MB-16 Is Up and Running...

[rbeckerelite]

I just got an MB-16 and performed the required surgery to mate it to my S2 and find it to work wonderfully-when shooting horizontally. When I shoot vertically on a tripod, that is I use a Bogen plate. I now have the situation where the camera sort of leans away from the MB-16 causing it to shut off the top LCD and the camera will stop functioning. There seems to be a slight "wobble" of the vertical section that is housed inside the compartment where the 123's used to reside. I find that if I tape a dime onto the top of the MB-16 to help the vertical section stay put, it works well.

I remember seeing somewhere that some folks modify the vertical portion to make it fit snugly inside the compartment. Does anyone here know anything about this?

Any help would be appreciated. The dime works mostly but I was hoping there would be a more elegant solution.

Best regards,
Randy

[traumlandschaft]

Hello Randy,

some month ago I made the same modification on a MB-16, and a very important point is:

When you receive the MB-16, there is a white (or nature) plastic hood on the part of the MB, that fits into the place of the CR 123. You have to modify this hood, so it will still be on the MB, and in this way it holds the MB-16 in a fixed position.

Remember: you cut off a couple of pins on the MB for enabling it to fit on the S2. Those pins normally do this Job. It can also be done by using a heavy tape or something like this.

Anyway: I saw the photos at pBase - maybe you check it out there.

Regards

Peter

[turbo-944]

Randy,

The suggestion that Peter mentioned has become the "preferred" method for ensuring a snug fit between MB-16 and camera. It doesn't take to long to do with a dremmel tool or x-acto knife. Just be careful not to remove too much from the plastic cap because this will cause a loose connection, causing the same kind of problems you are dealing with now. In addition to this sleeve I am including another method to help get better contact. I've tried it on both my cameras, and it works great.

There has been a suggestion in a couple posts, I believe that it was on dpreview, of adding (soldering) a small coiled spring, like the one you see if you look in the battery compartment of many flash units, to the top contacts of the MB-16 where it goes into the S2 body. This allows a better connection if the unit does pull away from the camera. If you decide to do this, remove the metal contacts from the plastic of the MB-16 so that the soldering process doesn't melt the plastic on the MB-16.

I have also had to "shim" the opposite end of the MB-16 to S2 contact surface, out near the battery tray opening. I used a couple of layers of black electrical tape on the MB-16 for this. It gives just a little leverage to help keep the MB-16 battery terminals in contact with the camera.

I hope this helps,

Dan.

[rbeckerelite]

Thank you for the info listed above. I tried the plastic cap method but don't have the patience or skill to pull that one off.

I do have a friend who can handle the soldering job however so thank you again for the info.

Randy

[jknights]

I have been using the MB16 for a while and I dont use the white plastic collar/cap at all.
Maybe I have been lucky.

Also I have sanded off most of the lip on the MB16 so it is fairly flat. By doing this the Fuji S2 battery pack comes out really easily as well.