Annoying thing happened in the woods today.

[photomem]

Whilst hiking at Shelby farms today carrying my mamiya 645af, something annoying and strange happened. When I was leaving the car, I loaded a roll of film into the back, it advanced fine, no sign of lag or anything. Halfway through the hike, I switched the camera on and noticed that the indicator on the back showed two dashes instead of a number. I pressed the shutter, the camera fired, then the back began to advance like I had just loaded a new roll. This kept happening until the back reached the end of the spool and actually was trying to expose leader paper. I changed the roll, thinking it had lost track of the markers on the backer paper, the back did the exact same thing again. I noticed that the back would cycle back to loading whenever I would turn the body off. It became increasingly apparent that the watch battery in the back was dying. An expedited mile hike back to the car and a hurried drive to the walgreens ensued, with the camera body on to power the back all the while. I replaced the little cr2032 battery and everything went back to normal. I now have a spare in the bag, but I am wondering if there are any warning signs which would have alerted me to this problem?

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

I switched the camera on and noticed that the indicator on the back showed two dashes instead of a number.

Warning enough, I think?

Carry 3 spares of those pesky little CR2032 batteries; two of my Canon remote TTL-corded flash controllers use these and I have lots of spares handy (for those, as well as many other things around the house and studio).

 

[Mike1234]

A good boyscout is always prepared.

 

[Curt]

A good boyscout is always prepared.

... with a Mamiya RB67 backup, no batteries required.

When I was photographing in Hawaii I had my Mamiya 645 all ready to go with cable release attached and film loaded. The first frame of a huge tree root went fine, I advanced the film again and the shutter just fired, I did it again and it fired after I advanced again, and again, and again. I was ready to quit and when I started to take the cable release off I noticed that it was depressed and the lock was on. I have an entire roll of that tree root.

 

[photomem]

I am always very careful to make sure the camera is set to single, not continuous. I am going to buy another pack of 2032 Batteries and put them in my bag. I always carry 12 AA batteries (Sanyo Enerloop), so might as well add a couple more ounces of weight

 

[keithwms]

I have a ritual with the 645af: as a way of saving battery power, I set the focus to manual and leave it there unless I *really* think I need AF.

 

[Sirius Glass]

... with a Mamiya RB67 backup, no batteries required.

Batteries need not apply for Hasselblad A12, A24, A16, or A32 backs.

Steve