Olympus OM-1N and my first prints after 20 years

<p>I have recently acquired an Olympus OM-1 because I felt that his older brother the OM-2 is hooked on batteries so much so that it stops working when running out of power. <br /> I wanted to have a full manual very compact camera. I figured the OM-1 is hard to beat with features like DOF preview and mirror lock-up. I chased down this item on the evilbay – here is the link: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=360132882814&ru=http%3A%2F%2Fshop.ebay.com%3A80%2F%<br /> and won without being forced to click on the “buy now” that was at a higher price. The item description does not mention any parts or functions missing nor can any one see in the only picture available what I noticed when I got the camera in the mail: the self timer lever was missing. The seller conveniently covers the hole where the self timer was with the camera strap and keeps silence about the problem when describing the item. I fail to understand why sellers with hundreds of transactions and a good record of 99% do this kind of thing to screw themselves up. When I got the camera I wrote to the seller asking for a solution to accept a return or give me some compensation. The answer was short and stupid: camera is sold AS IS. Fine with me, he got his good record tarnished and I’m telling you the story so you know and don’t repeat my mistake.<br /> Bad things left aside I took the camera out for a spin and here are some of the best shots I took on Kodak Tri-X 400 ISO, developed in D-76, 1:1 for 7min 48sec. I use the normal lens - Zuiko Auto-S 1.8/ 50mm with a Tiffen circular polarizer or a Tiffen deep orange filter.<br /> What differs this time around is that I started printing again in my darkroom after 20 years. So you are looking at actual prints made on Ilford MGIV-RC paper developed on Dektol 1:1 with a Saunders/ LPL 4500II enlarger. This is my new set-up that I hope to be able to use from now on.<br /> I plan to send this camera to Mr. Zuiko – John Hermanson to be fixed and overhauled. I think it deserves a better life. Here are the pictures:<br>

<br /> <br /> <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3301/3436432734_3370c1925c.jpg?v=0" alt="" /><br>

<br /> Downtown Toronto - view from the East-End port on lake Ontario<br /> <br /> <br /> <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3305/3435629433_b8b881495a.jpg?v=0" alt="" /><br>

<br /> <br /> Downtown Toronto and CN Tower - view from the East-End port on lake Ontario<br /> <br /> <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3347/3436433178_9bda331364.jpg?v=0" alt="" /><br>

<br /> Dialogue - I was attracted by the unusual shapes and texture of these showers and tried to put them in a context that makes sense.<br /> <br /> <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3619/3436433466_954e97ce4e.jpg?v=0" alt="" /><br>

<br /> Sand pattern - same attaction for shapes and texture attracted me to a pattern in the wet sand by the lake Ontario</p>

 

<p>Oh, forgot to show the camera. Here it is:<br /> <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3407/3436519352_7a624d4b24.jpg?v=0"></p>

<p>lovely story and nice pictures. what are those black lines on the first two pictures, rays of sun perhaps?</p>

<p>Starvy, the prints are glossy and I had to let them dry on a table. The result is that prints were not flat and I think the scanner captures some odd reflections from the glossy surface. The actual prints don't have any flaws. I need to get a grip on a new set of issues...<br>

Thanks for your comments.</p>

<p>A real pain the the back to edit or delete a submission. I will try to post the picture of the camera again.<br>

<img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3407/3436519352_7a624d4b24.jpg?v=0" alt="" width="500" height="333" /></p>

<p>That was a bit sneaky of this vendor. Also, I noticed in the auction listing that it does not say "as is" anywhere in the description. Indeed, the vendor goes as far as to say "Return policy not specified". That's always a red flag.<br /> </p>

<p>Great shots BTW! I love the showers.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Mihai, that's a beautiful camera, one that I've been thinking about adding to my camera arsenal for a while. It's also good that you've gotten back into printing your own pictures...those are all excellent! I also love the 'Showers' shot, but they're all good; great contrast and tone as well as amazing sharpness. That was pretty low of the vendor to conceal the missing timer lever, but that should be easy to replace. BTW, did I mention that the camera is <em>beautiful</em> ?</p>

<p>What splendid compositions, Mihai. The sand pattern is simply beautiful and the image quality is impressive.</p>

<p>Love the first shot with the ship.</p>

<p>Too bad eBay isn't buyer-friendly enough to allow you to permanently blacklist sellers when searching. (Lots of Usenet news readers allow you blacklist a poster, so you don't have to read their drivel.) That seller would sure wind up on my blacklist.<br>

Sellers can blacklist buyers on eBay, however. Of course, it's the sellers who pay for eBay, so us buyers are on our own.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Excellent pics, it's too bad about the self timer but over all it looks like a good specimen.<br>

That Zuiko lens is just great, I have one on my OM-10. I like the dialogue pic best.</p>

<p>Very nice pictures; some sellers turn out that way; a part of the risk on ebay. I bid only amounts I am willing lose completely. Last time my Post Office received an empty packing. The Post Master showed it to me and returned it with official seal to the sender. Still I lost the money, though I had paid for insurance to cover twice the cost of item plus postage. PayPal defected out of their "Buyer Protection Plan" after telling me that I was entitled to a refund. I guess the seller claimed the insurance from Royal Mail UK and kept it all to herself.I had 50 good buys earlier, though. Regards, sp.</p>

