CRISS adapter?

rover said:
I think your problem is solved!!!!

http://www.zbattery.com/px625a.html
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Oh Man! Thats ausome!

So you're saying that John recalibrated my meter, and put a brand new 1.5v battery in when he fixed up everything else right?

WOW! Thats such a relief.

My SRT-101 is done being worked on now. I feel like it couldn't be in any better condition.

All thanx to John Titterington.

Heres his site for all that want to completely refurbish their cameras, and modernize their meter system to a modern battery like me and Rover did. He did a great job.

http://www.geocities.com/~titterington/camera-repair/index.html
 
JeremyLangford said:
So he will recalibrate the meter for me or whatever to make a 1.5v battery work?

Would you reccomend him over John Titterington?

http://www.geocities.com/~titterington/camera-repair/index.html

John Titterington did a great job of cleaning out my entire camera and fixing my self-timer.
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From his website: "The new mercury free 1.35 volt batteries do not work well in the Minolta SRTs. Their shape causes them not to make good contact with the battery cap. We suggest using a 1.5 volt 625A battery and having the metering system recalibrated to this new voltage."

This sounds good, at first glance, but if you think about what he is actually saying for more than a moment, it is wrong on so many levels I hardly know where to begin. The problem and the solution are both misstated, and quite badly.

The problem is not that the new batteries don't fit. They do, and he must be talking about C.R.I.S. MR-9 adapters instead. Oh, wait a minute, most of them are built out of the shells of used 625A batteries. The "problem" must be that you have them turned the wrong way, so the slot in the side is where the battery contact in the camera is trying to hit. He can't be talking about Wein cells, because those are exactly the same size as the original mercury batteries (unless he is just plain lying; I wonder if that could be it).

The actual problem is that the cameras were designed to run on a really rock steady 1.4 to 1.35 volts. Mercury batteries had a negligable voltage curve (1.4 to 1.35 volts over their entire lives) and were so steady that hardly anyone but Yashica (and only a few kinds of Yashicas at that) saw fit to put voltage regulation circuitry into the cameras that used them. The #625A alkaline cells he recommends start off at 1.5 volts (roughly), but they have a steep voltage curve, steadily losing voltage over their entire lifespan. You get about a week or two, somewhere toward the beginning, when they are between 1.4 and 1.35 volts and will work right, but before and after that the voltage is either going to be too high or too low. Regardless of how your light meter is calibrated, they won't work right with it, because the voltage level is not constant. There are even a few cameras that can be damaged by the higher initial voltage from a 1.5 volt alkaline cell. You can't adjust for it either, because your meter's response will be non-linear according to the light level if the voltage is either too high or too low. If this is not the case, you have a Yashica, it is a G-series, it never used #PX625 mercury batteries and it will run on anything between 4 and 6 volts.

The solution to this problem? Well, there are several. Fundamental to all of the ones that work is that you have GOT to start with a battery that has a steady voltage curve. This pretty much means mercury batteries, silver oxide batteries or zinc/air batteries. Then you have to get a voltage out of it that is between 1.35 and 1.4 volts.

Solution #1:
Just get a new mercury battery. They are still being made overseas, in several third world countries. Getting them into the country is a problem, but a few do turn up here from time to time.

Solution #2:
(the one that the C.R.I.S. adapters use): Modify a 1.5 volt silver oxide battery with a schottky diode in order to get 1.4 - 1.35 volts. Silver oxide batteries, unlike alkaline batteries, produce a fairly level voltage curve. It isn't quite as level as a mercury battery's, but close enough that it isn't going to cause much in the way of problems. However, one problem is going to be noticable: If you need to draw a lot of current, it won't be able to keep up if you are using a small battery. The most commonly noticable effect of this is that the battery check light on a Canonet won't work well with a C.R.I.S. MR9 adapter (if at all).

Solution #3:
Instead of modifying the battery, modify the camera to use a 1.5 volt silver oxide battery. You can either recalibrate the meter (on some cameras) or solder a schottky diode in series with the battery. This will NOT work with a #625A (alkaline) battery. The Varta brand #625A batteries only work well in cameras with bridge circuitry, like a few Yashicas. You need a #675 or #357 silver oxide battery, adapted for size (or you can get a new battery holder and solder it in).

