Dynax 5 battery issues.

Eyup,

Just registered and I've searched all over tinterwebs to try and find an answer to my question, but unfortunately, the info was inconclusive and, err, ancient.
So...


Just picked up a Dynax 5 35mm slr.

A couple of days ago, I put new batteries in, as the ones in it were flat. It fired up fine and I had a quick check over the lens and controls. I then switched the camera off and put it to one side. It was completely off - I check these things. Today, I picked it up to have a wander round and take a few pics, and all I got was a half-battery signal in the lcd and no power. I took the batteries out and checked the contacts - fine. Took the lens off - contacts clean, no foreign objects in the body - put the lens back on. Switched on, same result. Switched off and on again, a couple more times. Each time, no joy.

I'm trying one suggestion I found - Switch off, pull the batteries and leave it a couple of days. We'll see what happens...

I've chucked in a fresh set of batteries and it fired up and worked fine, so I swapped in one of the supposedly knackered batteries and it fired up again, using either of them. Bizarre...

The batteries are CR2 and I was using eunicell brand. I checked reviews and they seemed good, but I'll try a mainstream brand next. This leads to another question: which is the best brand?

In the meantime, has anyone found a solution, or could point me towards one, please?

Cheers!

Sometimes a battery will have just enough life left in it to power your camera but not enough for you to continue taking photographs. If you turn your camera off, such batteries often will refresh themselves while "sleeping" so they will appear later to be okay for a short time. And some times the batteries roll over and play dead for keeps after the initial use. Sounds like to me you need a good battery tester to check the output. Good luck. I loathe cameras that need batteries and have far too many of them. Another good idea is to see if you can use rechargeable batteries.

It's the first time this has happened at any time, with any device, ever, in my experience. I dug out an old compact, recently, that hadn't been touched for 15 to 20 years. Just fired up and carried on like it had a new set of batteries!

The evil magick called Elec-trickery! :devil:

Sometimes I've had the experience of the Maxxum (USA name) 5 showing low power with new batteries in it. The manual suggests that you turn it off and turn it on again in that case; that has worked sometimes. The fact that they mention it in the manual may indicate that there's some quirk in the operation. I've had good luck with the Minolta BP-200 battery pack which uses 4 AA batteries and works just fine through the life of the batteries; I don't think I've ever got the low power indication with the BP-200 until the batteries are truly worn out. Maybe that accessory is still available somewhere. It fits on the bottom of the camera and adds a little weight to the camera.

That's it; I tried the switch but no dice...

I've been having a bit of a look for the battery grip, before I posted. Can't find one that doesn't cost a couple of limbs, though. I'm in UK and there appear to be none available, except form sellers abroad, who charge the same as the item, for postage! :confused:

I suggest you have the electrics checked out by a camera repairer because when cameras eat batteries it's usually an electrical fault.

benjiboy said:

I suggest you have the electrics checked out by a camera repairer because when cameras eat batteries it's usually an electrical fault.

Click to expand...

It's an idea, but I suspect that it would cost more than the body's worth. Probably cheaper to get another body - they're cheap and plentiful on the bay.

I've also bought a whole setup based on a 7000i, so the 5 may be a lot less urgent issue.

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IF you know how to use an Amp meter then you can connect one to the camera and see if it shows a reading then turn the camera on and see if the reading changes. If the reading changes the electronics are bad, if it stays the same then the switch is bad.
An amp meter connects is series with the power source and the camera will only use a few milamp. The initial power up will be around 50mA max with On and idle/ metering active in the 15-25mA range, shutter firing will be higher. Off should be zero.

Hmm... Never thought about dragging my multimeter out. I'll see where other half has buried it.

Cheers

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Ok... Had the multimeter out. Inconclusive, however there was a possible result.

When fired up, instead of firing up normally, but showing nearly knackered battery, it showed full battery. After a couple of minutes letting it faff about on constant AF, nothing had changed - all was well. If the batteries were truly knackered, previous experience would suggest that the battery would indicate extremely low, or simply switch off.

So, now, I'll leave it with the batteries in for a few days and see what changes, if anything.

Well, the results are in. The problems appear to have gone.

I had a similar issue with the 7000i, which arrived a few days ago. I got the multimeter out ; battery is fine, so I tried the switch a couple of times and that sorted it.

Thanks for the info, everyone. No doubt I'll be back with more questions. ☺

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