Correct battery for a Nikormat EL 35mm SLR / Exposure Meter doesn't work

[aquarta]

Hello everyone,

I've recently took possession of a nice Nikormat EL 35mm SLR film camera. This is the model with the battery compartment that is located when flipping up the mirror.

I've tried two different batteries (assuming they are the correct ones):

So far I've tried a Duracell PX28L (lithium) and a Maxell 4SR44 Silver 6 volt battery (both are brand new and have been tested). Unfortunately the light meter and electronic shutter doesn't work. The needle for the exposure meter "jumps" for a brief second but that nothing more.

The battery check button LED doesn't light up either.

The camera is in such excellent shape I'm puzzled that the meter wouldn't work.

Any suggestions? Perhaps another battery recommendation from a current owner who knows it will work?

 

[gandalfII]

You know that you must use a lens with "ears" and run it through the range of apertures before it will meter correctly, I hope. That doesn't explain the dead battery light though. If doing as I said doesn't help, I'd contact a local repair service- for this Atlanta boy that's KEH.

 

[aquarta]

Indeed, the lens has "rabbit ears". I didn't try running through the apertures. I'll give it a try but unfortunately that still doesn't answer why the check battery button isn't illuminating on the back.

 

[KCK14]

You have the right battery. I can't remember how prominent the polarity marks are so be sure your putting it in right way.

Be sure to pull the wind lever out from the rest position like you were going to wind the camera.

Early electronic cameras like that didn't have the most reliable circuits, so a failure would not be the least unusual. You may have real trouble finding anyone to try to fix it. The KEH recommendation is probably the best as they have many old cameras to steal parts from.

 

[BG454]

You may have a correct new battery, but have you checked the battery contacts are clean?

If the camera has been sitting with a battery in it for some time, it may have leaked and corroded the battery contacts.
Alternatively, if it has been sitting without a battery, the contacts may have oxidised, causing poor contact.

The current involved is so tiny, it only takes a slightly high resistance contact to stop the voltage getting through.

 

[FrancoD]

Yes it could be dirty/oxidised contacts.

Sometime even just holding the battery contacts with your fingers can leave a print that will stop a good contact.

So try wiping and scraping.

 

[aquarta]

Thanks everyone for your input. Probably cleaning the battery contacts will be my next step. I'm thinking of using a little vinegar / alcohol on a Q-Tip (dry pat it first to make sure it's not too soluble) and see what happens.

Thanks for confirming the battery type.

 

[FrancoD]

No. no liquids apart maybe for some Isopropyl

Use a small flat end screwdriver or a tiny bit of fine sandpaper or an ink type rubber eraser (messy)

 

[aquarta]

Resolved! On a hunch, I decided to try another battery type - an PX28A alkaline not lithium and for some reason it worked perfectly! The battery check LED came on and the electronic shutter and exposure meter started working.

Any advice for maybe cleaning the inside of the viewfinder to remove some dust specks? Probably I should leave well enough alone. There are a couple that are trapped and it doesn't appear its coming from the matte focus screen. Flip mirror appears to be scratch free.

Thanks again for everyone's advice.

 

[Midwest]

Resolved! On a hunch, I decided to try another battery type - an PX28A alkaline not lithium and for some reason it worked perfectly! The battery check LED came on and the electronic shutter and exposure meter started working.

Any advice for maybe cleaning the inside of the viewfinder to remove some dust specks? Probably I should leave well enough alone. There are a couple that are trapped and it doesn't appear its coming from the matte focus screen. Flip mirror appears to be scratch free.

Can't help with that, but the Nikkormat EL (in black) was the first really good camera I ever had. Bought it new in 1974, cost me about $575 (in 1974 dollars!) with the f2/50 lens. In a weak (stupid) moment I sold it in about 1988 for $200 (with a Vivitar zoom) to get money for a VHS camcorder. I still have that. Don't know if it works but it's dropped from $900 to about $1.

