Originally posted by premy2u I tried an LR44 alkaline battery with my K1000, and the meter readings were way too high.
I then tried a silver oxide battery (Varta V76PX) and then the meter worked properly.
So, it's better to use a silver oxide battery.
With the Spotmatics I, II, sp1000, & sp500, I didn't have meter problems while using alkaline batteries, but seeing how the K1000 reacts, I would suggest using silver oxide batteries here as well.
The battery in my SP1000 that I'm using now, is a 387s (silver oxide), and the meter works fine with it.
It should work ok with an alkaline like a LR44 until the battery internal resistance increases at the end of life and the effective voltage drops to far. The silver cells have a quicker 'death'.
Just don't leave a battery in the camera if it is on the shelf as leakage is not good.
If you are stuck on Sunday a hearing aid cell is ok, and will last for months, but they can leak as they are not sealed! Best to remove at end of days shoot and poly bag in gbag. Don't ask how I know.
---------- Post added 09-07-15 at 06:54 AM ----------
Originally posted by vonBaloney You might have an inappropriate/wrong battery. Big problem with some older film cams if you want to use the built-in meter -- they no longer make the mercury batteries they were designed for. Mercury is much more stable (current-wise) than the current alternatives. BUT, that's just an aside, the K1000 actually is meant to be used with an alkaline or silver-oxide 1.5v, which will be marked LR44 or SR44. I'm not sure about the SR, but the LR44 is widely available. Nevertheless, check your battery.
There is no battery check on the K1000, nor is there a way to turn off the meter other than putting on the lens cap. If the aperture is wide open and you take off the cap and the needle goes up, the battery is not dead. (And so to save battery power, you must put on lens cap when not in use.) But it could be the wrong voltage or whatever...
If the ERC or the gbag is reasonably light tight the meter will turn itself off. Unlike most other CdS meters the K1000 has a transistor battery off switch that is automatically actuated just below meter calibration light level. If you look it is on the circuit above.
If you don't use the camera every day remove the battery anyway, cause a leakage can cause real damage.