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Using AA batteries anymore?
- Thread starter jwolf6589
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bunnspecial
macrumors G3
Back in my rambling in post #16 I talked a bit about photography applications of alkalines.
As I said, even relatively primitive DSLRs like the Fujis I mentioned, or using an AA tray in a Nikon D200, gives totally unsatisfactory results and an uncomfortably short life.
Add in live view now, a feature that was primitive on the Fujis and non-existent on the Nikon, and you zap the batteries even more. Imagine that on MILCs with their EVFs too.
Even back late in the film era, cameras were "smart" enough that many photographers were switching to NiMHs. The Nikon F100, which was THE prosumer/second line pro camera of the late 90s/early 2000s(and fell enough in the internet age that you can find a lot of contemporary information and reviews on it) will last 10-15 rolls on AAs. If you're a "2 Christmases on 1 roll" photographer, that's not a big deal, but you also don't need an F100. If you're a 20 roll a day shooter, which was high but not exactly uncommon back in those days, that kills your batteries fast(and shooting that much also meant that a D1 would pay for itself really fast). My F6 is used somewhere between those extremes(if I take it on a trip, I might shoot 3-6 rolls) and I squeeze 20 out of a pair of lithium CR123As, but primarily because I use manual rewind(power rewind can suck up a half roll's worth of power every time it's used, and I'm rarely using film in a situation where I don't have time to crank it by hand).
Someone else mentioned that even using AA-sized rechargeables in photography applications has benefits. Lower internal resistance is a big deal. To use an example I know off the top of my head, the AE Motor Drive FN for the Canon New F-1 could be used with an 8 cell AA pack or the "High Power Ni-Cd Pack FN" that also contained 8 AA-sized cells(I've rebuilt a bunch of the latter with both Ni-Cd and NiMH cells). 8 fresh alkaline cells are actually more like 12.8V, although that will quickly drop to 12. 8 fully charged Ni-Cds are 9.2V. Still, though, the camera can run 4.5fps with the alkaline pack and 5fps with the Ni-Cd pack, plus the Ni-Cd pack shaves 2s off the rewind time(7s vs. 5s).
Strobes are the single most common thing using AA form factor batteries, and if you're stuck 10 years in the past like I am, it doesn't take too long to kick an SB-800 into thermal shut-down with moderately heavy use using NiMHs with the 5th cell holder. The batteries will be dead long before that happens if you're using AAs as it just doesn't recycle fast enough. That's also why, back in pre-history, event photographers would walk around with SLA batteries strapped to their belts feeding their Vivitar 283s or whatever, and killing a few in the process.
As I said, even relatively primitive DSLRs like the Fujis I mentioned, or using an AA tray in a Nikon D200, gives totally unsatisfactory results and an uncomfortably short life.
Add in live view now, a feature that was primitive on the Fujis and non-existent on the Nikon, and you zap the batteries even more. Imagine that on MILCs with their EVFs too.
Even back late in the film era, cameras were "smart" enough that many photographers were switching to NiMHs. The Nikon F100, which was THE prosumer/second line pro camera of the late 90s/early 2000s(and fell enough in the internet age that you can find a lot of contemporary information and reviews on it) will last 10-15 rolls on AAs. If you're a "2 Christmases on 1 roll" photographer, that's not a big deal, but you also don't need an F100. If you're a 20 roll a day shooter, which was high but not exactly uncommon back in those days, that kills your batteries fast(and shooting that much also meant that a D1 would pay for itself really fast). My F6 is used somewhere between those extremes(if I take it on a trip, I might shoot 3-6 rolls) and I squeeze 20 out of a pair of lithium CR123As, but primarily because I use manual rewind(power rewind can suck up a half roll's worth of power every time it's used, and I'm rarely using film in a situation where I don't have time to crank it by hand).
Someone else mentioned that even using AA-sized rechargeables in photography applications has benefits. Lower internal resistance is a big deal. To use an example I know off the top of my head, the AE Motor Drive FN for the Canon New F-1 could be used with an 8 cell AA pack or the "High Power Ni-Cd Pack FN" that also contained 8 AA-sized cells(I've rebuilt a bunch of the latter with both Ni-Cd and NiMH cells). 8 fresh alkaline cells are actually more like 12.8V, although that will quickly drop to 12. 8 fully charged Ni-Cds are 9.2V. Still, though, the camera can run 4.5fps with the alkaline pack and 5fps with the Ni-Cd pack, plus the Ni-Cd pack shaves 2s off the rewind time(7s vs. 5s).
Strobes are the single most common thing using AA form factor batteries, and if you're stuck 10 years in the past like I am, it doesn't take too long to kick an SB-800 into thermal shut-down with moderately heavy use using NiMHs with the 5th cell holder. The batteries will be dead long before that happens if you're using AAs as it just doesn't recycle fast enough. That's also why, back in pre-history, event photographers would walk around with SLA batteries strapped to their belts feeding their Vivitar 283s or whatever, and killing a few in the process.
bunnspecial
macrumors G3
Regular F2 user here(with more of them than any sane person should have).
The F2 was a big step forward in that it could use any type of battery of the correct size you could shove in the battery compartment 🙂 (plus it would work just fine without them in there, and I have at least one permanently configured body and a few occasion configurations where the batteries do absolutely nothing)
An unmodified Nikon F metered prism of any age can't accurately meter with most off the shelf batteries.
bunnspecial
macrumors G3
Do you have any concept of what a Nikon F2 is?
bunnspecial
macrumors G3
It is arguably the finest 35mm format camera ever made, or at least the finest SLR ever made.
