Question about battery consumption in MP

[hirohhhh]

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If the shutter speed dial is not in the B/OFF position, does it consume the battery all the time, or only when the shutter is half-pressed? In other words, should I always turn the dial to OFF to save battery when storing a camera on the shelf, or is it more for situations when the shutter could be pressed accidentally, such as in a bag, for example?

[a.noctilux]

This is so individual that there is no universal practice.

Find your own path.

😉

In my use, M6/MP was used as such, without putting the shutter button to B.

Sometimes, I saw empty battery in the next use but so many other times, no problem at all.

 

In my practice, storing for a while, I put to B, and otherwise in current use I just have a battery set in advance.

...

Now I don't use film M battery dependant anymore, so problem solved for many years.

[Chuck Albertson]

It will only eat into the battery if there is some pressure on the shutter release, like when shoving the camera into a bag. Sitting on a shelf should not do that. The camera will still shut off automatically after a minute or two, but if there's pressure on the shutter release, it will fire up again and eventually drain the battery. If I'm not going to shoot with the camera for a bit, I'll turn it off (B) simply because finding a new batt on short notice has become a pain in the ass. Those 1/3N batts used to be part of the standard rack at your local drugstore, but now they're mostly available only at camera stores or on-line.

[lincoln_m]

If the shutter isn’t cocked then the meter isn’t active (no battery drain) even if the shutter speed dial is not in B/off position. So don’t wind on until you need to take a shot rather than automatically winding on after taking a shot because you are likely to put the camera away with the shutter cocked and meter active which can drain the battery over night. That’s exactly what happened to me the first time I bought a Leica M6TTL put it away with the shutter cocked and had a flat battery the next day back in 2002.