Has anybody experience with a Leica Cl and 1,5V Alkaline Batteries

[christian amann]

Hello to all!

 

I do some photografik work here in Indonesia and my M6 Camera got

stolen. Today arrived a ordered Leica CL. Althougt the seller said he

would supply the camera with a 625 1.35V mercury cell, it came with a

625 1.5V alkaline cell.

In a email the seller told me, that he shoot some 20 slidefilms with

that alkaline battery and the exposure was right.

Anybody has some experience how i can get right exposed slidefilms

with 625 1,5V alkaline cells (these ones i can buy here).

the 625 mercury cells are not available, neither the 675 1,4V hear aid

batteries which would be another solution.

 

Any suggestions?

 

Thanks a lot for your help, regards, chris

[bernard_frank]

I've had the same problem, before finding 1,35 non-mercury batteries, which you can find

in Canada. You could have the meter adjusted to 1,5 V. by someone who knows what

they're doing. Apparently it's quite tricky, with three separate adjustments required

beneath the film chamber, or something like that. So a guy I trusted my CL to put a little

disc on top of the metering cell to reduce the amount of light hitting it. I was not happy

with that solution, so I finally had the patch removed and put in a 1,35 V. battery. Then

the meter would add erratically and over-read by around one-and-a-half stop and under-

expose. From that moment on I just dialed in one stop less on the ISO settings, and

stopped worrying.

 

This could be the solution for you. Just test your CL's readings against a hand-held meter

or another camera, and compare the results. Use spot metering and a medium-grey area

of some sort. Then you'll know by how many stops you must bring down the ISO settings.

 

Be aware that the CL's meter is known for its "temperamental"nature.

[al_kaplan1]

My repair guy did the same thing - gluing a little piece of filter over the cell. That solves the intitial error problem, but the mercury cells hold constant voltage, then DIE! The alkaline cells gradually lose voltage so your exposure will vary a bit. If you shoot color slide this is a big problem. With B&W or color neg the half stop or so error isn't all that much concerm. I just check it against my Weston Master V on occasion and replace the cell as needed.

[ronald_moravec1]

Wein cell is constant 1.35 as are some hearing aid batteries. You will need an o-ring to keep the small hearing aid battery centered. Weins work out of the box.

 

Recover the holes when not in use to preserve the battery with a Wein. Hearing aid ones are cheap enough it doesn`t matter but the same trick works.

[GlennS]

Check out the adapters from http://www.criscam.com/ which allow you to use a silver oxide cell. They have a diode that provides the correct voltage drop so that the meter thinks it's powered by a mercury cell.

You will need the model MR-9 adaptor for the CL.

[george_shihanian]

The 1.5 volt cells don't give an accurate enough reading for slides, but may be OK for negatives. If I were to give the 1.5 volt batteries a try, it would be silver-oxides and not alkalines. Silver-oxide output is more stable throughout their life and alkalines are not.

[vincenzo_maielli]

Hi, dear friend. I own a Leica M5, with same exposure meter and power source than Leica CL. The alkaline 1,5 volt battery are no good, because are inconstant in the voltage emission. The mercury battery are costant, as the silver oxyde battery. In fact, i prefer use the MR-9 adapter, that have a built in micro electronic circuit that reduce the 1,5 voltage of the silver oxyde battery to the 1,35 voltage of the original mercury battery. See wwww.thesmallbatterycompany.co.uk fot more information and buy the MR-9 adapter. Another good solutuion are the zync air MRB625 that produce 1,35 volt.

I buy two MR-9 adapters by the small battery company, in London: they work very well in Leica M5 and Leicameter MR.

Ciao.

 

Vincenzo Maielli

[guy bennett]

Why not use the Wein cell non-Mercury replacement batteries for the PX625? They are the proper voltage (1.35v) and are easy to find. Among many other places, Freestyle Photo carries them for $4.99 USD. And you don't need an adaptor. Their one shortcoming, IMO, is that they only last a couple of months.

[mark_amos]

When I got my CL a few years ago, I found that the alkaline did

not work right. I went to the Wein cell and had no problems. I

have not used the camera but for a couple rolls in a year-last role

six months ago, and I recently got a cris MR9 adapter with the

silver oxide battery, but now it seems to be acting eraticly with

that. Vincenzo says the MR9 works well with his M5. Can any

body confirm for a fact that the MR9 works well with a CL?

[jimsimmons]

I use the CRIS MR9 in my CL, in my Leicaflex, and in my Gossen Super Pilot. All work OK, but the SL battery cover only screws down about 95% tight. Works OK, though. Fit inside the Gossen is tight, too. I keep an eye out for New Old Stock mercury cells whenever I can find them. New ones still have some life in them. The problem with Wein cells in a CL is that they'll die on you fairly rapidly (like Al said), and then you have to take the back off to get to the battery. So if you've got a roll of film in the camera, you've got to do a partial rewind on the film. The 1.5V silver oxides last much longer, but not nearly as long as a real mercury cell.

[andyaitken]

All you need to know here http://www.buhla.de/Foto/batt-adapt-US.pdf

 

Ordering info at the end. Works perfectly (and uses cheap and easy to find SR44 cells).