Placing the shutter speed dial on B (or the red 1/60) means selecting
the mechanical mode of the camera. This prevents the metering system
from being turned on accidentally by pressure on the shutter release...
as might happen while the camera is jostling about in your camera bag.
If the metering system is on continuously your batteries will definitely
not last very long.
Setting the shutter speed to B or red 1/60 does not, however, turn the
camera off. The only way to do that is remove the batteries. There is
always a small trickle drain on the batteries in the neighborhood of
about (if memory serves me) 8 micro amps. This is why silver oxide
batteries are so important. Silver oxide batteries (also used in
watches) are designed to take this trickle drain without any significant
impact on battery voltage. Voltage remains almost constant during the
life of the battery until it falls off a cliff at end of life. Alkaline
batteries, on the other hand, begin a slow decline in voltage as soon as
they are placed into service. Unfortunately, the camera operation is
voltage sensitive and the mirror will (intentionally) lock up when the
voltage falls to about 2 volts.
It was joining this list about 4 years ago that taught me that my OM-2sp
was not defective. I had been using alkaline batteries and found that,
even without usage, the camera would be dead in about 6 weeks.
Switching to silver oxide changed battery life to 9-12 months even with
moderate flash usage (also a battery drain on some OM-2sp's).
Chuck Norcutt
Woburn, Massachusetts, USA
Gordon J. Ross wrote:
> Hi Moose:
>
> Wow, that was thorough! I picked up from someone on the list, or read
> somewhere that if you set the shutter to B on the OM 4 it stops battery
> drain, a useful fact if it's true.
>
> Gord
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