Future Retro?

My Contax 137MD 35mm SLR (with integrated 2fps motor-drive) still works perfectly after over 30 years, and is usable because it runs on any type of AA batteries. Just wondering if my Pentax K-5 (or almost any other current DSLR) will still be usable over 30 years from now, relying as it does on a proprietary lithium battery, and why Pentax did not include the K-r's excellent AA adapter in its design.

Lithium Ion battery packs give you more power in a smaller and lighter package compared to NiMH AA technology. Certainly, I find I can run the K-5 for absolutely ages on its batteries!

But, if you want future proofing then the grip for the K-7/K-5 can take 6xAA batteries or lithium ion - so you're covered both ways

Whether dSLRs have a 30 year life span I don't know!

Matt

Who's to say AA batteries won't be obsolete in 30 years time! My guess is we'll either be using some sort of nano-fusion power generators, or we'll be back to hand-collected coal and firewood

We can't predict the future, although we can guess how interested we personally might be in 30 years time. Some of us can anyway!

However, what we can do is look backwards and ask if we can still use some cameras that used odd batteries. The mercury cells could have been tricky, but Wein cells cover that, so the Spotmatics are safe for now. The larger silver oxide cells that Yashica used for their compacts are difficult but not impossible to find, at a price.

Generally, we are still OK for some pretty obscure stuff and when Pentax stop selling their own battery for a mparticular model, the independents take over and offer a substitute.

I think we'll be OK, and if we're not we'll have to buy a new camera. Probably by then the K-5 will be a distant memory anyway, one for the collectors. ("It's hard to imagine they still used CMOS sensors in those days....")

Why not go all the way when we run out of minerals and oil and have STEAM powered by animal and vegetable waste/methane gas. As I've passed my 3 score years & 10 I don't think I or anyone my age is that bothered.
CHEERS Vic.

Vic, I have had the K-5 for only a few months, and its quality seems so impressive that I can see well-treated ones easily lasting the lifetime of even the younger members here! On reflection, although my original point was about continued battery availability, I suppose that compatibility with the computer hardware and software of future decades might be more of a problem, when the current generation of digital cameras become collectors' and enthusiasts' classics.

Enthusiasts will always find a workaround to get vintage equipment up and running again, as for digital cameras and their "unique" batteries I can remember having to try several shops to get a battery for a Practica I once owned, non standard batteries have been around as long as the cameras that used them. I don't think there were many SLRs that took AA cells as standard without the addition of a grip.

If the worst happened, I still have my Olympus Trip, my Praktica, my Rolleiflex and my Bronica to fall back on.

In a world without batteries, there are lots of manual shutter SLRs, including plenty of Pentax models, that use that quaint old-fashioned thing called film.....

In an even more primitive world, we can coat our own home-made emulsions, but it might be easier to use glass plates if we do that.

Anyone looking for batteries for older film cameras, or a specific battery for any equipment, have a look at the (The Small battery company.org.uk), they have a vast selection of small batteries, and if you can not find what you are looking for, give them a phone call, as they also have a very good knowledge, regarding alternative/equivalent types, for obsolete batteries.

Very good customer service.

Disclaimer, I have no connection with, The Small Battery company, other than being a satisfied customer.


Sorry that was a bit off topic, but thought it to be useful information.


Take care.

I have an old Chinon CP-6 that uses AAA batteries. CHEERS Vic.
PS I now have a K5.

Ah so that's why your after a grip for the K5 Vic, so they can share batteries

Alan. The K5 can use AA batteries NOT AAA. They are smaller and wouldn't fit. CHEERS Vic.

Interesting discussion that got me thinking about my dear old 110, battteries are easy to come by, the film still harder and processing houses near on impossible!

No one has considered the memory cards! They may last for a long time but I have old equipment that takes only up to 2GB CF cards - try getting one of those these days! Also, CF used to be the memory of choice, then SD what is round the corner I don't know but I am guessing it may not fit in our current cameras.

I just have a feeling that the battery avliability may out last the compatable memory avliability.

beakynet has a point - Smartmedia cards are almost impossible to find at all now, cutting out quite a few cameras in the process, regardless of their AA batteries.

However, these cameras are also so much slower than current ones, would we want to use them anyway?