oliver_mills

That is useful to know and seems to align with what I was experiencing. I am surprised that the metering can potentially adjust in real-time during exposure, but I suppose this camera has one of the most advanced metering systems of the time. I have been using an Olympus OM-1N for the last few years, which is excellent to use, but there is something about the OM-4 which makes it feel even more solidly built - perhaps it is the matte black paint and increased weight. £45 seems to have been a very good price from the antiques shop for this OM-4, a Zuiko 50mm f/1.4, and a Recordata 4 back, all in excellent condition. Thank you for clarifying how the meter works, I now know that the camera is essentially perfect in operation except for the well-known battery drain issues.

Fantastic, it has worked! I did not know that the camera relied on the film surface to obtain a meter reading, I previously tested the shutter without film, as I did for my other cameras. This is my first film SLR camera with a proper metering system, so I am quite new to this type of camera, but I have been very pleased with its operation so far. Thank you very much for your help!

Hello. I recently bought an Olympus OM4 with a 50mm f/1.4 lens from an antiques shop. It is in very good physical condition and seems to work well mechanically, but there seem to be several electrical issues. The main issue is the shutter speed in Auto mode, which is significantly slower than the correct meter reading indicated on the LCD display. I have tried testing it to find a fixed pattern (a common error in the shutter speed - e.g. +2 stops) but it seems to vary from about +1 stop to +3 stops longer than the metered speed. Strangely, it is not a problem in spot metering mode - the shutter speed here is correct to the meter. The manual mode, of course, works fine. Today was the first time I noticed that the spot metering system was becoming temperamental. As I was testing the shutter speed issue, the spot metering suddenly stopped working - all of the associated buttons and memory levers did not respond. I later realised that the spot metering would only work when the lens switch (a conical button on the lens mount, below the red registration dot) was depressed by the attached lens, and this switch was temperamental. In theory, whenever the lens was removed, the camera would beep and the spot metering would be disabled. Unfortunately, the switch would often randomly disengage if the lens was touched or twisted, causing an erratic barrage of beeping and erroneously disabling the spot metering. Depressing the button with a fingernail (further in than the lens would) seems to create a more solid electrical connection, so I might find a means of fixing the button permanently. This video demonstrates the issue with the shutter speed.

<p>Thank you all for your replies... I know that this is very late!<br> I have been astonished with the quality of the slides - I knew that they would be good, but I never thought that they would be <em>that</em> good, considering that it was my first attempt. I will never tire of putting them through my grandfather's old projector!<br> I will definitely continue to use this fantastic film, and will continue to process it at Peak imaging.</p><div></div>

<p>Hello<br> I have exposed my first roll of Velvia 50 film and am thinking of processing it at Peak Imaging (UK). I have heard only good things about the company, but I don't know what to expect in terms of what I will get back. I will request the pictures be put into mounts, but <em>will</em> the mounts be date-stamped (like the old kodachrome slides were) and numbered? Are they plastic or card? Are they delivered in a box?<br> Another site (AG Photo Lab) specifies what type of mount they use, and they say that they date stamp and number the mounts. <br> Can someone please tell me exactly what comes in the delivered photo pack - particularly regarding the slide mounts?</p>

<p>Hello<br> For a while now, I have noticed that many of my pictures taken through the viewfinder are soft. This softness has been evident on a wide range of lenses: Nikon 55-300 (mainly at 300mm), Nikon 35mm f1.8, Nikon 50mm f1.4, 14-24, etc. Pictures taken through live view are considerably sharper on all these lenses and represent the lens's true image quality. I have concluded that the focusing system is inaccurate on my camera, and remember, <strong>the Nikon D5200 does not have autofocus calibration.</strong><br> Is there anything that I can do, or will I have to replace my camera with a higher end camera which has AF calibration, such as the D7200. I find the problem to be very irritating, as the only way to get sharp pictures is to use live view, which uses the battery quickly, and is painfully slow and awkward to use on the D5200!</p>

