My Spotmeter and Infinite Energy

[Richard K.]

OK, I've had this Pentax Digital spot meter for at least 20 years and it's still going strong. I haven't once had to change the battery.

Is my meter haunted? :confused: Is it drawing power through a worm-hole in the universe? :eek: My exposure in daylight has been 1/15 at f/45 for Tri-X 90% of the time. Maybe the meter knows this and is just being lazy. Realizing that it could fail at an inopportune time, about 10 years ago I bought a spare battery but I don't even know where it is now. I don't use it a LOT ( but at least hundreds of times per year) since I tend to work very slowly with bigger cameras but still, how long can it go on?

[percepts]

The battery fairy has been replacing them without telling you... Or your memory is not what you think it is... I for one can't remember what I did 10 minutes ago let alone 5, 10 or 15 years ago. Especially changing a battery. I bet the replacement you can't find is in the meter :D

[Richard K.]

The battery fairy has been replacing them without telling you... Or your memory is not what you think it is... I for one can't remember what I did 10 minutes ago let alone 5, 10 or 15 years ago. Especially changing a battery. I bet the replacement you can't find is in the meter :D

Shucks, I'm not THAT old!...oh wait...I AM that old....sigh...:o

[Nathan Potter]

Really inexplicable! I'd take out the battery and advertise its supernatural powers on ebay claiming a direct connection to Jesus.

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

[Oren Grad]

Cold fusion:

http://www.infinite-energy.com/

[domaz]

The battery probably leaked by now, but by sheer chance the acid leaked out onto the right kind of metal in the battery compartment to chemically create another battery. Your just lucky.

[Eric Woodbury]

Batteries in these meters last until you need them the most, then they die. Poof. Just that fast. If you are metering your moonrise, you'll miss it or grossly underexpose it, just as AA did. Just change the battery. Besides, you don't want it to leak.

I was out schlepping thru some of the Santa Barbara burn area a week ago with a meter (in a camera) that never ever needs to to have its batts changed. It died after I had hiked out thru the ash and sticks. Then I found out it takes two 123 type batteries. These were common but not so much anymore. Camera wouldn't shoot without the batts, so I missed that shot.

[Mark Sampson]

Ha. Now that you've mentioned it in public, the battery will have died. Go buy a spare today.

[AFSmithphoto]

For years I had three rolls of partially used saran-wrap, none of which seemed capable of being depleated. They were magic.
A new roommate bought another roll, not realizing we were in possession of never-ending ones. They were all empty within a month.

[bvstaples]

I've had a Pentax SpotmeterV for many years now and I've never changed the batteries. It still meters properly. I periodically check it against a Sekonic 558 I have, which by the way, had batteries put in it new and they have never been replaced. Also, in both of these I take the batteries out once a year, take them for a walk, and put them back in (probably stops 'em from leaking).

[MIke Sherck]

You people frighten me. I have this incredibly powerful urge to run home and remove all the batteries from every electronic device in the house, lest they all leak en masse tonight and ruin my life.

Thanks. Thanks a lot. And I was contemplating printing tonight. But not now. *Sob*

[mpirie]

Isn't the availability of battery power inversely proportional to the importance of the shot?

Mike

[Nathan Potter]

For years I had three rolls of partially used saran-wrap, none of which seemed capable of being depleated. They were magic.
A new roommate bought another roll, not realizing we were in possession of never-ending ones. They were all empty within a month.

Good point. I find something similar with these thin, cardboard picnic plates that you buy at the supermarket. No matter how many you peel away from the thin remaining few you always seem to be able to separate one more.

Funny thing though I never notice that phenomena with my unexposed film. :p :p

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

[Matus Kalisky]

Isn't the availability of battery power inversely proportional to the importance of the shot?

Mike

Mike, you have just commented on the photographical work of Richard in a very non-flattering way ... ;)