Solution #4:
The Wein Cell. Wein makes 1.4 volt zinc/air batteries in #625 size. They are no different from other zinc/air batteries except that they are the right size and they only have 2 holes in them to admit air instead of the more normal 4. Basically, they are #675 zinc/air batteries with two holes missing and wearing collars. They also cost more than normal zinc/air cells -- a lot more. This leads us to ...

Solution #5:
Use a smaller, normal, inexpensive 1.4 volt zinc/air hearing aid battery and adapt it to size. The guys who make the C.R.I.S. adapter have also attempted to capitalize on this method by making an adapter strictly for size, but frankly you can save a good bit by just digging the middle out of a dead Wein cell. If you don't even want to spring for a couple of Wein cells (use them until they die and then dig the middles out and use them as adapters for #675 zinc/air hearing aid batteries) then a #11 rubber O-ring (about $2 at a hardware store) will work as an adapter for size. You may have to wrap a bit of aluminum foil around part of it in order to get a good electrical contact in some cameras, depending on where the battery contacts are. The #675 zinc/air hearing aid batteries only last about two weeks, but then they only cost about a buck each, and they are, environmentally speaking, relatively friendly, so who cares? In photography, that is a drop in the bucket. This is what I use in my Minoltas (I have an AL-F and a Hi-Matic 7S).
 
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State more succinctly....

State more succinctly....

The PX625A batteries are ALKALINE... Good for about a week of steady use before the voltage curve becomes too low for proper metering...

1) Result ... Pay to get the meter recalibrated $$$$$
2) Now the camera needs 1.5 volts.
3) Use Alkaline and the battery is no longer correct, as long as it would be for the old 1.35 setting.


Sounds like a waste of money to me. You need to use one of the solutions that have a flatter curve on the voltage AND correctly puts out a measured 1.35 volts for the camera to operate correctly.

If you have the camera recalibrated, You still need to find a battery and battery adaptor the has a flat 1.5 voltage curve. Alkalines will not do it for you.

So, WHY recalibrate the camera. Find a 1.35 volt silver oxide solution.

THAT's WHY I USE THE WEIN CELLS. They are correct for the solution, even if they don't live as long, or are expensive. From everything I have read, the Schotky and other diodes are not consistently the same.

Tail wagging dog.....
 
My meter was recalibrated for a 1.5v battery, and also had a PX625A Alkaline Cell put into it.

If Alkaline Cells are so bad, then what do you suggest doing, now that my meter is already recalibrated?

Is there any type of 1.5v battery made that has the right voltage curves for my meter to work properly and that will work in my already recalibrated meter?

kuzano said:
The PX625A batteries are ALKALINE... Good for about a week of steady use before the voltage curve becomes too low for proper metering...

1) Result ... Pay to get the meter recalibrated $$$$$
2) Now the camera needs 1.5 volts.
3) Use Alkaline and the battery is no longer correct, as long as it would be for the old 1.35 setting.


Sounds like a waste of money to me. You need to use one of the solutions that have a flatter curve on the voltage AND correctly puts out a measured 1.35 volts for the camera to operate correctly.

If you have the camera recalibrated, You still need to find a battery and battery adaptor the has a flat 1.5 voltage curve. Alkalines will not do it for you.

So, WHY recalibrate the camera. Find a 1.35 volt silver oxide solution.

THAT's WHY I USE THE WEIN CELLS. They are correct for the solution, even if they don't live as long, or are expensive. From everything I have read, the Schotky and other diodes are not consistently the same.

Tail wagging dog.....
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JeremyLangford said:
My meter was recalibrated for a 1.5v battery, and also had a PX625A Alkaline Cell put into it.

If Alkaline Cells are so bad, then what do you suggest doing, now that my meter is already recalibrated?

Is there any type of 1.5v battery made that has the right voltage curves for my meter to work properly and that will work in my already recalibrated meter?
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Get a 625 sized wein cell, dig the middle out (it is a 675 zinc/air battery in an adapter), and get a 675 silver oxide battery. Use the shell of the wein cell as an adapter.

