reason.Probably has a bad cap somewhere.I have others to use so not investigating it.
Minoltas are pretty frugal with batteries.

 

[xkaes]

Check the user manuals. I bet the cameras were made for S76 batteries. You can use A76 batteries -- they are cheaper -- but with many cameras designed for S76 batteries you can run into problems. I used A76 batteries for years, but have switched back to S76 if the camera is designed for them -- longer life and more stable voltage. In the scheme of things, batteries are cheap -- why screw around with batteries that the camera was not designed to use (unless you have no other option)?

 

[Chan Tran]

There should be no problem using any of the 3 options. FE2 manual

 

[Robert Ley]

Does the drop in voltage that I saw with the A76 batteries in the FE2 have any affect on the function of the meter or shutter in this camera?

I ordered some S76 batteries that came today and I will probably swap them out.

I remember the old mercury batteries that would maintain there voltage right up until they gave up the ghost. anyone have any thoughts on the stability of the voltage and whether it drops when it ages?

 

[BrianShaw]

Voltage profile over time is rather standard part of battery specification sheets.

 

[Robert Ley]

Voltage profile over time is rather standard part of battery specification sheets.

I took your advise and with google found a PDF spec sheet for the Energizer A76 battery

https://data.energizer.com/pdfs/a76z.pdf

I don't really have the experience reading these charts and I don't know how it relates to the function of my camera.

Maybe I should post in the camera repair forum?