Extra battery for an older Nikon digital camera. The camera’s internal battery which once retained user preferences is long dead.
Toronto. … ChargeX (later VISA)! The digital era in photography brought many things – both good and bad. For much of the glass plate/silver plate/film era, cameras were all mechanical and relatively easy for an experienced camera repairman to clean and adjust (some cameras like the ‘bullseye’ Contarex took a seriously trained repairman to even begin to ‘CLA’ the beast).
Digital technology brought miniaturization, increasing sensitivity, and speed between taking and seeing the result. As digital progressed, sensor resolution increased and noise fell. But these virtues came with penalties. Batteries. Non standard sizes. Differing terminal voltages. The batteries were no longer held to a rigid dimensional or terminal standard. AA, AAA, button, C, D, continued to be improved, made and sold.
But where once digital cameras took 2 or 4 AA batteries, they now take batteries shaped and sized to fit within the allotted area created by the device maker. Freed of any general battery standards, every camera and smartphone could be made with its own rechargeable battery. All batteries have a relatively short life span whether measured in shelf life or number of discharge/charge cycles.
We could collect mechanical cameras and with care each one could be used. With rare exception, digital cameras and smartphones use uniquely designed batteries likely to be unavailable years later as newer camera models emerge on the scene. Older digital cameras can be collected but very likely no longer usable.
In our home we have four digital cameras plus an iPod and two smartphones all three of which have a camera. None of them take the same battery! And yet three of the four cameras are made by the same company – Sony. So there you have it. Speed and clarity at the cost of long term usage. My M4 and Exaktas are now over 50 years old and can still be used. The same for my father’s Kodak Folder (hitting 80+ these days).
I have some spare batteries (for the oldest Sony and for the Nikon) but they are the age of the cameras with less and less time before they no longer function.
