mismatched voltage/current damaged adapted lens/camera

[EinstStein]

A friend told me he suspected his camera is damaged due to the over drawn current of his fast heavy lenses after adapted to a camera with mismatched voltage/current.  He has heavy duty used the camera with only the adapted lenses since the camera was purchased. One of the lens is a heavy super tele. The scenario is the lens is gradually less and less responsive. He is very sure this is not about lubricate.

I checked the voltage spec. The camera has higher voltage (7.4V) than the original camera of the lenses (7.2V or 6.0V). I think it is highly possible that either the camera's output driver was damaged due to th clamping effect from it's load, and of course the lens could be damaged due to the over-drive from the camera.

I think this is a reliability issue so may not be easy verified unless it is completely broken.
I suggested him to ask Sony but the sales person in the camera store said he doubted Sony would promise it is OK to adapt to third party components.

[eronald]

A friend told me he suspected his camera is damaged due to the over drawn current of his fast heavy lenses after adapted to a camera with mismatched voltage/current.  He has heavy duty used the camera with only the adapted lenses since the camera was purchased. One of the lens is a heavy super tele. The scenario is the lens is gradually less and less responsive. He is very sure this is not about lubricate.

I checked the voltage spec. The camera has higher voltage (7.4V) than the original camera of the lenses (7.2V or 6.0V). I think it is highly possible that either the camera's output driver was damaged due to th clamping effect from it's load, and of course the lens could be damaged due to the over-drive from the camera.

I think this is a reliability issue so may not be easy verified unless it is completely broken.
I suggested him to ask Sony but the sales person in the camera store said he doubted Sony would promise it is OK to adapt to third party components.

I think you need to be more precise about which models of what ...

Edmund

[EinstStein]

It doesn't matter which model. As long as the two system does not use the same voltage, across platform adapter will have the problem.

[mbaginy]

A friend told me he suspected his camera is damaged due to the over drawn current of his fast heavy lenses...

That doesn't sound right to me.  The lens is an electric consumer which can use only the voltage supplied by the camera (battery).  The lens cannot "draw more voltage" from the camera, thus damaging the camera's electronics.  The lens functions may be slower but cannot compensate for a lack of power by drawing more current.  There must be some other reason for the camera's damage / malfunction.

[EinstStein]

That doesn't sound right to me.  The lens is an electric consumer which can use only the voltage supplied by the camera (battery).  The lens cannot "draw more voltage" from the camera, thus damaging the camera's electronics.  The lens functions may be slower but cannot compensate for a lack of power by drawing more current.  There must be some other reason for the camera's damage / malfunction.

This tells me your are not an electronic engineer.

[mbaginy]

This tells me your are not an electronic engineer.

That's true EinStein, I've been in automotive fuel systems for many years.  But recalling an old Spotmatic F or Leicaflex SL fitted with a contemporary battery with less voltage than than previous mercury cells - the light meter needed to be recalibrate or an adjustment made via ISO to compensate for the lesser voltage.  So the consumer (light meter) couldn't draw more power (which was non-existent.  Or am I misinterpreting that?

[Dan Wells]

Not an engineer of any sort, but... Canon and Nikon lenses are designed to work with the big pro bodies (which run internally on 11+ volts, although who knows what they present at the lens mount). The D800 and D810 (maybe some Canons as well?) are adaptable between 7+ and 11+ volts - without the grip, they run on 7+, but the grip can take the big D4 battery and it actually speeds up the camera. I'm not sure if there's a regulator in the grip, or if the camera is just designed to run on a range of voltages? I'd find it hard to believe that a lens is so sensitive that it gets fried by running on a couple hundred millivolts "extra".

It seems to be a Sony camera (from your mention of Sony in the original post) - those InfoLithiums are a very similar chemistry to Canon and Nikon batteries, and run in exactly the same voltage range, despite being labeled slightly differently. The only camera battery I am aware of that is ACTUALLY higher voltage in a standard two-cell battery is the Olympus LiPolymer battery, which is well over 7.5 volts, and has issues with third-party chargers with interchangeable plates - they only charge some Olympus batteries about 80%, because they don't recognize the higher voltage.