<p>Hello<br> My grandfather passed down some old rolls of black/white negative film (among others), mainly Kodak T-MAX 100. These rolls all expired in 1999, and I doubt that they have been frozen.<br> Will this film be usable, should I rate it at ISO 50 to compensate for the possible reduction in light sensitivity? I also have one roll of Kodak T-MAX 3200, which expired in November 1995! Is this of any use?</p>

<p>Thank you for your replies - I just wanted to check whether the performance and characteristics of this film would change considerably after being expired for a few months. The expiry date must merely mark the end of the film's lifespan where ideal performance is guaranteed, a bit like a best before date on food.</p>

<p><em>Dirt</em> on the film - I never thought of that! Looking at the negatives, the marks do look more like dirt than scratches - they also look too thick and randomly distributed to be scratches. I also noticed that throughout the negatives, there are a number of C-shaped marks (though they are only present on the 3rd film; not seen in the picture above). <br> So the problem must be with the processor then. This is sad because it is local business that needs to be supported, though I probably won't use them again if their service is not up to scratch (no pun intended!).<br> Thank you for your useful advice and fast responses, everyone!</p> <div></div>

<p>In early April, I bought my first roll of Fuji Velvia 50 reversal film, from a long-established photography shop (Cambrian Photography, Colwyn Bay). I saw that its expiry date was January 2016. I stored it in the freezer almost immediately after, and plan to use it in the summer. I can't be certain about the film's storage in the shop - I saw that it was taken from below the counter, but the films may or may not have been stored overnight in a freezer.<br> Will these few months of post-expiry affect the film in any way?</p>

<p>Hello<br> This is my first time posting on this site, and I have a question about the reason for scratches on negatives. I started using film last year, so I am quite new to this sort of photography. The first time I used film, I used expired colour negative film and processed it at Truprint (a mail order developer). These pictures were clean and free of scratches. I have always used the same camera for film (an Olympus OM-1). I have used film twice since and on both occasions many of the pictures had heavy scratches and streaks. These two times I sent the film to a local film processor, and used Agfa Vista 200 (not Vista Plus) colour negative film, bought at Poundland. I am having some trouble in finding why the film is scratched... It could be the processor, or there are defects with the film - I do not know.</p> <ul> <li>Film being scratched by the camera can be ruled out, as I used the same camera here as the first time (where the pictures were scratch-free), and to confirm, I ran an old roll of film through the camera and took out the film (an unavoidably unpleasant experience!), and the film was completely clear of scratches (please note that this film was not the same film as the Agfa Vista film I have been using (I think this was Boots 200 film)).</li> <li>Defects in the film could be a possibility, as I paid just £1 for each roll. Perhaps this film is so cheap because it failed quality control at the factory. The two rolls were bought at the same time, from the same shop, and with the same expiry date (November 2017), so they may have both been part of a bad batch.</li> <li>Or could it be the processing lab? I thought that a local processing lab that takes in film from a number of locations would process to a high standard, but I am not so sure now. Both times, I requested that the negatives are processed, printed and scanned to a CD. If it is not the film, then something is going wrong at one of these stages. Could there be dirt on the rollers in the scanner or developer which are scratching the film? Or could it just be careless handling? The one thing that makes me doubt that it is the processor is the problem is that the two films were processed at different times. The first roll was processed around the 20th February, an<img src="G:\cameras\Film\2%20-%20Agfa%20Vista%20200%20(16.2.16-18.2.16)\JPEG\13.jpg" alt="" />d the third roll was processed around the 10th April. </li> </ul> <p>Luckily, the Fuji Velvia film I have just bought for use in the summer will be safe from these scratches either way, as this processing lab does not accept E6 film (speaking of which, can anyone recommence any good E6 film developers?), and Velvia film is not Q.C-failed negative film, bought from Poundland!<br> <img src="G:\cameras\Film\2%20-%20Agfa%20Vista%20200%20(16.2.16-18.2.16)\JPEG\13.jpg" alt="" />I would appreciate if anyone could say what is the most likely cause for film being scratched. Whatever the reason is, I will probably avoid this Agfa Vista film and spend a bit more on better film.<br> <img src="G:\cameras\Film\2%20-%20Agfa%20Vista%20200%20(16.2.16-18.2.16)\JPEG\13.jpg" alt="" /></p><div></div>