The Olympus OM-1
I made the mistake of handling an OM-1 in a brick-and-mortar photography store a few weeks ago. I say mistake because I was instantly taken with how good the camera felt, how good the viewfinder was, how well-designed everything felt. Well, I bought the camera, though I had to shop around for the right sort of battery for the meter.
It's only after using the camera with the Wein cell battery that I realized that there was an issue with it. Namely, the "aperture-sensing lever" inside the camera mount, which lines up with a lever on the lens and tells the camera's meter what aperture you have the aperture ring set to (remember, an SLR camera keeps the actual aperture at maximum until you take the shot to keep the viewfinder bright and clear), is supposed to be spring-loaded, so it returns to its zero-point when the lever in the lens isn't pressing it forward along its track. Well, the spring was broken or worn out. So essentially, the meter didn't know what aperture I was using, and couldn't give me a correct exposure value without some extra work (taking a meter reading stopped-down). I decided to return the camera, since I had paid a little bit of a lot for a camera without a functioning meter. It made me sad to part with it!
Turns out, I may have been bitten by that "OM" bug a little harder than I thought, though, as I just won an auction for two OM-1's with lenses. So I will hopefully have some more experiences to report on this camera. I took a couple rolls of film with the old camera, which may or may not turn out. More (probably) to come.
Quote from Guest on April 7, 2021, 4:22 amI made the mistake of handling an OM-1 in a brick-and-mortar photography store a few weeks ago. I say mistake because I was instantly taken with how good the camera felt, how good the viewfinder was, how well-designed everything felt. Well, I bought the camera, though I had to shop around for the right sort of battery for the meter.
It's only after using the camera with the Wein cell battery that I realized that there was an issue with it. Namely, the "aperture-sensing lever" inside the camera mount, which lines up with a lever on the lens and tells the camera's meter what aperture you have the aperture ring set to (remember, an SLR camera keeps the actual aperture at maximum until you take the shot to keep the viewfinder bright and clear), is supposed to be spring-loaded, so it returns to its zero-point when the lever in the lens isn't pressing it forward along its track. Well, the spring was broken or worn out. So essentially, the meter didn't know what aperture I was using, and couldn't give me a correct exposure value without some extra work (taking a meter reading stopped-down). I decided to return the camera, since I had paid a little bit of a lot for a camera without a functioning meter. It made me sad to part with it!
Turns out, I may have been bitten by that "OM" bug a little harder than I thought, though, as I just won an auction for two OM-1's with lenses. So I will hopefully have some more experiences to report on this camera. I took a couple rolls of film with the old camera, which may or may not turn out. More (probably) to come.
Sorry, this was me! I did not realize I had not logged in. Anyway, in the future I will be the "guest" above.
I've made that mistake once here too. I now double check I'm logged in lol.
Curious to see what you'll push through a roll of film. I nearly bought an OM1 before, but didn't pull the trigger since I was intimated by manual film SLRs at the time .
Here are my selections from the first roll. It wasn't a full roll, more like half - HP5+ @ 800 speed, before I got the battery so exposures were judged based on my previous experiences with the film.
Untitled (2) by Andrew Lossing, on Flickr
Untitled (6) by Andrew Lossing, on Flickr
Untitled (8) by Andrew Lossing, on Flickr
Untitled (4)-4 by Andrew Lossing, on Flickr
Those pictures look like they are from another era! You chose your subjects really well to match the film stock. What lens/lenses are you using on it?
I also bought an olympus om something a few years ago from a local guy for $20. Turned out to be broken in many ways and lenses loaded with fungus so I sold for parts. Did seem like a very nice camera though.
Quote from Snappy on April 8, 2021, 3:08 pmThose pictures look like they are from another era! You chose your subjects really well to match the film stock. What lens/lenses are you using on it?
I also bought an olympus om something a few years ago from a local guy for $20. Turned out to be broken in many ways and lenses loaded with fungus so I sold for parts. Did seem like a very nice camera though.
Thanks! The original OM-1 I bought came with the 50mm f1.4 (radioactive version!) so that's what these were taken with. My two replacements for that returned camera come with the 50mm f1.8 and the 24mm f2.8. Hopefully those will be fully functional when they arrive! My plan is to pick the better of the two and possibly keep both lenses, and then sell the second body. That 50mm f1.4 was really nice, though.
Quote from agentlossing on April 8, 2021, 4:27 pmQuote from Snappy on April 8, 2021, 3:08 pmThose pictures look like they are from another era! You chose your subjects really well to match the film stock. What lens/lenses are you using on it?
I also bought an olympus om something a few years ago from a local guy for $20. Turned out to be broken in many ways and lenses loaded with fungus so I sold for parts. Did seem like a very nice camera though.
Thanks! The original OM-1 I bought came with the 50mm f1.4 (radioactive version!) so that's what these were taken with. My two replacements for that returned camera come with the 50mm f1.8 and the 24mm f2.8. Hopefully those will be fully functional when they arrive! My plan is to pick the better of the two and possibly keep both lenses, and then sell the second body. That 50mm f1.4 was really nice, though.
Having both lenses should be a really nice setup. I keep meaning to pick up the Pentax-M 24mm 2.8 for my Pentax K1000/the MX I'm trying out. Just finished my first roll through the MX. I had to clean the sticky shutter and I'm only kind of sure I got it right. So, we'll see, haha. Well, I got it for next to free anyway so no big deal.
