A couple of years ago, long before I discovered this site or knew of the
camera's reputation, I bought an OM4. True to form it ate batteries. A new
pair would last a matter of three or four weeks, whether or not the camera was
in use. I was advised to keep it stored with the shutter set to 'B', as this
was supposed to 'disconnect the meter'. This precaution had no effect
whatsoever. By experiment, however, I discovered two tricks that seem to work.
At any rate I now get more than six months from a pair of 357 batteries.
First, I always put the camera away with the lever set to 'Manual' rather than
'Auto'
Secondly, I have turned the bleeper permanently off.
I don't yet know which of these precautions works, but would be very interested
to learn if anybody else has tried them. Of course it may be that neither is
any use at all, and that I've inadvertently done something else, like reset the
electronics, which has done the trick.
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