evert49

In the internet it says: "The camera has no lightmeter"i.e. you have to set speed and diafragma by hand and use an external lightmeter. There are many articles how to use a camera without a lightmeter. Good luck. Evert

I'm sorry my answer was not true. It was a bit too late at night for me. What I described was the way the OM10 works, not the OM 2. The OM 2 measures the incoming light from the first shutter curtain and only with longer shutter times uses the reflectivity of the film. A weird thought of mine: what happens when the real F value of the lens is not transferred to the camera? The lens then seems to transmit more light than it really does. It would give the same effect that you now have. When you look through the viewfinder and change the F value of the lens, does the shutter time display change? I mean, it doesn't have to be the electronics of the measuring cells. Good luck with it. And don't forget, thanks to digital, secondhand OM2's can be quite affordable.

You may not have a problem at all. The OM2 has two separate metering systems. One measures through the prism and that is what you see in the finder. The second system measures the reflectance of the film. It all starts with an approximate shutter speed from the viewfinder , than when the mirror goes up,the lens diafragm closes down, the shutter opens and is then controlled by the sensors that measure reflectance. If there is no film in the camera, it will measure from the pressure plate which is black and so gives a much longer shutter time. It is a wonderful system that really works well, as long as you have a film in your camera. The OM10 also works like that. Never use the automatic setting without a film in the camera. Of course, if you had a film in the camera, you might think of buying another (working) one.

I was told.... Which you also can translate as: Maybe. The British got cameras from Germany in wartime through Portugal. Specifically Robot cameras for their warplanes and Leica cameras for war correspondents. I was also told they confiscated Leicas and Contaxes from the British public as well, but that numbers were apparently not high enough. They didn't like Contaxes (too complex, not reliable enough for war corespondents) and a lot of Contax lenses were modified to be used on Leicas. If the Brits could do this during war time, I'm sure the USA could do this as well. The USA was after all still neutral in 39 and 40.

Are you sure you have a Tessar 50? A Prima camera always has a Pantar standard lens. I don't think you can put a Pantar tele on a Tessar lens unit. That is, if you really have a Tessar and a Pantar, it is a mismatch. I never used Prima 's (don't like threelensers), but the stories about difficult repairs are certainly true about the Contaflex. It will be difficult to find a repairperson who can handle this 60 year old beauty. It might be more sensible to buy another? They are rather cheap (probably because of their reputation). There are repair stories on the net however, so you could try? Anyway, good luck.

Yes, it is quite normal, I think. Most Exakta (and Exa's) have shutter locks. Probably because it is quite easy to make an unintentional picture while putting the camera away. Older Exakta's refused to work when the viewfinder was closed. At least with the newer ones you can see that the shutter button is locked. Not all Exa's have this lock at the back, some have the same lock newer Exakta's have. But isn't this part of the fun? Finding out things about old and totally outdated camera's. I personally love Exakta's, even though I prefer a somewhat more modern camera to take pictures with.

I also had problems with 120 film. What helped me was to use a soft pencil on the tracks in the reels. Carbon really helped against the stroppiness,