Contax 300RT battery life (2 Viewers)

[graham catley]

I have just reaquired my Contax from a student loan of 12months and thought I woudld have a go at digi-scoping with it again as my Coolpix bodies seem to be dying frequently---
I had the original Kyocera battery BP780S and an alternative----have had them for about 2 and a half years----charged both up and the results: the Kyocera took 48 pictures and died--the alternatve took 10 and packed up---when I recharged the latter it only took 20 minutes before it registered fully charged so does this mean it has lost charge holding capacity?

As people will have had the same batteries for the same length of time is this a common problem ie; are these batteries just really poor quality and have a short life span?
as replacements cost anything from £16 to £50 compared to £5 for one for a EOS20D the poor quality of these batteries seems something of a rip off

Can anyone recommend a replacement battery which is worth buying---Hahnels can be bought for about £20 but originals are a silly price---if they are not going to last any longer than 2 years is there any point in buying a more expensive battery.

Graham Catley

 

[Neil]

Graham,
From my experience two years is a bit on the long side for these batteries. My first Olympus battery started dying about 3 months ago and it was only 18 months old. It won't hold a charge anymore. I had 5 batteries for the Kyocera as the battery life was very short. Neil.

 

[Paul Hackett]

I have just reaquired my Contax from a student loan of 12months and thought I woudld have a go at digi-scoping with it again as my Coolpix bodies seem to be dying frequently---
I had the original Kyocera battery BP780S and an alternative----have had them for about 2 and a half years----charged both up and the results: the Kyocera took 48 pictures and died--the alternatve took 10 and packed up---when I recharged the latter it only took 20 minutes before it registered fully charged so does this mean it has lost charge holding capacity?

As people will have had the same batteries for the same length of time is this a common problem ie; are these batteries just really poor quality and have a short life span?
as replacements cost anything from £16 to £50 compared to £5 for one for a EOS20D the poor quality of these batteries seems something of a rip off

Can anyone recommend a replacement battery which is worth buying---Hahnels can be bought for about £20 but originals are a silly price---if they are not going to last any longer than 2 years is there any point in buying a more expensive battery.

Graham Catley

Hi Graham

Slightly puzzled about your battery life as i havent experienced this with your model? i used the Kyocera 400SL about a month ago, the three batteries were left to charge overnight, no problems in their battery life next day. 25 - 30 mins continous use.

As you know i have the Contax U4R and the battery is slightly larger than your battery type, i have 6 of these and 2 years on they are giving me the same 35 - 40 mins continous use in warm weather, colder weather it does reduce the battery life dramatically.

As the colder weather approaches, the Contax/Kyocera camera battery life is dramatically reduced on these models, and in extreme cold weather, you end up with 4 - 5 mins then it dies, the charge is still there, its just that the metal parts of the camera are too cold and they drain the battery temporarily, my way round this was to keep camera and battery separated in my shirt chest pocket to keep it warm, then pop it out when i want to take pics, (pardon the pun!) not the ideal solution, but it costs nowt to do it

I know you like to be compact with your kit, but you could consider contacting Deja Vu here on Birdforum, a very helpful guy,and he was making an external battery pack for a very reasonable cost, ( 4.8 v maximum input) then get yourself some rechargables from Maplins ( nmh 3200) with a battery charger, they had a deal on not so long ago with 12 batteries and a charger £24? as i remember, and you are looking at 3 - 4 hour continous use for 4 batteries on the external pack, so 12 batteries at at total 8 - 12 hours use?

Hope this helps?

Rgds

Paul

 

[Darrell Clegg]

I bought some compatible batteries from that well known auction site and they last far longer than the stock batteries. I think they cost about £5.00 but I've been very pleased with their performance.

Darrell

 

[Rob Smallwood]

I got 800+ pics out of one battery on Monday (using a Kyocera SL400R so same batteries Ithink) - but it was a very warm day.

As Paul says, come winter you can be lucky to get 5 minutes use out of one and a battery pack becomes essential.

 

[graham catley]

thanks one and all----I thought that by now there may have been an improvement in battery capacity for this camera but obviously not---the two days I was using the batteries were very wamr so it was not cold draining them and I guess they are in poor health---

 

[hornet]

thanks one and all----I thought that by now there may have been an improvement in battery capacity for this camera but obviously not---the two days I was using the batteries were very wamr so it was not cold draining them and I guess they are in poor health---

I have always been very disappointed with the battery performance of the Contax SL300, but after a year without using it much I found, as you did, that the performance had totally collapsed - a handful of photos was often the best I could get.

A new no-name battery bought online for £15 or so solved the problem, and I threw the old ones out. If I'm going to digiscope with it though (rarely these days) I would tend to use the battery pack I got from Deja-Vu.

 

[stanacko]

I have always been very disappointed with the battery performance of the Contax SL300, but after a year without using it much I found, as you did, that the performance had totally collapsed - a handful of photos was often the best I could get.

A new no-name battery bought online for £15 or so solved the problem, and I threw the old ones out. If I'm going to digiscope with it though (rarely these days) I would tend to use the battery pack I got from Deja-Vu.

Hi,
Any of you good people know where I can get a Kyocera or contax from many thanks in advance.
Stan.

 

[Darrell Clegg]

Hi,
Any of you good people know where I can get a Kyocera or contax from many thanks in advance.
Stan.

Warehouse Express may have a few, otherwise it's the auction sites. They're getting to be as rare as hen's teeth!

 

[stanacko]

Warehouse Express may have a few, otherwise it's the auction sites. They're getting to be as rare as hen's teeth!

Hi Darrell,
Checked out W.E but no luck, there,s a couple on American E.Bay but I don,t fancy that route.Many thanks for replying Regards.
Stan.

 

[graham catley]

Hi Darrell,
Checked out W.E but no luck, there,s a couple on American E.Bay but I don,t fancy that route.Many thanks for replying Regards.
Stan.

Stan I could be open to offers for the Contax as I am looking to finance a new lens for the DSLR----Graham Catley [email protected]

 

[jules.b]

Kyocera

Eagle Optics had them as part of a digscoping kit when I looked recently.