Those damn CR123's!!!

[Lou Cohen]

Last night in the middle of a wedding, I noticed my battery indicator on the camera top display had gone to half. I understand that power indicator monitors the AA cells. I checked the power indicator on the REAR display screen next, and it indicated full power. I changed the AA's to a fresh set, and got the same readings! Hmmmmmm.... OK, maybe a cell went bad. Second new set, same thing. Rear display CR123 battery monitor STILL reads full, top display AA battery monitor STILL half-power. THIRD set of AA's, no difference.

I took out the CR123's and guess what- Full power indicated from the AA meter. Shaking head, I finished the rest of the wedding with no CR123's. Pics can be seen (small thumbnails) at http://www.celestialphoto.photoreflect.com , click on the O'malley wedding. Color photos were S2 by me, B&W photos were S1 by my son.
--
Lou

 

[TedS85150]

Last night in the middle of a wedding, I noticed my battery
indicator on the camera top display had gone to half. I understand
that power indicator monitors the AA cells. I checked the power
indicator on the REAR display screen next, and it indicated full
power. I changed the AA's to a fresh set, and got the same
readings! Hmmmmmm.... OK, maybe a cell went bad. Second new set,
same thing. Rear display CR123 battery monitor STILL reads full,
top display AA battery monitor STILL half-power. THIRD set of AA's,
no difference.

I took out the CR123's and guess what- Full power indicated from
the AA meter. Shaking head, I finished the rest of the wedding with
no CR123's. Pics can be seen (small thumbnails) at
http://www.celestialphoto.photoreflect.com , click on the O'malley wedding.
Color photos were S2 by me, B&W photos were S1 by my son.
--
Lou

Welcome to the discovery club.

 

[rob_adams]

Welcome to the discovery club.

From my experience with the S1. The top meter is for the CR123, the rear meter is for the AA batts.

I always keep fresh CR123's in. They last quite a long time, and besides, why temp fate....

I'm not lucky...

--
Rob

 

[Paul W. Walters]

You got your meters mixed up as far as I can see. Also, I can't figure why a photographer would be shooting a wedding without spending an extra $5 for two additional CR123a batteries. I really have a hard time understanding the frustration people are having with the CR123a batteries. They give you about 1,000 pictures, and they're easy to replace, and small enough to have an extra set at all times.

Anyway, the way I visually remember which meter refers to which batteries is that the CR123A batteries load towards the right of the camera (where the top meter is), the AA batteries load from the left of the camera (where the back meter is).

Have fun!
Paul

Welcome to the discovery club.

From my experience with the S1. The top meter is for the CR123,
the rear meter is for the AA batts.

I always keep fresh CR123's in. They last quite a long time, and
besides, why temp fate....

I'm not lucky...

--
Rob

 

[Stephen R. Prior]

I Agree with the previous post. Why would someone buy a $2400.00 camera and $5000.00 worth of lenses and quibble about a %5.00 battery?
STEVE PRIOR

 

[Nick88]

Hi Paul,

The way I remember it is, the the CR123s power the camera and the AAs power the digital BACK.

Nick

Anyway, the way I visually remember which meter refers to which
batteries is that the CR123A batteries load towards the right of
the camera (where the top meter is), the AA batteries load from the
left of the camera (where the back meter is).

 

[Sean Keegan]

Why even use the CR123s at all?? I used the ones that came with the camera, but when they died, I decided to see how it went without them. Over 2000 images now without using any CR123s at all, and no problems. The only thing that is annoying, is that when the AAs go to half full, the information display inside the viewfinder only shows up with the shutter release pressed, and then dissapears immediately when released. Kind of annoying, but not a big deal.

Regards,
Sean

The way I remember it is, the the CR123s power the camera and the
AAs power the digital BACK.

Nick

Anyway, the way I visually remember which meter refers to which
batteries is that the CR123A batteries load towards the right of
the camera (where the top meter is), the AA batteries load from the
left of the camera (where the back meter is).

 

[Nick88]

My problem isn't with the batteries. It is finding a place to store all these darn images!

Nick.

BTW, I'm running the camera with some PowerEx without CR123s.

Why even use the CR123s at all??

 

[Lou Cohen]

I Agree with the previous post. Why would someone buy a $2400.00
camera and $5000.00 worth of lenses and quibble about a %5.00
battery?
STEVE PRIOR

??? Where did you get THAT from??? Who was QUIBBLING about $5.00 batteries, and why was it assumed I had no spares? If you reread my post carefully, you'll see that I was confused about which battery meter was which. Of course I had spares. But in my confusion I believed the AA's were bad, not the CR123's.

BTW, your assumed figure for my investment in lenses was amusing, but wrong.
--
Lou

 

[Lawry Playle]

I was also getting pretty annoyed at my percieved usage of the CR 123s, UNTIL someone related in a thread, that the manual on page 99 makes it quite clear that you should remove them when using the external power source. I do this now, every time I connect up to my PC. What it doesn't make clear is that failure to do this results in your CR 123s draining in record time.
Perhaps you've been doing the same.
Lawry
--
http://www.pbase.com/cap_loz/root

'God Save Us from Religious Fanatics.' Signed F A Cetious.

 

[stuart82021]

Lou...do yourself a favor. Purchase the belt battery pack from Contax known as the P-8D. It holds 4 D size batteries. Purchase 4 Ni-MH rechargable batteries which are rated at 8,000 milliamperes each. The pack plugs into the side of the S2. It will last you FOREVER!!!!

 

[Lou Cohen]

Lou...do yourself a favor. Purchase the belt battery pack from
Contax known as the P-8D. It holds 4 D size batteries. Purchase 4
Ni-MH rechargable batteries which are rated at 8,000 milliamperes
each. The pack plugs into the side of the S2. It will last you
FOREVER!!!!

Thanks, Stuart. The only problem with that, is when I want to put the camera down to drape a wedding gown, or pose a group, I've got that damn umbilical cord from the camera to the belt pack to contend with.
Lou

 

[stuart82021]

Lou.....I understand that a cable could be a little inconvenient, but at least you can use the camera as much as is necessary. Stuart

 

[frank barret]

I am also using only the AAs, and when in studio, conected to the AC, but I want to buy a replasement AAs holder, -- or 2-- to store fresh recharged sets of batteries and change them fast...

Lou.....I understand that a cable could be a little inconvenient,
but at least you can use the camera as much as is necessary. Stuart

--
Frank Barret