Is it worth buying a battery?

[Dralowid]

I'd forgotten we had this and can't remember whether it was any good. I found it when looking for my Instamatic 50. I remember buying it in the late '80s but I don't think it got much use.

Does anyone have any memories of it that would push me into spending a fiver on a battery? Of course it may not come alive but I am willing to take that risk.

It is a Nikon TW2, it has two focal lengths (I think it pre dates zoom in compacts) and apparently has AF, DX etc.

Any memories anyone?

 

[agentlossing]

You'd have to convince me not to buy a battery, purely for curiosity.

 

[petronius]

It was my first fully automatic camera and I still love and use it! Here are some old and some newer pictures. The square-ish body feels well in my hands and the camera is a little weird, a fact that I like (think about some Konica P&S cameras too).
And yes, it is worth a new battery! The lens changing and transport sound is quite creepy (sand in a gearbox style), but that´s part of the fun.
Ah, and the sweet Kodachrome 200:

 

[Alpsman]

I use these cameras, which are almost brainless to operate, almost every day as a documentation camera that I always have with me. However, mine have a date imprint so that I know when I took the picture.
They work without any problems as long as they have a battery. (At least mine)
I patched one of the cameras back together with adhesive tape after it fell. It still works.
At least one is always within reach, charged with 400 black and white film and of course a battery and waits patiently to be used.

 

[Dralowid]

OK, I'll buy a battery if only to use the soft focus effect!

 

[Godfrey]

Hmm. I have a similar era Olympus infinity Stylus Zoom DLX ... I think someone gave it to me 20 years ago and it's been sitting on a shelf here for all this time. I just put a battery in and it seems to work ... I'll carry it on my walk today and see if it actually does work. 🙂

G

-- Post-walk --

I loaded a roll of HP5 and made 36-37 exposures on an hour-long walk. The camera seems to work flawlessly! I wonder why my friend gave it away? I'll process the film tomorrow..

 

[Dralowid]

Interesting to see that this Nikon does not appear to use foam for light seals, just plenty of 'light trap channels'.

Next... there is some Fuji Neopan 400 CN in the fridge (not freezer) dated January 2011. Bearing in mind the cost of processing I wonder if it is worth the risk? Normally I would expose an extra stop or two but with this camera I cannot see a way to do that. Auto is in charge.

 

[Alpsman]

@ Dralowid:
I had some concerns about a 14-year-old 400 film, even if it had been in the fridge.
Not because of the sensitivity. But with an old Tri-X I noticed that the film was getting a bit darker overall.

The following possibilities come to mind:
Shoot a film with the DX automatic at random and see what happens.
or
Shoot a film with the DX automatic and develop it with push 1 or push 2 - and see what happens.
or
Change the ISO code on the film cartridge itself.
You can do this either with these self-adhesive labels
or
if you have a 3D printer, I have drawn templates for the ISO code.
Tape off the ISO code on the cartridge accordingly and scratch it off again with the 100 or 200 template. Then the camera thinks it has an ISO 100 or 200 film in it and exposes accordingly.
or
If the camera doesn't find a DX code on the cartridge, it sets a "standard" sensitivity. Most DX-coded cameras do that. On one of my cameras it's ISO 160 or 200 or whatever. That's in the manual. So cover the DX code on the film cartridge, then the camera thinks it has a non-DX-coded cartridge and sets its standard sensitivity. Whatever that is.

It would be a laugh if we couldn't get that to work ;-)

 

[Dralowid]

Battery first and check functions.

It will be interesting to see the change in fcal length activated if it functions. A separate optical unit swings up into line behind the lens and masks are supposed to appear in both viewfinder and flash windows.

 

[Godfrey]

Hmm. I have a similar era Olympus infinity Stylus Zoom DLX ... I think someone gave it to me 20 years ago and it's been sitting on a shelf here for all this time. I just put a battery in and it seems to work ... I'll carry it on my walk today and see if it actually does work. 🙂

G

-- Post-walk --

I loaded a roll of HP5 and made 36-37 exposures on an hour-long walk. The camera seems to work flawlessly! I wonder why my friend gave it away? I'll process the film tomorrow..

