Does my Olympus 35 SP need a new battery?

[MelanieC]

This is from my new (to me) Olympus 35 SP. I used the on-board meter. I'm thinking the battery is going dead so my exposure was off. Anyway, all the photos on this roll are grainy like this (and this is after I tried to fix the image somewhat in Photoshop -- the original scan looks much worse). I used Tri-X 400. I developed a roll from my Leica at the same time as this roll and those negatives don't look like this, so it wasn't the developing, although I'm sure I did something wrong there too since I barely know what I'm doing.

What's happening here?

 

[Kim Coxon]

Hi,
Compare it against a hand held meter. The camera originally took a 1.35v mercury battery. Modern 1.5v cells will through the meter off. Solutions are:

Use a hearing battery or Wein cell
Use a battery adapter
Re-calibrate the meter
Compare using a hand held and adjust the exposure by the ASA dial. This will only work in a limited range because the difference is not linear.

Kim

 

[Rich Silfver]

I've used a number of 35SP's with Wein cells and that worked really well.
Downside with Wein cells is that they really only lasts 5-6 months or so.

 

[mike goldberg]

Hi MelanieC,

I'm the owner of a much loved Olympus 35 RC. The ONLY thing the battery at the bottom of the camera tells ME is: what f stop I'm at. Looking DOWN at the top of the camera tells me what shutter speed I'm using.
- HERE'S PART OF THE PROBLEM:
A lot of shops don't have the exact battery that was intended for your camera; they give you an equivalent that throws the meter off some.
- I'm using a handheld Gossen Luna Pro for some lighting situations. If you use ASA 400 film a lot, you already KNOW that a lot of indoor shots are made at f 4, 1/60... and a lot of outdoor shots at f 11, 1/500.
- HERE'S A TIP I LEARNED FROM OUR MEMBER RUBEN:
DON'T expose Outside bright light shots and indoors available light or cloudy day shots... all on the same roll. The guiding principle is:
EXPOSE FOR THE SHADOWS; DEVELOP FOR THE HIGHLIGHTS.

Re: GRAINY NEGS:
- Is your Tri X fresh?
- Who is developing it... and in what?
Remember that only the custom labs [or your by your own hand]... will process B & W these days. Also, consider Ilford HP 5 as an alternative to Tri X.

I hope this helps some. I was a working Pro for 15 years in the 1970's, and I'm rediscovering B & W in a digital age of 1 hour precessing.
All the best,
Mike 🙂

 

[MelanieC]

Hi all,

Thanks (belatedly) for the feedback. I do think my meter is off, checking it against a handheld meter. I'm going to try a different (legal) battery and compensate for it being maybe a half stop or stop off and see what happens. I could always just use the handheld meter, but since there's a nice spot meter in the Oly (if I can work with it) that seems like not the best solution.

My Tri-X was fresh. I developed it myself, which could certainly be a problem but the roll of Tri-X I developed at the same time from my M3 came out fine.