<p>Great photos, Mihai. One does wonder about sellers like that. Now that sellers can't leave retaliatory feedback they are taking much bigger risk than before.<br>

BTW, on your OM-2 are you using silver, alkaline, or lithium batteries? Generally most cameras that use MS76 cells tend to perform best on the silver cells. Doesn't sound normal. I have an OM-G that runs on two MS76 cells and get good battery life from it. As for my OM-1, I use zinc air (hearing aid) batteries in it.</p>

<p>Very nice. This is an unfortunate issue, although the self timer might be easily fixed with a replacement lever from a broken body, which I'm sure wouldn't cost much to have repaired. As mentioned, the lack of an "as is" clause in the sale is suspect, but eBay and Paypal are such scamsters that I doubt you would get any money back if the seller isn't cooperative. For me the problem isn't that there are bad sellers, you expect that, the thing that hurts is that eBay and Paypal don't have any REAL protection for buyer or sellers and the Post Office and UPS have both been involved in not honoring insurance claims on broken or missing items.</p>

<p>too bad you didn't buy the OM-1 that I sold on ebay a while back... it was as described. :)</p>

<p>Nice cameras... I just have too many SLRs to use... and prefer the Leica-R lenses just a bit, but that Zuiko is very pretty as well.</p>

<p>Really like the last two shots a lot. Nice work!</p>

<p>Beautiful shots Mihai. IMHO it's always worth getting a camera repaired if you enjoy using it.</p>

<p>Nice shots!<br>

I recently starting shooting my OM-2N again. With the silveroxide batteries it's working very well. I had it overhauled (also for shutter timing problems). I really like the looks/feel/weight of this camera and getting some nice pictures with one of my Zuiko lenses attached to it.</p>

<p>Hi, Mihai Sorry to hear about the self-timer problem, and hopefully Fleabay will eventually do some arm-twisting on your behalf with the seller who conveniently 'forgot' to mention it. I got done in a similar way with an Exakta once, where the seller posted a very nice single pic of it left-side on. When it arrived, the Tessar had an almighty dent on the right side that had conveniently not been shown in his pic or mentioned in his description. Ho, hum ....</p>

<p>I tend to be phlegmatic about these things, because the camera body was excellent mechanically and cosmetically, and I luckily had a spare 'correct' Tessar to interchange with the One From Hell. The price I'd paid was reasonable had it been for a 'Body Only' deal, and that's the way I looked at it. However, I gave the seller a serve in the Feedback Forum comments ...</p>

<p>Getting back to the OMIn, I went that route myself a few years ago, after having an OM20 (OMG) play up on me while holidaying in the middle of nowhere. The battery check indicator said everything was A-OK but every occasional shot the shutter would mysteriously hang. Turned out that the battery status indicator tells lies on OM10s and 20s, so I got myself an all-mechanical shutter OM1n. I even got a second back-up OM1, bought for parts because it was jammed, but the local Repair Guru sorted the jam out in less than 2 minutes and I kept it as a second 'user'. </p>

<p>Hate to sound like a dinosaur, but there's a lot to be said for all-mechanical shutters - especially when you're hundreds of KMs away from the nearest battery source. I've got several Zuiko lenses of various fixed FLs but I tend to use either a Vivitar Series One F2.8 28 - 90 mm or its Big Brother F3.5 70- 210 Macro. Both are big and heavy, and tend to negate the OM1n's light weight and compactness - but they're very handy where the alternative would be to have to yank several separate lenses around. The F2.8 28 - 90 mm was a godsend in places like military museums on a holiday in the UK a couple of years ago for example. (PETE IN PERTH)</p>

<p>Thank you all so very much for your nice comments. I put the evilbay experience behind, learned from it and move forward because I love taking pictures and the OM-1 is an exceptional performer.<br>

Mike Gammill on my OM-2 I use silver-oxide and have no problems so far. For the OM-1 I don't have any battery at the present time because I use my Soligor spotmeter. I have run my film tests based on the spotmeter and I shoot the Tri X-400 ISO at 160 ISO.</p>

<p>Mike G: When I sent my OM-2N to John H for service a couple of years ago I asked him about using lithium batteries but he advised using only silver oxides. I didn't ask about alkalines.</p>

<p>Sorry to hear about your E Bay experience, it happens, but your photographs show your passion, which is the main point. Have you checked out the batteries compartment out yet ? Hopefully no damage. If I was in your position, I would itch to get your OM1 CAL'd, so the meter could be trackled. I cannot see if it is the MD version. I read the pre MD ones can get a bit gummy- design specifically inside. The Wein Zinc 1.35 volts option is an expensive option , so as part of the service you could get it recalibrated to take the plentiful 1.5 Volt batteries.</p>

 

<p>Nice shots of Toronto!</p>

<p>I had a similar experience when I bought a Rollei 2.8D on *bay last year.. It was supposed to be in perfect working order, with all parts, but the primary focussing magnifier was totally missing. I had to spend $150 on a new hood, and had to retrofit it myself.. live and learn, I guess.</p>

<p>Antony, thank you for your comments. Indeed my OM-1N is the MD version and light seals are in good condition. Yes, good idea to have the meter re-calibrated to work with normal silver-oxide batteries. As I said I will send it out for a CLA which will add value to the camera and will give me few good years of reliable service.</p>

<p>You might find the part you need here:<br>

<a href="http://www.zuiko.com/">http://www.zuiko.com/</a></p>