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Bibita
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, September 23, 2004 - 11:27 pm: | 
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Hello!
The light meter on my Nikkormat FT 4700890 does not seem to be working. I have not replaced the batteries, as I don't know where batteries are located. Bear with me, as I am a beginner & have been doing research to try & figure out the camera design, but have not been very successful. The light meter is showing that it is underexposed & the needle won't move. I guess that the first step is to replace the batteries & see if that solves the issue, but I don't want to take it to an expert who will charge me through the nose, as I am quite poor at the moment Can someone walk me through this process (in layman's terms, please ? What kind of batteries should I be using to replace the Mercury ones that are most likely the original ones that the camera came with? I have been reading about some horror stories of Mercury batteries being replaced with Silve-oxide ones that over-heated & damaged the camera... What do I do? Please help! |
rick oleson
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, September 24, 2004 - 06:54 am: |
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The battery is in the baseplate on the bottom of the camera: there's a little round cover with a coin slot in it. The current replacement for the original battery is a 625A alkaline cell, which is readily available (they carry the Duracells at WalMart). This will not give accurate readings with the Nikkormat, but it will power the meter and with color print film you probably have enough exposure latitude in the film to make it usable. Once you've established that it does work, if you find that you're not satisfied with the accuracy of the meter, the easiest solution is to substitute a Zinc/Air hearing aid battery. This isn't a perfect fit in the battery box, so here is a way to make it fit: http://rick_oleson.tripod.com/index-111.html
Nothing will overheat and damage the camera, somebody just made that up. Your concern with battery swapping is the accuracy of the meter.
(ps: in the FT, the meter is on when the wind lever is pulled away from the body so that you can see the red dot; it turns off when you press the lever forward to park it.)
: )= |
M. Currie
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, September 24, 2004 - 07:22 am: |
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If you get the meter working with an alkaline cell, and everything is all right except for accuracy, you can often compensate by changing the ASA setting on the camera. You'll need to experiment a little to find out just what offset works. If you can find or borrow another camera with a known good meter (or a hand-held meter) it helps. It's best if the lenses are similar as well, but not absolutely required. Find an evenly lit surface, such as a wall, and aim both cameras at it, with the good one set for the same film speed as you're using in yours. Try also for a brightness level that is close to normal daylight and a neutral color like light gray or beige. Now adjust the ASA setting on yours until the meter indicates the same exposure as the "good" camera calls for. Generally the same offset will work with different film speeds, so now just make a note and keep it with the camera, saying something like "set film speed 3 steps slower." Even if the meter is not terribly accurate, and even if it is not entirely linear with the new batteries, you'll have a "pretty fair" reading for normal use, and as you gain experience with the camera you'll get a good sense of when to obey it and when not to.
If you can't find another meter against which to check it, you can get at least in the ballpark with the "sunny 16" rule: in bright open sun, your exposure should be approximately f:16 and the reciprocal of the film speed. If you adjust the ASA dial on the camera to approximate this, you'll have at least an approximation for other light conditions. |
cavey
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, October 05, 2004 - 01:26 pm: |
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cant get to wind on.and light meter will not work.replaced batteries. |
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