Medium Format Analog Cameras that do not need battery

[DREW WILEY]

All big box stores are infamous for that practice.

 

[Pieter12]

But then you have 2 more batteries in your wallet and 20 in the car. Or Walgreens/walmart on the corner.
Pretty much all batteries are available.

Not so. Some batteries have a specific form factor for a specific make and model of camera and are not readily available and when the camera is out of production for a long enough time, not available anywhere. Some cameras that used Mercury cells are not available any more and replacements that might fit do not deliver the same voltage.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

Hi,

I would like to purchase a completely Analog Medium Format Camera i.e. which can function fully without requiring batteries
( i don't need flash ).

Could someone here be kind enough to guide me on the best medium format analog cameras without the consideration of price.

Particularly, could someone let me know whether the following cameras require batteries to function:

Mamiya RB67
Hasselblad 500 CM
Pentax 67 ii

Thanks a ton in advance.

With best regards,

Vikram

P.S.: If any of my questions were wrong, please do correct me.

the Hasselbld 500-series do not require batteries.

 

[grat]

Because batteries eventually die or no longer hold a charge, and the particular type might no longer be available. A camera that relies on batteries for essential functions such as shutter, diaphragm and film advance will be rendered useless.

I have a Fuji GX680, which had three options for power when it was new: An AC powered transformer, a proprietary NiCad battery pack, or a (currently expensive) AA battery adapter that took 6 non-rechargeable AA batteries.

Mine runs off a 3D printed battery box containing two 18650 Li-Ion batteries that were totally unheard of when the camera stopped production.

There are *always* options. Battery technology is getting better, not worse. Film goes bad, light seals go bad, gears break, springs fail, and most of those are considerably more difficult to deal with than batteries. Now-- the onboard CPU for my GX680, and the daughter-boards? Even with the official repair manuals, sooner or later, those will fail, and the camera will be nigh useless.

 

[Radost]

Not so. Some batteries have a specific form factor for a specific make and model of camera and are not readily available and when the camera is out of production for a long enough time, not available anywhere. Some cameras that used Mercury cells are not available any more and replacements that might fit do not deliver the same voltage.

You can adjust voltage for those light meters or just compensate in your head.

 

[Radost]

The smart counterfeiters intermix phony batteries with the real deal. That's how it works. Sometimes it's even done at the port of entry. Near here, at the Port of Oakland where a great many cargo ships arrive, dock workers have even been caught with counterfeit security seals to the containers themselves, after the fact. It's a huge problem, especially when it comes to counterfeit auto parts, but affects many other kinds of products too. Wal-Mart rigged a paperwork system to bypass inspections. And in the tool repair dept adjunct to my own position, we caught Home Depot doing high-volume battery switch-outs for cordless drills. The problem got so bad overall that Makita had to send out special letters warning of the counterfeiting epidemic and how to detect it.

And of course, ordinary battery shipments brought down at least two freight airliners due to explosive onboard fires. Now there are restrictions on shipping batteries by air. Even NASA, who should know better, lost a two billion dollar satellite prototyping structure due to use of a generic lithium battery in the assembly room. Ordinarily, lithium batteries are completely banned for aerospace applications; but I guess they thought that since they were still on the ground, they could make an exception.

So how do you detect it? It can be difficult, since the look-alike skills and packaging has gotten so much better over time. But look for small anomalies or typos on the package. If there is a stack of batteries on a store hook, see if the serial or date numbers exists in a logical sequence. I one of the batteries you bought from the same source previously failed prematurely, get suspicious. Avoid discount brands. I've had good luck with Varta silver oxide, but have used Duracell without incident, even though, being a major brand, they do get counterfeited at times.

Costco often contracts for second-quality items. Its not like buying eggs or cheese there. And Amazon is a giant octopus with its tentacles all over the place. They license their search engine and payment method to all kinds of businesses, some of which are quite shady. They do a poor job monitoring for counterfeiting, even in their own distribution inventory. So just do a little extra homework when ordering using the Amazon site. There will be plenty of legit vendors to choose from too.

None of this ever happens. At least not in the United States. Eneloop are Panasonic “former Sanyo” cells made in Japan. I have never heard of counterfeit Eneloops. And 100% not from Amazon or Costco.

 

[Kodachromeguy]

You can adjust voltage for those light meters or just compensate in your head.

