Battery for the original QL17 NOT the GIII

Anyone know if there is a solution? I bought LR44 batteries I saw recommended somewhere but that must have been for the QLIII. The battery is tiny in the big deep hole which is completely different to the one on the GIII and packing with foil didnt work. It seems like all discussion is regarding the GIII. I am not a fan of the camera ergonomics so its not the end of the world if there is no battery, or Sunny 16 may turn out good enough.

The PX-625A would fit perfectly but doesn't have the right voltage. Doesn't harm your camera in any way just that The meter may be off. The right battery is no longer made (because it's outlawed). There are other substitute but expensive like Wein Cell, etc.. I personally wouldn't use them.

The original QL17 and the later GIII were designed, as many camera of that age, to use 625 mercury batteries (1.35V) that are now outlawed.

 

Your camera will take a 625 Alkaline, but metering will be wrong because a) it is 1.5V, and b) it has a very shallow discharge curve.

 

You can use a Wein cell (expensive). This is the external frame of a 625 with aZinc-Air 1.4V battery fixed insidie it.

 

Or you can buy the adapter by Jon Godman (interslice on ebay) that does the same and can be reused.

 

Both solutions provide correct metering.

I forgot to specify: the zinc air 1.4V are sold for hearing aids. Dirty cheap

The original QL17 takes an RM 1

The original QL17 takes an RM 1

That led me to this one which looks like it may fit. But only 1.5Vhttp://tbn

http://tbn

 

Do many of you guys expose manually e.g. Sunny 16 rule? If so I will forget all this battery nonsense as it is quite easy to remeber the settings.

Oh I have several cameras that require mercury battery I simply use them in meterless mode. I have 2 excellent meters but I don't use them either. Just guess the exposure. It's more fun that way.

Are you adventurous? Feel like a good challenge? If so... (I know, sounds like a commercial)

 

Get the 675 Zinc-Air battery. It will be smaller than the require 625 frame but it will still work. You will need to also get some 14AWG solid bare wire. 12AWG might work but it is a little bigger, but worth the try. You will then encircle the 675 battery with the wire and solder the ends together. The 675 is 11.6mm in diameter and the 625 is 15.4mm. Use your great math skills to determine the circumference. Eh... what the heck, about 2" or wire should do it.

 

If you make these little rings and sized correctly you can use 675 Zinc-Air 1.4vdc battery all day long. Have fun!

 

Oh... one more thing you can do is to drill out the core of a PX625A battery and use the ring as an adapter. You will need to drain the 625 by shorting the battery with a 100Ω 1watt resistor. Place the leads of the resistor on the (+) and (-) sides and clamp. In about 48 hours the battery will be inert. Drill out the core from the (-) side and clean. Then the 675 should fit inside. There are instructions on how to do this on the net.

Edited February 4, 2018 by brian_donaldson|3

Do many of you guys expose manually e.g. Sunny 16 rule? If so I will forget all this battery nonsense as it is quite easy to remeber the settings.

 

That's how I mostly use my QL17 (it's the second version with 40mm lens but without the GIII label). When I got it, there was a battery in it, and the light meter does respond, but since I did not feel like spending any money on batteries, I simply always assumed it to be a meterless camera. Usually I carry a lightmeter, and if not, got an app on my smartphone that works reasonably well as a lightmeter too.

Years ago, I adapted one of these by putting a brass slug in the battery compartment, long enough to allow an LR44 to be used. I also fitted a Schottky diode in the battery lead to the meter.

Sunny-16 works fine, but if you search for Sweet-16 you might find the constabulary at your door:eek:

 

 

If you are shooting negative film, as opposed to slide, most films have enough latitude to make sunny-16 work just fine.

How a smaller battery adapts to those bigger holes depends a lot on whether the voltage is taken from both ends or whether there is a feeler to the side of the battery. Nikons use a side feeler and that requires a metal ring for contact. If your camera uses end contacts only, you can put O-rings on smaller cells and they'll go in nicely. If you then also need to lengthen the battery stack you can put in a brass slug or a folded piece of foil.

 

My luck with older cameras has varied widely. A couple seem hardly to care. An Olympus 35RC comes quite close with an alkaline cell (still available in large size), and so does an old Minolta, with a little ASA offset. A Nikon Photomic with two batteries needs more offset but still works. A Konica FT with two batteries needs 2/3 of a stop ASA offset even with hearing aid batteries. Old Pentaxes, which use a different circuitry, are accurate with modern cells if you can find one that fits in the battery compartment.

