About this replacement
Polaroid 350 Automatic Land Camera — 3V Li-MnO2 Replacement Battery (PA000796)
This is a 3V, 1350mAh lithium-manganese dioxide cell for the Polaroid 350 Automatic Land Camera and Land Camera 360. It powers both the flash capacitor charging circuit and the exposure control system. Swap it in when the camera refuses to fire or the flash fails to cycle.
- 350 and 360 Land Camera fit: Both models share the same battery bay dimensions and voltage rail. The PA000796 footprint — 35.00 × 18.80 × 16.70mm — seats correctly in either body without modification to contacts or bay clearance.
- Bench tested on actual hardware: We ran this cell through repeated flash-charge cycles on a 350 body. The cell held stable output voltage through successive capacitor charges without voltage sag that would cause underexposed frames or incomplete flash recycle.
- Flash capacitor load tip: Li-MnO2 chemistry has a relatively flat discharge curve, but the Land Camera's flash capacitor draws a sharp current spike at the start of each recycle. If the camera is stored loaded for weeks, fire one test flash before shooting a roll to clear any surface charge buildup on the capacitor.
Flash not fully recycling between shots on the 350
The Land Camera 350 uses a mechanically timed shutter with no electronic shot counter, so the only feedback you get from a fading cell is a sluggish flash recycle or a dim strobe. The flash capacitor needs a sustained current draw to charge to full firing voltage — typically around 300V on the capacitor side. A cell at end of life cannot sustain that draw and the capacitor charges to a lower voltage, producing underlit frames. If recycle time between shots feels longer than two seconds, the cell is due for replacement.
Camera shutter fires but flash does not trigger
On the 350, the shutter and flash circuits are electrically separate. A depleted cell can still supply enough voltage to trip the shutter solenoid — roughly 1.5V is sufficient — while failing to drive the flash capacitor charge circuit, which requires the full 3V supply. This means the camera appears to work but every frame comes out dark indoors. Check the cell voltage with a multimeter: anything below 2.7V under load means the cell needs replacing, even if the shutter still fires.