And next time do some research.
 
Why can't I just use a 1.5v Silver Oxide battery that doesn't use the zinc/air thing that is know to last a month at a time?
 
If your meter has been adapted for 1.5v, then you are far better off using silver cells. The discharge is linear whereas the is a noticeable drop with alkaline. Having said that, both will last a similar length of time and 625 silver cells can be very hard to find.

If your meter has been adjusted for 1.5v, then using Wein cells or zinc air will give incorrect meter readings and shouldn't be used.

Kim

JeremyLangford said:
Why can't I just use a 1.5v Silver Oxide battery that doesn't use the zinc/air thing that is know to last a month at a time?
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If I had one or even two or three cameras that took differant CRIS/ Kanto adapters, I'd opt to get them adjusted for 1.5 V Silver Oxide batteries. Then you would have to worry about ever losing the adapter.

I went the adapter route solely because I have too many cameras and it's more economical to use 4 adapters than have all the cameras "fixed."

BTW--I bought my adapters from Kanto/ JP instead of CRIS because the former were a great deal more friendlier/ helpful. I got my batteries from http://www.batteryguys.com/
 
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You guys have my head spinning.

I think when my batteries go I am going to replace them with what John put in my camera. If I remember correctly he put in a Varta battery, what ever that is.
 
Just to spin your head a bit more, Varta do both alkaline and silver versions of most of their batteries. The "number" tables tend not to help as they intermix both silver and alkaline.

Kim

rover said:
You guys have my head spinning.

I think when my batteries go I am going to replace them with what John put in my camera. If I remember correctly he put in a Varta battery, what ever that is.
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I have to laugh at this mercury battery environment problem. It was solvable by recycling the batteries. And there are coal plants dumping 10,000,000+ time the amount of mercury into the air which gets into the water and food eventually.

Today the same forces are pushing the compact fluorescent light bulb, loaded with mercury .

Why don`t I understand?
 
JeremyLangford said:
Why can't I just use a 1.5v Silver Oxide battery that doesn't use the zinc/air thing that is know to last a month at a time?
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You can if you can find one. I think that they stopped making them in 625 size though. If you can't, the thing to do is to use the case of a Wein cell for an adapter for size and put a silver oxide battery in it (a #675).
 
rover said:
You guys have my head spinning.

I think when my batteries go I am going to replace them with what John put in my camera. If I remember correctly he put in a Varta battery, what ever that is.
Click to expand...

The Varta is an Alkaline battery and will only work right with cameras that have voltage regulating bridge circuitry (certain of the Yashicas).
 
Kim Coxon said:
Just to spin your head a bit more, Varta do both alkaline and silver versions of most of their batteries. The "number" tables tend not to help as they intermix both silver and alkaline.

Kim
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Do they still make the silver version of the 625? I had heard that was no longer available from anyone.
 
Ronald M said:
I have to laugh at this mercury battery environment problem. It was solvable by recycling the batteries. And there are coal plants dumping 10,000,000+ time the amount of mercury into the air which gets into the water and food eventually.

Today the same forces are pushing the compact fluorescent light bulb, loaded with mercury .

Why don`t I understand?
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It is called symbollism. In recent times it has become more important than substance. Remember how Clinton got elected because he could "feel our pain?" (he didn't actually do anything about it, just felt it, while diddling interns to ease the pain). We also have an educational system whose end goal is now to make kids feel good about themselves rather than to teach them anything useful. Clinton now wants to "help" family farmers by eliminating their subsidies. This is, no doubt because the huge agribuinesses are feeling threatened by Ma and Pa Kettle.

It is kind of like vegetarianism: it isn't really very healthy or good for you, but it sure seems like it ought to be, and is very profitable for all sorts of scam artists.
 
steverett said:
I just got a Leitz-minolta CL that I need an adapter for. Is Jon Goodman's adapter similar to Frans de Gruijter's homemade one?
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I think so, the difference is Jon Goodman is in the US.
 
FallisPhoto said:
Well, that solves a number of problems. If they are making it again, then a recalibration would work. I can stop digging the middles out of Wein cells too.
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How long should one of those last?
 
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