Since it's my 'quest' to buy back everything I've ever owned of worth to put in my display case, I found a very nice clean black EL, just the very tiniest almost invisible dimple in the penta housing and not a scratch anywhere including on the baseplace. Got that, and a 43-86 (?) Nikkor zoom for about $70 total incl shipping on Ebay.

Enjoy your camera. It's a neat toy. Congratulations on getting your electronics working. I haven't even tried mine, it's just a display piece.

 

[FrancoD]

That is odd.

I don't remember having problems with that lithium battery in any camera , however that was one of the first to use that 6v type battery and the istruction manual it came with does only mention silver oxide and alkaline.

It is possible that by inserting and removing various batteries you also have cleaned the contacts but in this case the other batteries should also work (now..)

Could be that the initial voltage on the PX28 L is too high.

Just for fun you could try to discharge the battery a bit by connecting it to a light bulb and see what happens.

 

[KCK14]

The camera was designed for the lithium battery. The PX28a came along later in response to high prices of lithium PX28. Discharge characteristics of the Alkaline is not as desirable for electronic cameras as the lithium. Very few things use the PX28 any longer and the likelihood of buying an old battery is pretty good.

 

[aquarta]

I'll try again using the Duracell 28L and Maxell batteries I have and see if they work. Perhaps its possible but inserting and removing the batteries may have cleaned the contacts but response was automatic when inserting the PX28A alkaline.

 

[FrancoD]

Quoting page 6 of the EL instruction manual :

"either a 6v silver-oxide or alkaline-manganese battery is used to power both..."

No mention of lithium batteries there or anywhere else in that manual

BTW, if you worked in a specialist shop in the 80's and 90's at some point you probably had someone coming up to you totally puzzled asking where exactly the battery compartment for an EL was.

That one often was the owner of the camera .

 

[KCK14]

Right you are on the silver oxide battery. I need to stop depending on my rapidly fading memory

 

[BG454]

Quoting page 6 of the EL instruction manual :

"either a 6v silver-oxide or alkaline-manganese battery is used to power both..."

No mention of lithium batteries there or anywhere else in that manual

Probably because they hadn't been invented!

BTW, if you worked in a specialist shop in the 80's and 90's at some point you probably had someone coming up to you totally puzzled asking where exactly the battery compartment for an EL was.

That one often was the owner of the camera .

 

[DaveOl]

I thought that a lot of the older cameras used mercury cells.

 

[KCK14]

The CdS cells of light meters worked well with mercury batteries because of stable voltage. The electronic shutters and early control circuits required more current than the smaller mercury batteries could provide. So with the Canon AE-1, Nikon EL, the 6 volt PX 28 silver battery became popular. Some of the early electronic cameras worked off of two 1.5v silver PX 76 type battery.

 

[BG454]

The CdS cells of light meters worked well with mercury batteries because of stable voltage. The electronic shutters and early control circuits required more current than the smaller mercury batteries could provide. So with the Canon AE-1, Nikon EL, the 6 volt PX 28 silver battery became popular. Some of the early electronic cameras worked off of two 1.5v silver PX 76 type battery.

I have several Canon "A" series cameras which originally used the PX28.
They still work fine with the PX28L.
From what I understand the original PX28 Mercury battery delivers about 6.2 - 6.3 volts when new and this gradually reduces with age and use.
A new PX28L Lithium battery delivers about 6 volts, but at a more constant voltage over it's lifetime.

 

[KCK14]

The original PX28 was a silver oxide battery, the Alkaline and Lithium followed. The silver was the constant voltage. There was not a mercury version of the PX-28. If you opened one, It was 4 of 1.5 volt cells the same as the S 76 small battery. The mercury batteries were the nickel sized PX13 1.35 volt uses by many cameras (Minolta SRT, Canon FT and FTb, Gossen etc) There was also a 675 battery that was the same size as the S 76 but was in mercury.

The Canon A series circuits were pretty well designed and worked well with normal variations of battery voltage and were accurate until the battery dropped to the cutoff voltage and then they would lock up. I think I remember that cutoff voltage was either 4.5 or 4.7 volts.