What to do with 10 old Nikkormat bodies?

[Eddie Draaisma]

Interesting were also the differences between the various motordrives for the FM/FE/FA family of cameras. I bought a MD11 for my first Nikon, a black FE, but exchanged it immediately for the MD12 when that one came out. The MD11 had the nasty habit of draining the cells in the camera body when not switched off, it happened to me a few times. The MD12 had a power-saving circuit, it switched off after 60s. The MD4 for the F3 and the MD15 for the FA both had an even nicer feature; the batteries in the motordrive powered the camera body as well. Never was a depleted camera body battery cell an issue anymore.

[David H. Hartman]

The MD11 had the nasty habit of draining the cells in the camera body when not switched off, it happened to me a few times.

I have a Nikon MD-11 if you are suffering pangs of nostalgia. 

Dave

[MEPER]

I also used FE2 with MD12. Was a nice setup. Rollei made a large flash called 36 RE with flash bracket. This setup could impress many.....and looked good with an AI'ed 85/1.8 H-C on the body. Nice grip on such a flash and good to have the flash a distance from lens.
Later I got a SB-15 and also a SB-11 (still have those). Think the Rollei flash was very "iconic". 

[David H. Hartman]

Rollei made a large flash called 36 RE with flash bracket.

I understand one could light up a forest with the Rollei E36-RE. I never tried but I did use one in my PR photograph. I traded my E36-RE for an ACOR Candid, fool! 

The E36-RE used NiCad batteries so I wonder how one would power one up today. i remember a two part battery pack in clear blue plastic shrink covering. Maybe sub-C units?

[mxbianco]

...
The E36-RE used NiCad batteries so I wonder how one would power one up today. i remember a two part battery pack in clear blue plastic shrink covering. Maybe sub-C units?

NiCd batteries have a 1.2V nominal voltage, you can exchange it with a NiMH battery which has the same nominal voltage (and more mAh per unit volume), or you can put in a Li-Ion (or LiFePO4 or whatever) as a replacement for 3 niCds, with two dummy batteries (essentially a cable pass-through, no power) + 1 Li-Ion battery
NiCd ==> 1.2 x 3 = 3.6V (nominal),
Li-Ion ==> 3.7V (nominal)
Li-Ions have even more mAh per unit volume, so you have room to host a Li-Ion battery pack inside a NiCd battery pack.

Ciao from Massimo

[David H. Hartman]

mxbianco,

I don't remember how the batteries in the E36 RE where charged. I wonder if NiMH batteries that have the same dimensions are available? If so battery packs could be made to fit in the handle of the E36 RE. It's been many years since I owned the E36 RE.

I'm curious about buying a used E36 RE. They must be dirt cheap. I haven't thought about the Rollei E36 RE in years. It was sure stupid of me to trade it for an ASCOR Candid as the recycle time of the ASCOR was quite useless for the PR photograph for which I would have used it. I don't even know how I disposed of the ASCOR. I must have traded it in at a camera store.

The Auto Thyristor flash of the day was a thing of wonder! I remember the Vivitar 292. Don't think I ever owned one. Then came the hugely popular Vivitar 283 and 285 auto thyristor units. The 283(s) and 285(s) made in Japan for the US company Vivitar were rock solid.

Dave

[MEPER]

The E36 RE was charged via a connector at the back of the flash head as I remember it. A charger to put into the mains was included.
I think the NiCd battery pack in my unit was replaced once. I remember the small orange lamp that was also a push button to test fire the flash. It was quite fast to recycle.
I remember there was also a small photo sensor unit you could put into the flash shoe on camera if you angled the flash. There I think SB-11 was a bit smarter as photo sensor always pointed at "target" even if you angled the head.

Yes, the E36 RE must be very cheap today......almost "free of charge" :-)