And in the standard configuration, you'd be hard pressed to even find room to PUT a AA battery.
Arctic Moose
macrumors 68000
I am still curious about all the Canon, Nikon and Kodak camera models @jwolf6589 has owned. So far, crickets.
bunnspecial
macrumors G3
I looked around and I do actually have a digital camera that takes AAs and only AAs-an Apple Quicktake 200. I've never used it, primarily because I haven't wanted to pay the prices that SmartMedia seems to command these days. In fact, I remember asking at one of my favorite old local haunts, the camera store where I'd stop in and BS for an hour or two every Friday afternoon and sometimes buy stuff. They handed me the "miscellaneous memory card" box, I pulled out two 16mb SmartMedia cards, and the owner looked on Ebay and said "$30 a piece." For comparison, when debating about buying cameras in the past(back when most high end Nikons had at least one CF slot) they'd often GIVE me a 512mb or 1gb CF out of that same box to take home with me and really look at the test shots I'd taken with the camera.
In any case, with the Quicktake-back in the day my dad had an Agfa branded camera that I'm pretty sure was the same camera for all intents and purposes. He'd brag about getting X-hundred photos on a memory card, but I'd always joke with that he changed batteries more often than I changed film. I don't think that was actually too far off, as it was good for 40-50 shots on a set of batteries and he was a lot "freer" with it than he would have been with film. He bought 48 packs of AAs at Sam's to feed it(IIRC, it seems that NiMH rechargeables would die after about 10 shots since the voltage would go too low to run it).
All of that netted 640x480 photos that looked terrible even printed to a 4x6. On the other hand, my mom still has albums from some of our family vacations back then filled mostly with my drug store(or rather Wal-Mart) 4x6s from 35mm, and even though back in those days I had no real concept of negative storage/filing/cataloging I'd probably still be able to find them if I looked hard enough.
In any case, with the Quicktake-back in the day my dad had an Agfa branded camera that I'm pretty sure was the same camera for all intents and purposes. He'd brag about getting X-hundred photos on a memory card, but I'd always joke with that he changed batteries more often than I changed film. I don't think that was actually too far off, as it was good for 40-50 shots on a set of batteries and he was a lot "freer" with it than he would have been with film. He bought 48 packs of AAs at Sam's to feed it(IIRC, it seems that NiMH rechargeables would die after about 10 shots since the voltage would go too low to run it).
All of that netted 640x480 photos that looked terrible even printed to a 4x6. On the other hand, my mom still has albums from some of our family vacations back then filled mostly with my drug store(or rather Wal-Mart) 4x6s from 35mm, and even though back in those days I had no real concept of negative storage/filing/cataloging I'd probably still be able to find them if I looked hard enough.
You've got me curious, how many is more F2's than any sane person should have? 🙂
I had the photomic version. I don't remember much about the battery, it seemed to last forever since it only powered the meter so I gave it very little thought over the time I had it.
I miss that camera. In the late 90's, I traded it when i got seduced by autofocus and I still regret that. I really don't know that I'd have the patience for manual focus anymore, but I should have at least kept the camera long enough to find out. To this day, I still feel like I'm missing out with a G series lens even though it's been over 20 years since I needed an on-lens aperture ring.
I have photos I took over 30 years ago and I still vividly remember taking them because I remember spending the time focusing and composing the image. It takes me right back to the moment I was there. Pictures I take recently have so little meaning or feeling for me by comparison just because they are so easy.
bunnspecial
macrumors G3
I think I was at a dozen or so the last time I bothered to count.
I started with a pair of Photomics-one black and one silver, then "migrated" to the F2A, which is essentially a Photomic that works with AI lenses. I've added a few more F2As and F2 Photomics along the way.
Then you get into the "fancy" ones where the meter display uses LEDs rather than a needle(not unlike the FM or FM2). The first of these was the F2s, which is non-AI(twiddle the aperture ring) and you have two LEDs, a + and -. When they're both lit exposure is "correct." The F2sb switched to the 3 LED + 0 - display, which gives you a lot more information(two LEDs lit=1/2 stop over or under). These also have a crazy sensitive silicon photodiode and can meter out to 10 seconds and I think down to LV -2(there's a semi well known trick to get timed shutter speeds 2s-10s on the F2 using the self timer, the B setting on shutter speed dial, and the T setting on the shutter release lock). You have the F2AS which is the same as the F2sb but for AI lenses. Finally, there's the surpisingly difficult to find F2 with a plain prism-I actually found my prism separately, stuck on an F motor drive body. I wanted the F motor body anyway(they required factory/technician fitting), so of course bought it, stuck a spare Photomic FTN finder on it(with another back story as to how it got to be a "spare") and put the F2 prism on an F2 body I had that came with my SB finder but had flaky electrical connections that made the meter sometimes not work.
Of the above, the F2sb is probably the least common. It was made for 2 years and was super expensive new. I love mine, and it's my main F2 I use-I like the SB meter since it works equally well non-AI lenses as well as AI lenses with a metering fork(which is most manual focus Nikkors). The F2AS is the one everyone wants, and I paid $500 for mine with an MD-2 motor stuck to the bottom of it.
So that's my F2 collection-they're not only a virtually perfect camera to use with all the features you need and none that you don't, but also have seemingly no end of accessories, are indestructible, and between the easy dating and all the extra stuff they are fun to collect. As a camera to use, I'll take an F2 any day of the week over an F3. The F2 is basically all the annoying things about the F made right, but without making stuff too complicated.