I don't think I ever used this Stylus Zoom before, so I hunted up an instruction manual on-line. It has some interesting features in flash control, and a spot-setting for focus and metering should you be working with a complex subject. Neat!

Mine also has the quartz-date imprint feature, which wasn't in the manual I found, but was easy enough to figure out. But .. the camera was release in 1989 and as I went to set the current date ... well, it can get to 2019 and then it cycles back to 1989. I guess Olympus didn't figure that anyone would be still using it 36 years later... 🤔 I set it to 2000 so the imprint would at least be in this century if I turn it on. 😉

I'll process the film this afternoon.

G

 

[Alpsman]

. . . .

Mine also has the quartz-date imprint feature, which wasn't in the manual I found, but was easy enough to figure out. But .. the camera was release in 1989 and as I went to set the current date ... well, it can get to 2019 and then it cycles back to 1989. I guess Olympus didn't figure that anyone would be still using it 36 years later... 🤔 I set it to 2000 so the imprint would at least be in this century if I turn it on. 😉

I'll process the film this afternoon.

G

There are some around which have only two digits for the year. These dont stop at 23 or 24 😎

 

[dexdog]

The battery is a lot cheaper than the film and development cost.

 

[Dralowid]

The battery is a lot cheaper than the film and development cost.

Indeed but I am hooked and it makes for a little bit of fun.

I have subsequently discovered that it is possible to change the film speed by fiddling with release and flash buttons at the same time. However when the camera turns itself off the DX coding reverts to whatever it has read on the cassette.

There really does appear to be quite a lot of 'stuff' hidden within most of which has never been used. A far cry from a Leica III.

Looking forward to Godfrey's results!

 

[Godfrey]

Indeed but I am hooked and it makes for a little bit of fun.

I have subsequently discovered that it is possible to change the film speed by fiddling with release and flash buttons at the same time. However when the camera turns itself off the DX coding reverts to whatever it has read on the cassette.

There really does appear to be quite a lot of 'stuff' hidden within most of which has never been used. A far cry from a Leica III.

Looking forward to Godfrey's results!

Heh heh! It is darn fun to play with these old point and shoots.

I was laughing at how quickly and easily I could shoot an entire roll of film yesterday ... When I go out on a similar walk with my 1950s Retinas and Voigtländers, between manual film wind, manual exposure setting, manual focusing (by RF or Scale), and in some cases manual shutter cocking, I rarely finish 15 exposures in such a walk.

Which produces better results is a question mark...

The film is hanging in the shower stall, drying. The Stylus successfully and (mostly properly) exposed 36 exposures. I'll know what they look like better in an hour or so after the film is dry and I can at least look at them with a loupe. 🙂

Meanwhile, I have a dozen photos from my last roll of film (Voigtländer Vito II, Ferrania P33) almost ready to post up ... just some finish annotation, etc, to do yet. It took me about four weeks to shoot the 34 exposures on that roll. 🤔

G

 

[Alpsman]

I confess, I'm hooked on mechanical cameras, especially Nikons.
But these cheap, little, fully automatic, brainless to use, autofocus, auto flash and date imprint cameras have a special place of value for me.

When I know I will shoot a complete roll of film, then I pick one of my full metal, fully mechanical ones and a handheld lightmeter.
But when I dont know if I even take a picture, then I pick one of my point n shoot.

I'm especially documenting my hometown, everything that is changing over time, every house that is built new, every house torn down, every shop that will be replaced, every waste bin that is replaced. And when it takes a month or longer to make the roll full I still know when I took the picture.

Other benefits are, nobody takes you serious or even notice you when you come up with such a kind of camera.
You can get them for cheap or as a gift because people dont want to have 'em anymore but also dont want to throw them away.
When you drop it, not much value is gone, except the film. And if ya drop them, most times they will still work or ya can fix them together with tape.

