Why not just build a digital rangefinder ?

Meanwhile my new/used Canonet is in the mail...

 

I thought there was at least some standardization in Li Ion batteries like the 18650, 26650 and 21700 types. More complete list if you scroll down here- List of battery sizes - Wikipedia

 

It seems like camera manufacturers could easily standardize but it's probably a good profit center to have unique batteries. Just like battery operated tools. Having been involved in manufacturing for the last 40+ years I can assure you that the majority of design decisions have nothing to do with what's best for the customer.

Those companies isn't in business to make everybody happy, first and foremost its about maximizing profits, they all want you to be locked in their own system. Different lens mounts, batteries, file formats, chargers. Sometimes its backfiring, Nikon lost me ones for simple reason, I got D300 as soon as it was available, nice camera but they were holding off RAW development from Adobe, I couldn't get colors I wanted, so I went to Canon.

I thought there was at least some standardization in Li Ion batteries like the 18650, 26650 and 21700 types. More complete list if you scroll down here- List of battery sizes - Wikipedia

 

It seems like camera manufacturers could easily standardize but it's probably a good profit center to have unique batteries. Just like battery operated tools. Having been involved in manufacturing for the last 40+ years I can assure you that the majority of design decisions have nothing to do with what's best for the customer.

Actually I think most battery packs are made up of these standard cells.

They may use standard cells, but they add the "brains" for battery management. I've never had a Nikon battery fail, so never had need to take one apart. Even the 13 year old ones for my D200 are still good.

*X&$#**X&$#**X&$#**X&$#* PHOTO.NET I'M OUT

Geee.

Way to throw your toys out of the pram!

 

From my previous responses to, and reading of, any of Harry's posts, he never took any notice of advice or information provided anyway.

Meanwhile my new/used Canonet is in the mail...

Like being told that the above camera takes obsolete mercury cells.

 

But good luck with it. And you do realise it's not a digital rangefinder? Which is what the subject of this thread apparently was.

Edited July 9, 2021 by rodeo_joe|1

They may use standard cells, but they add the "brains" for battery management. I've never had a Nikon battery fail, so never had need to take one apart. Even the 13 year old ones for my D200 are still good.

Every Nikon Battery I have has failed. Not in use, but by letting them sit without using for too long. The D700 and D200 I have still work really well. And I'm going to get a chance to use them on a trip up the inside passage to Alaska.

Not in use, but by letting them sit without using for too long

 

True, with two of my Canon batteries at least, I let them sit for months then years while playing around with other cameras. Not after-market ones either, but true blue Canon batteries, one that came with the camera, then bought a second one which I would swap when the other went flat, both got used equally. Both dead now, they lasted a long time (10 years) but after 4 year non-use, they now won't hold a charge.

So the secret for battery longevity must be to charge them often even if the camera is not being used.

Here is a (Ranger Finder) camera with AF: Contax G - Wikipedia ;)

 

Contax G2

Edited July 9, 2021 by hjoseph7

There's various advice on how to store batteries. I think optimal is something like 40% charge, but you absolutely positively don't want them to fall too low. I've always topped up the batteries for cameras I'm not using to avoid them becoming doorstops. Even my original battery for my Panasonic Lumix FZ-20 is still working and that has to be 15 or more years old. OTOH, the Memorex battery I got for it only lasted a couple years. Same deal with flash units having built-in NiCd batteries. Use 'em and they last forever but let 'em go dead and they're toast.

The Contax G2 doesn't have a rangefinder patch for manual focusing, I'll bet most owners use just the auto focus.

 

"When we switch to manual focus, things aren’t as pleasant"

Contax G2 Camera Review - The Anti-Rangefinder That's in a Class of Its Own ... scroll a little more than a 1/4 way down.

 

The best rangefinder I've looked through so far is the Koni Omega Rapid, bright and contrasty, yellow bright lines for 90mm and 180mm, one disappears as the other comes in while turning the focus wheel, and it can adjusted to be very accurate. If it was a digital camera, I'd use it as often as I could, and wouldn't worry if it had no LCD screen.

The Contax G2 doesn't have a rangefinder patch for manual focusing, I'll bet most owners use just the auto focus.

 

"When we switch to manual focus, things aren’t as pleasant"

Contax G2 Camera Review - The Anti-Rangefinder That's in a Class of Its Own ... scroll a little more than a 1/4 way down.

 

The best rangefinder I've looked through so far is the Koni Omega Rapid, bright and contrasty, yellow bright lines for 90mm and 180mm, one disappears as the other comes in while turning the focus wheel, and it can adjusted to be very accurate. If it was a digital camera, I'd use it as often as I could, and wouldn't worry if it had no LCD screen.

The Contax G2 is still very expensive even used, but then again it is built to very high standards. I have a friend of mine who owns a Koni Omega. My first impression was "What is it ?" the camera is a beast.

The Koni Omega 6x7 attained some popularity among wedding photographers in the mid 60's. Ostensibly a news camera, it came too late in the game, long after the Nikon F dominated that field. 6x7 is sometimes called the "ideal format" since it conforms closely to the popular 8x10 and 4x5 print sizes. I was interested, but ultimately turned off by the price, large size and modest build quality. I honestly never saw one being used in the field. They were history by 1975.

I saw the title & said - yeah, why not?

 

But I was thinking of something else - a digital rangefinder for an analog camera like an old Nettar or Silette.

 

Shouldn't be that hard, use an autofocus sensor from a P&S and add a readout. Maybe add a light meter function to it.

 

But as for it being something with a low demand, I'm afraid it would be a lost cause.

Now that we have good AF, it is not so easy to remember what manual focus was like.

 

MF on many SLR screens is hard, and I suspect worse on EVF.

 

And even the best AF can find the wrong subject to focus on.

 

Now, in the early rangefinder days there were uncoupled rangefinders which told

you the distance, which you then set on the lens focus scale.

Now that we have good AF, it is not so easy to remember what manual focus was like.

 

MF on many SLR screens is hard, and I suspect worse on EVF.

 

And even the best AF can find the wrong subject to focus on.

 

Now, in the early rangefinder days there were uncoupled rangefinders which told

you the distance, which you then set on the lens focus scale.

 

I do MF fine with the SLR and DSLR. I don't like to do it with EVF. People who MF with EVF either use magnifiying or focus peaking and I don't want either.

My favorite travel lenses are manual focus (Zeiss Loxia). The latest high-resolution EVF's are better than a ground glass for manual focusing, both brighter and clearer. There is no visible lag. Magnification is great for precision focusing, but I only use it half the time. Peaking is nearly useless. Among other things, the true focus point is decidedly off-center.

There's various advice on how to store batteries. I think optimal is something like 40% charge, but you absolutely positively don't want them to fall too low. I've always topped up the batteries for cameras I'm not using to avoid them becoming doorstops. Even my original battery for my Panasonic Lumix FZ-20 is still working and that has to be 15 or more years old. OTOH, the Memorex battery I got for it only lasted a couple years. Same deal with flash units having built-in NiCd batteries. Use 'em and they last forever but let 'em go dead and they're toast.

 

The worst thing for most batteries is to be reverse charged. With cells in series, if once cell discharges faster than the others (as usual), it will then be reverse charged by the others when the pack is used with a load. NiCd have a fairly fast self-discharge rate. As well as I know, it isn't so bad to leave them in that state. Failure for some, and I believe NiCd, is when a whisker of metal goes through the separator. A large, short duration, current pulse will melt it, often restoring the cell. (Until another one grows through.)

 

Many devices now are powered by a single Li-ion cell, so no series cell problem.