egg on face moment

[TJV]

Just a question...

I was in the unfortunate position during the weekend to be photographing a wedding. I was using my trusty M7 and M6 combo, doing most of the work with the 6 as it had my 50 mounted on it. Now, after owning the M7 for nearly three years, this is a bit of an embarrasing question to ask... What are the signs of flat batteries? I noticed the next day when out shooting for pleasure that my slow shutter speeds sounded unusually fast. I didn't notice anything in the viewfinder flashing or aleriting of any problems at the time and i began to panic, thinking I had an electronic problem (I knew I should have gone the way of an MP!). I took the film out and began to play around with the shutter dial. The problem seemed to be sporadic, mostly firing properly, then occasionaly firing way to fast. To my ears, it soulded faster than a 125th, probably more like a 1000th. Then, after a while, I noticed the left underexposure triange flashing from time to time. Then finally, but still ocasionally, the battery Bc symbol showed up in the viewfinder. My heart sank. The shots of the wedding, back from the lab by this stage, were all over the show. I wondered how I could miss something like a flat battery, especially since I routinely change the batteries in my cameras even if I don't notice any sign of problems. So I suppose my question is... What exactly are the signs of flat batteries in an M7? The instructions suffer from poor German to English translation and are rather vague. Do the symptoms I've described above sound quite typical? I hate automation. I like my M7 but I really wish it would morph into a purely mechanical MP. In fact, if I didn't shoot mostly slide, I'd still be quite happy using my M3 exclusively.

Cheers,
Tim

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

The instructions suffer from poor German to English translation and are rather vague.

That is gerund of shock. Superlative gerund von shock.

Be it German, Japanese or Chinese, most camera manuals of years past (a dozen+ years ago) are worth only for the most obscure information (i.e. EV sensitivity, temperature tolerances, etc.), the other stuff is a Berlitz course gone awry. That is, of course in my vh opinion 😉

For the M6, I notice that when they are about to run out, the meter is off by about a stop and a half, or two stops; I don't know if you can try that with the M7. You'd also have to have a sense of what the light reading should be.

One easy test is of course metering the palm of your hand and comparing that with a reading from a light meter.

I don't know if somebody else has any pointers for you. Good luck.

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

My battery's run out only once, and I only noticed after getting a very underexposed roll I shot indoors. I noticed the difference in broad daylight, then changed the battery (about a month ago) and was back in business. It's only happened to me once.

 

[Athena]

I don't know which type of battery your Leica uses - but I can provide some general info on battery life.

The critical measure, as you likely know, is voltage (i.e. electrical potential).

The other key metric is the rate of "fall off" of voltage - below which the camera (or iPod or whatever) won't properly function.

It's somewhat easier with rechargeable batteries (e.g. NiCds or Lithium) because they are designed to maintain full voltage until near the end of the charge and then the voltage falls off immediately virtually to zero. If graphed it's kind of like looking at someone falling off a cliff.

One-use batteries tend to decline in voltage fall offs that follow a more gentle downward slope - so that the critical measure is not the voltage of battery itself - but the miimum voltage at which the camera will still function according to intended parameters.

Assume, for instance, that the optimal voltage to operate your camera properly is 1.5v. It is likely that it will actually operate at rated performance down to say 1.35v.

Thereafter, it should not operate at all from battery power* - at least that's how my Nikon F3 works. [And why I kick myself when I leave the "power" lever on!]. Once it falls below the lowest "effective" voltage it just defaults down to the 1/80 manual speed.

So, I think, either way - so long as your camera is operating under battery mode - it should be correct. It's performance should not "deteriorate" with a weakend battery - rather it should "default" to manual mode altogether.

But these are all just guesses and again, please note I do not own a Leica so cannot say if this is true for such.

* The distiction here is how this is dirrerent from say a flashlight - which will continue to operate at ever lower actual voltages (within reason) with the light getting ever dimmer and dimmer....

 

[amateriat]

This is odd to me: I figured there was a fairly straightforward means of knowing when the batteries are truly cooked on these things. Or is this a passive-aggresive thing with Leica?

(By contrast, Konica's Hexar RF has a full-time, heads-up battery indicator that tells me, in no uncertain terms, whether the batteries are go or no-go. Otherwise I wouldn't trust the thing nearly as much as I do.)

Come to think of it, a number of film-based cameras I've owned over the last 20 years have come up a bit short in this department, so it's hardly fair to beat up on Leica about this (my Canon A-1 was notorious for offering no warning for when its lone 544 cell was about to poop out, to give but one example). This might've been an excuse for the M6, but the M7? Tell me this isn't so, and that there's something I'm missing as a result of being a non-user!


- Barrett

 

[SDK]

I've gotten perfectly decent performance out of my M7s right up until the "bc" warning came on. No underexposures at all.

I have gotten weird readings once because of the ISO dial. It must have been between two exposure compensation settings, and I was on the verge of freaking out. I thought the meter was going bad or that there was some loose connection inside. On auto, readings were fluctuating wildly from 1/4s to 1/1000s with constant light. It turned out there was a bad connection, but one easily fixed! When I fiddled with the ISO dial, readings immediately calmed down to normal.

TJV you may want to check that the ISO dial on your camera is properly seated, though your description of trying different manual shutter speeds may mean this was a battery problem. If the battery voltage was changing radically during shutter curtain movement that could affect the system's accuracy. I suspect the camera would default to the 1/125s mechanical speed if it were set higher and the power failed during exposure.

 

[ampguy]

I agree

I agree

The electronics in the Hexar RF (and AF) are outstanding, battery longevity is long, power management shuts down automatically and leaves a trickle going to always show battery status, even in the off setting. Also, when the indicator does come on, you always have enough left to finish your roll, including the rewinding back into the canister.

I think batteries and electronics in Leica's prior to the M8 were largely an afterthought, something the serious photographer wouldn't rely on.

This is odd to me: I figured there was a fairly straightforward means of knowing when the batteries are truly cooked on these things. Or is this a passive-aggresive thing with Leica?

(By contrast, Konica's Hexar RF has a full-time, heads-up battery indicator that tells me, in no uncertain terms, whether the batteries are go or no-go. Otherwise I wouldn't trust the thing nearly as much as I do.)

Come to think of it, a number of film-based cameras I've owned over the last 20 years have come up a bit short in this department, so it's hardly fair to beat up on Leica about this (my Canon A-1 was notorious for offering no warning for when its lone 544 cell was about to poop out, to give but one example). This might've been an excuse for the M6, but the M7? Tell me this isn't so, and that there's something I'm missing as a result of being a non-user!


- Barrett