How do you "adjust" for a varying voltage without some added circuitry? The very purpose of using mercury batteries in light meters was to let the constant 1.35 volts serve as a calibration constant.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

They dont know who owns which specific item. The stock is intermingled. Vendor A provides Amazon 30 boxes of batteries, Vendor B provides 60 boxes, and vendor C provides 10. So amazon has 100 on thier shelf and they know 30 belong to A, but Amazon doesn't know which 30. When you decide to buy 8 boxes from Vendor A because their price is better, Amazon sees the boxes as fungible, and grabs which ever are on the top, whether they originally came from Vendor A, B or C.

This means that reputable sellers on amazon and shady sellers on amazon have their stock mixed up. Its one of the MANY reasons I haven't shopped on amazon, except for certain rare things, in over 10 years. I'll but from B&H, Adorama, Sweetwater.

(I did buy a Bogen QR plate that was discontinued 10 years ago from Amazon recently, but that's because it was the only place that had it listed for sale.)

I've lost confidence in Amazon. They just can't monitor their inventory and sellers. I'll often buy direct from the product manufacturer even if it costs a little more or I have to pay for shipping. Having confidence I'm getting the right product is worth the peace of mind. Of course so many products are cheaply made in China, they may be just as poor from the manufacturer. You're caught between a rock and a hard spot.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

I have a Fuji GX680, which had three options for power when it was new: An AC powered transformer, a proprietary NiCad battery pack, or a (currently expensive) AA battery adapter that took 6 non-rechargeable AA batteries.

Mine runs off a 3D printed battery box containing two 18650 Li-Ion batteries that were totally unheard of when the camera stopped production.

There are *always* options. Battery technology is getting better, not worse. Film goes bad, light seals go bad, gears break, springs fail, and most of those are considerably more difficult to deal with than batteries. Now-- the onboard CPU for my GX680, and the daughter-boards? Even with the official repair manuals, sooner or later, those will fail, and the camera will be nigh useless.

The problem is often not the battery but the camera. My old Nikormat FT3 metering works - sometimes. The metering needle will shoot up or down to the end at times. Sometimes it seems to be regulating correctly, but who knows?

 

[grat]

The problem is often not the battery but the camera. My old Nikormat FT3 metering works - sometimes. The metering needle will shoot up or down to the end at times. Sometimes it seems to be regulating correctly, but who knows?

You know, I coulda sworn the goalpost was right here a moment ago-- now it's over there. Oh well.

Film goes bad, light seals go bad, gears break, springs fail, and most of those are considerably more difficult to deal with than batteries.

 

[Radost]

I've lost confidence in Amazon. They just can't monitor their inventory and sellers. I'll often buy direct from the product manufacturer even if it costs a little more or I have to pay for shipping. Having confidence I'm getting the right product is worth the peace of mind. Of course so many products are cheaply made in China, they may be just as poor from the manufacturer. You're caught between a rock and a hard spot.

Eneloops are made in Japan.

 

[Sirius Glass]

You can adjust voltage for those light meters or just compensate in your head.

Or get the light meter recalibrated for the new type of battery.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Eneloops are made in Japan.

But I don't have to buy them through Amazon. I'd rather buy them through B&H or another more reliable distributor as I have more confidence I'm getting the actual product and latest manufactured date, even though these batteries don't have a specific expiry date.

 

[Radost]

But I don't have to buy them through Amazon. I'd rather buy them through B&H or another more reliable distributor as I have more confidence I'm getting the actual product and latest manufactured date, even though these batteries don't have a specific expiry date.

They have a manifacturing date and exparation is based on their charge cicles. 500 for black, 2100 for the white.

 

[removedacct2]

strangely nobody did mention Bronica. C/S/S2 are fully mechanical

 

[Jeremy Mudd]

Medium format camera that doesn't NEED a battery? I'll throw the suggestion out there for a Fuji GX617. There is a battery compartment that you can put the battery in if you want to fire the leaf shutter from the lens with the shutter button on top of the body, but I never shoot it handheld this way, and fire the shutter with a cable release screwed into the lens. I actually pulled the battery out of mine since its never needed, and then there's no change for corrosion.

Who doesn't love getting 4 shots per roll?

Jeremy

Obligatory image from my GX617. Long exposure in the rain on Fuji Acros 1 film.