Leica M7 battery life expectancy, 1 month seems short?

I purchased a Leica M7 in late June and am about to buy my 3rd set of
batteries. The manual suggests I should get about 65 rolls from my
batteries, however I think I am getting far far less. I bought the
camera used, and not a mark on it. I am told it is about 2 years old
and the previous owner a collector or very light user. When I
purchased it on June 20 it had batteries, I used it for about a week
and the lower "." began to flash, I replaced them and I suppose I shot
at most 30 rolls of film. I was surprised in early september when I
could not shoot because of dead batteries and no other light meter on
hand ( I respect the M7 meter). I had not religiously been turning the
power off and thought maybe in the bag it was being activated. New
batteries were had and now again I am getting a flashing ".", I don't
think I've shoot even 15 rolls on this set. Now I understand that the
batteries themselves may not be at full when bought, and I didn't note
the expiry date on them, but my question is" is this a commonplace
experience or might I have some abnormal power drain with this
particular body? Must I expect to see that red period every month? My
biggest worry is what will happen when it gets real cold, I'll need 3
sets of batteries per outing and they are not sold everywhere!

wrote:

I purchased a Leica M7 in late June and am about to buy my 3rd set of
batteries. The manual suggests I should get about 65 rolls from my
batteries, however I think I am getting far far less....


Your camera may have a problem. I don;t turn mine off and they
definitely average 70+ rolls. I am on my 3rd set of batteries and I have
taken over 250 36 exp rolls in the last 1 1/2 years.

--
// richard
http://www.imagecraft.com

Yeah, I thought as much, probably the reason it ended up on the used
shelf, hopefully it can be corrected. Although on my way to Radio
Shack, a new thought occured to me, this camera is only going to be
functional for as long as I can get the CR 1/3N batteries, and as they
appear to be a "speciality" battery, I am a little worried about
that. I have a 20 year old Minox that I cannot find a battery for and
as a result never use it. Hopefully the CR 1/3N or it's equal will be
available far into the future.

On Thu, 07 Oct 2004 16:40:05 -0700, "Richard F. Man"
wrote:

wrote:

I purchased a Leica M7 in late June and am about to buy my 3rd set of
batteries. The manual suggests I should get about 65 rolls from my
batteries, however I think I am getting far far less....


Your camera may have a problem. I don;t turn mine off and they
definitely average 70+ rolls. I am on my 3rd set of batteries and I have
taken over 250 36 exp rolls in the last 1 1/2 years.

Radio shack can order any of the old parts, batteries etc you can think of.
Hell, if you need vacume tubes, they still keep a full selection availble.
Just ask about special ordering.

Pus, several macintonsh computers use a 1/3N I believe, so don't be worried.

wrote in message
...
Yeah, I thought as much, probably the reason it ended up on the used
shelf, hopefully it can be corrected. Although on my way to Radio
Shack, a new thought occured to me, this camera is only going to be
functional for as long as I can get the CR 1/3N batteries, and as they
appear to be a "speciality" battery, I am a little worried about
that. I have a 20 year old Minox that I cannot find a battery for and
as a result never use it. Hopefully the CR 1/3N or it's equal will be
available far into the future.

On Thu, 07 Oct 2004 16:40:05 -0700, "Richard F. Man"
wrote:

wrote:

I purchased a Leica M7 in late June and am about to buy my 3rd set of
batteries. The manual suggests I should get about 65 rolls from my
batteries, however I think I am getting far far less....


Your camera may have a problem. I don;t turn mine off and they
definitely average 70+ rolls. I am on my 3rd set of batteries and I have
taken over 250 36 exp rolls in the last 1 1/2 years.

I have an M6 classic that eats batteries, so I'm not surprised at your
experience.
wrote in message
...
I purchased a Leica M7 in late June and am about to buy my 3rd set of
batteries. The manual suggests I should get about 65 rolls from my
batteries, however I think I am getting far far less. I bought the
camera used, and not a mark on it. I am told it is about 2 years old
and the previous owner a collector or very light user. When I
purchased it on June 20 it had batteries, I used it for about a week
and the lower "." began to flash, I replaced them and I suppose I shot
at most 30 rolls of film. I was surprised in early september when I
could not shoot because of dead batteries and no other light meter on
hand ( I respect the M7 meter). I had not religiously been turning the
power off and thought maybe in the bag it was being activated. New
batteries were had and now again I am getting a flashing ".", I don't
think I've shoot even 15 rolls on this set. Now I understand that the
batteries themselves may not be at full when bought, and I didn't note
the expiry date on them, but my question is" is this a commonplace
experience or might I have some abnormal power drain with this
particular body? Must I expect to see that red period every month? My
biggest worry is what will happen when it gets real cold, I'll need 3
sets of batteries per outing and they are not sold everywhere!

f1741 wrote:

I have an M6 classic that eats batteries, so I'm not surprised at your
experience.

I have an M6 classic that DOES NOT eats batteries, (at least 1.5 years
so far); I do pay attention to not putting in a case so that the shutter
release button is pressed....

Chris