They are a trustworthy companion for every day for everywhere. As long as they have a working battery in their belly.

 

[Godfrey]

Film dry, scanned it quickly this morning ... here's a contact sheet:

Olympus Infinity Stylus Zoom DLX - Contact sheet of HP5 test roll[/url

Examining the negs and positive images:

- Some dirt in the film ... probably dust and crud from inside the camera, crunched into the emulsion.
- A couple of light leaks here and there.
- Functionally ... focus is consistent and accurate, exposures are consistent and very close to expected.
- Lens looks good, and sharp.

Fun stuff! 🙂 A nice little camera for fast snappies. Not at the same quality level as my RFs from the 1950s, but fun nontheless.

G

 

[Dralowid]

Godfrey congratulations, yours obviously works and the results lok pretty consistent. My battery is yet to arrive.

What on earth are you going to do with your cupboard full of rangefinders?!

 

[Godfrey]

Godfrey congratulations, yours obviously works and the results lok pretty consistent. My battery is yet to arrive.

What on earth are you going to do with your cupboard full of rangefinders?!

Thanks.

... I make photographs with them. 😉

G

 

[DownUnder]

I have two Nikon N65s (aka F65s), purchased on a whim at a time when 1 they were new on the market and 2 my interest in film had not quite been taken over by the yet-to-be-released range of Nikon DSLRs, which came a few years later. There they were in the camera shop, there I was with a little money to burn, and as usual I succumbed to temptation. As we all do at such times.

Those 65s went through batteries like nobody's business. I could not get more than a few rolls of film out of a set of two when it was again time to spend for another two. I would buy and install them, take one or two rolls of film, put the cameras away for a few weeks, and zip! the batteries were drained.

A few years later I went to a photo fair (the Box Hill, Victoria annual shindig, well known to and popular with many Australian readers here) and by chance lucked into a seller who had two battery packs for the cameras. These packs took standard AA batteries and I could buy these from the supermarket or any Reject Shop. Seller wanted $40.00 each but I bargained the two down to $45.00 and bought them. The rest, as they say, is history.

So yes, there are times when new batteries are worth while investing, and other times when they are not.

If I were you, I would risk a fiver for a new battery/new batteries and take the chance. It's after all, only the price of a coffee nowadays. Let's face it, film for the camera will cost you more than that, but that's another matter.

Let us know how it all works out, please. We all enjoy happy/positive endings to these threads.

 

[DownUnder]

I have two Nikon N65s (aka F65s),both purchased on a whim at a time when 1 they were new on the market and 2 my interest in film had not quite been taken over by the yet-to-be-released range of Nikon DSLRs, which came a few years later. Not rangefinders, I know, but there they were in the shop, there I was with a little money to burn, and I gave in to temptation. As we all do when new gear comes along.

Those 65s went through batteries like nobody's business. I could not get more than a few rolls of film out of a set of two when it was again time to spend for another two. I would buy and install them, take one or two rolls of film, put the cameras away for a few weeks, and zip! the batteries were drained.

A few years later I went to a photo fair (the Box Hill, Victoria annual shindig, well known to and popular with many Australian readers here) and by chance lucked into a seller who had two battery packs for the cameras. These packs took standard AA batteries and I could buy these from the supermarket or any Reject Shop. They wanted $40 each but I bargained the two down to $50 and took them home. The rest, as they say, is history.

So yes, there are times when new batteries are worth while investing, and other times when they are not.

Other than this last comment, I will say only this. If I were you, I would risk a fiver for a new battery/new batteries and take the chance. It's after all, only the price of a coffee nowadays. Let's face it, the film for your camera will cost you more than that anyway, but that's another matter entirely.

BTW those F65s/N65s are marvellous small cameras. All my D lenses work on them, and the results are as sharp as anything I could ever want. So win-win for me.

Let us know how it all works out, please. We all enjoy happy/positive endings to these threads.