Bonsignore-ezio described all the battery solutions I know of for the QL17. I used an alkaline 625 battery for my QL17, and set the ASA for about 1/2 the actual film ISO. The meter results were reasonably linear across much of the meter's range (when checked against my EOS equipment), and accurate enough for print film. While I don't use film anymore, I keep my beloved black body Canonet because it belonged to my dad. I guess I keep my brother's Canon A-1 for the same reason. Best of luck.

The ring surrounding the cell in Wein cell can gently be tapped off with needle nose pliers and then used with much cheaper hearing aid 675 cells. Been doing it for years.

unless side contact is required, a rubber O-ring , 7mm internal x 2mm thick works well.

Thank you all for the replies. I will see how the photos look from first 2 roles in 2 days. The developers said they were good (not sure if they just meant the composition though). Will probably just stick to Sunny 16, then switch to an XA2. Bought another battery today but it didnt fit, it's turning out to be more trouble than its worth. I am not the practical, DIY type and the camera feels horrible in my small hands. A curved pocketable camera will suit me better as long as the image quality is not much worse.

 

Edit: just Googled the XA2 battery and it takes LR44 which is what I bought a pack of last week. Perfect. Problem solved.:) The Canon can go. I might swap it for a broken couple of cameras if possible, to use as ornaments as I love the look of it. I would like a nice broken Rollei 35SE and maybe a Canon AE where I could use the lens elsewhere.

Edited February 8, 2018 by Bleedinggumsmurphy

The XA2 (and other XA's) will work with any similar size modern batteries (76, 44, 357, 675 with various letters) , and they will last and last. Sometimes the dollar stores have alkalines, and sometimes (though not recently) Big Lots stores have had good deals on SunbeamSR-44 silver oxides.

 

I love the XA2. EVen though it's automatic exposure, and zone focusing, it makes a good street camera because it's reasonably accurate without the need to fiddle, and it's nearly silent.

And you can often find a working XA-2 for about the same price as a disposable camera.

If scale focusing is okay, consider a Rollei B35. Built in selenium meter so no battery needed.

Estimating exposure is an easily learnable skill as is estimating distance, IMHO. Exposure meters and rangefinders are no more necessary than a GPS system in your car. Bah, humbug.

If estimating exposure is an option the cheapest way to get into Rollei is to pick up a Rollei 35 LED with a non working meter. The Triotar 40mm f3.5 is the same lens used in the B35 is performs fine if stopped down a bit. Shutter is 1/30 to 1/500 plus B. The original Rollei 35 (with Tessar or Xenar) lens might be another option inexpensive with non working meter.

The best way to solve this problem in your camera or any one that required the 625 1.35v batteries is to install a $0.50 diode inside the camera in series with the positive battery terminal. If you don't know which end of a soldering iron to hold, you can have this mod done by your camera tech. Then you can buy all the commercially available 1.5v 625s you want for cheap (not like the Wein which is 3xs the price and only lasts 6 months). Did this to my Nikon Fs and the diode steps the voltage down to approximately 1.38. Its the way to go and its permanent, needs no adapters, foil, wrong batteries, etc. The diode part number is 1N5711 or equivalent. There are lots of different diodes that will accomplish the same results. I got mine at Radio Shack just before they closed.

 

Here is just one place to get them. (no affiliation - I am just trying to illustrate how available this solution is.)

 

https://www.amazon.com/STMICROELECTRONICS-1N5711-DIODE-DO-204AH-2-pieces/dp/B011CQ4LLE/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1519133785&sr=8-3&keywords=1n5711+diode&dpID=31vEUljPTsL&preST=_SX342_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

...

 

Edit: just Googled the XA2 battery and it takes LR44 which is what I bought a pack of last week. Perfect. Problem solved.:) The Canon can go. I might swap it for a broken couple of cameras if possible, to use as ornaments as I love the look of it. I would like a nice broken Rollei 35SE and maybe a Canon AE where I could use the lens elsewhere.

 

Great that the LR44 works for you. You might want to look for the SR44 to get consistent voltage and longer life. This would be the Silver Oxide version of the Alkaline LR44. Just a thought.

My preference is for the much more stable "silver oxide" batteries.

That said, one should either acquire a reusable washer to slip over the "silver" battery for a 1.5V output, or

the highly recommended step-down adapter.<<< click

Further comments on battery choices are here: Silver, Alkaline & Zinc-Air batteries <<< click & scroll down for my input...

If only someone could make a flat diode that would fit between a silver cell and one of the battery terminals to reduce the voltage.

Looking at photos of QL 17 it looks like an easy job removing the bottom cover (two screws). Locating the positive battery wire should be pretty simple too since the battery compartment is in the bottom of the camera. I suspect there is ample space in there to permanently locate and solder in a diode (they are about as small as a grain of rice)