RichardS said:
You might check http://www.photobattery.com/
Type in the number of the original battery and it will show substitutes for it.
Dick
Dick,
This is in no way to put you down, but there is a difference and 'acceptable substitutes' aren't really that at all.
You see, the original batteries used by most of these cameras was based on mercury and put out about 1.35 volts. Mercury batteries were good for camera meters, because they maintained their voltage for a very long time before they died - and then they died suddenly - no 'guessing' if the battery was really good or not. With me so far?
Mercury, it turns out, is bad for the environment if it gets loose in landfills and leeches into groundwater. Most governments on earth decided to ban the use of mercury in things like camera batteries for that reason.
The 'acceptable substitute' that one would get from your charts is either an alkaline 1.5 volt battery or a silver-oxide 1.5 volt battery. Both are NOT acceptable substitutes, because although they fit, they are the wrong voltage - off by just enough to throw the exposure of the camera off. And worse (for alkalines), it does not even throw them off by a predictable amount - they are all over the place. Still with me?
As it turns out, alkaline batteries start out well ABOVE the rated 1.5 volts (and even that is too high), and then drops pretty quickly. It does not have a nice level output until it dies, instead it drops and drops and drops until it is finally dead - but it may 'fool' you by lighting up your 'battery check' light until it is putting out way below what will work for your camera.
Silver oxide is a pretty stable battery - not as stable as mercury, but more stable than alkaline. But it too has a slope as it ages, and it too throws the meter off. However, many folks can compensate for the problems of silver oxide by setting the film speed intentionally wrong - just enough to compensate for the meter being off the other way. Make sense? Like throwing a ball in the wind - you aim to compensate for the wind factor.
There are also 'zinc' batteries, which work by reacting to ordinary air (therefore, they have little holes in them, and you activate them by peeling off some kind of covering over the air holes). These are often used in hearing aid batteries, among other things. They DO put out the right voltage - 1.25 volts. But depending on where you live, they die rather quickly and they cost quite a bit. Some folks use actual hearing-aid batteries with various adapters to make them physically fit in the camera, and those tend to be a bit cheaper.
You can also pay a camera repair person to recalibrate your meter to react more-or-less correctly with a silver oxide battery. Probably the best solution long-term, but even that is not perfect - the silver oxide, as mentioned, has a better 'glide slope' than the alkalines, but not as stable as the mercury - so it will go bad slowly, and leave you thinking it might be good still. You have to get used to changing batteries regularly, even if you think they are still good.
Finally, you can use an external meter, which is often the best solution - but not all older cameras will function at all without a meter in the camera and working - such as the Yashica Electro series.
So you see the dillemma. There is no easy solution, and you can't just look up the 'equivalent' battery online, because there isn't one, no matter what they say.
Of course, most modern color film has a 4-stop or tolerance, so you COULD get by with a modern replacement and no compensation in most cases - but most of us want the best performance possible from our older cameras, know what I mean?
Best Regards,
Bill Mattocks
PS - Welcome to RFF!!!
