drenched OM2- is it worth repairing?

[erik_dorset1]

Help! While doing some photography with my OM-2n on the beach last

weekend, I was drenched from head to toe by a wave that crashed on a

rock just in front of me. I came out fine in the end, but

unfortunately my camera didn�t fare so well. After drying it off and

putting in new batteries, everything first seemed to be fine with the

camera. However, a day later things started to go wrong. First, the

winder froze up; I was able to fix that with a little oil, but now it

seems that the metering system doesn�t read properly anymore.

Although I am not certain, I suspect that it has something to do with

the fact that it was salt water and not fresh water that hit the

camera, thus screwing up the electronics inside. Could this be true?

 

So, my question now: is it worth fixing the OM2 or should I just

find another body?

 

I fortunately already have an OM1 as a second body, and a good

collection of glass, so I am not really so keen about ditching the

entire OM system if this camera is in fact dead. But I would be

grateful and interested in any help you might be able to offer!

Thanks!

[richard_oleson]

There is almost nothing in the world that can happen to a camera that's worse than being immersed in salt water. The salt gets into every place that water can go (which is EVERYPLACE), it attacks aluminum and steel, and when damp it conducts electricity. It's almost impossible to remove it without disassembling every single part in the camera.

 

I have in some cases salvaged expensive electronic devices after this kind of exposure by immediately immering them in distilled water and leaving them there overnight to thoroughly wash out the salt (sometimes adding another day in a fresh batch of water to be sure), then carefully and thoroughly drying them out before applying power. This might work with your OM2 and winder, though you've already let the salt water dry inside it so it will take more time and maybe more frest water. If it's beginning to malfunction, you don't have a whole lot to lose because if you don't do something it will probably become unsalvageable. you don't want to leave the salt in there long enough to raise rust and corrosion on the mechanical parts, as there is no way short of a total remanufacturing to get those to run right again.

 

make sure it's TOTALLY dry before you put the batteries back in.

 

rick

[lex_jenkins]

I'd find an OM repair tech, explain the problem and offer to sell it to him/her as a parts camera. That's what I did last year. I thoroughly and honestly described all the flaws, from the sticking mirror to the shutter curtain wrinkle to the slightly bent rewind shaft. Of course, the tech could have seen all of these for himself but I wanted to give a good impression. He gave me something like $35-50 for it. Must be a pretty fair need in the trade for parts cameras.

 

If the tech also happens to sell cameras you might work out a trade toward a refurbished OM-2N.

 

Interestingly, since Olympus officially discontinued the OM system I've noticed a downward trend in the prices of OM-2N's while the all-manual OM-1's and OM-1N's have gone up. So you might be able to get another OM-2N for a very reasonable price from someplace like KEH.