Hello all,
Great to be a part of this community. Thank you all. Everyday I learn
something new. Some very valuable things - and some curious facts. I am not
sure what I like the most.
Myself, I am in the rebuilding phase of my OM-system. I used to own an
OM-1n in the 80:ies, which finally broke down from a sea wave. In 1987 I
bought an OM 2 Spot/program which I like very much. It's mechanics troubled
a couple of years ago, so I started using my compacts instead. By
coincidence I found this mailing list a month ago, and since then my
Olympus interest has really boosted. I am now a happy owner of several
OM-1's!! I am not kidding. I found some extremely great bargains in Sweden
on whole systems with a lot of lenses, winders and all kind of goodies.
Including bodies. My fast fall into a zuikoholic made me buy these. I will
now sell at least one system with the lenses I do not need - and save for a
used OM-4Ti.
Anyhow, I made a great discovery I want to share. One of the great bargains
was the F-280 flash which was mounted on an OM-88 with the 35-70 f3.5-4.5
lens. All in EX. condition. And the price was only SEK 800 (excl VAT USD
90). Great, huh? I "need" the flash for my future OM-4Ti. :))
OK. I have no real use for the OM-88 so decided to start advertising it on
the internet. For that, I needed a nice photo. So I took the two 500 Watt
lamps I have (actually they are my fathers, and he bought them in the
60:ies and they still work! Same lamps!) and gave the body with lens a real
photoflood. Snapped it with a digi-cam and went to the computer to see the
result. The result was so-so...so I opened the image in a paint program and
tried to fix it. After a while, I smelled something from my "photo-lab". I
went back to the lab and realized I had forgot to turn off the two 500 Watt
lamps. The camera was pretty warm. :))
After a couple of minutes the OM-88 had reached room temperature, which
made me glad. I tried to take some shots but it didn't work. The battery
control made the camera beep so the electronics seemed to be okay. Maybe it
was just the shutter button? At this moment I was .... ahum... pretty
irritated about my ... behavior. I laid down the camera and decided to have
a look at it later. And a couple of hours later I started to dis-assemble it.
With the whole front and top dissasembled, the camera worked just fine.
With all its circuit-boards and aluminum chassi, it reminded me about the
dying Terminator 2. It was at this state I made the discovery: The
shutter-button had melted! This little plastic thing couldn't reach the
electronic shutter button behind the shell. The rest of the outer parts had
managed the heat just fine.
Now, I am curious WHY did the Olympus technicians design the OM-88
shutter-button with a lower melting temperature than any other plastic part
of the camera? A conspiracy? An accident? Who knows.......
Just wanted share some of those curious facts. This day - one life, as
Melker said in Saltkrakan. In the soon future I hope to share some
practical results from photography too.
Epiloge.
I have decided to repair and keep the OM-88. John Hermanson had a wrecked
OM-88 he picked a shutter-button from. Thanks. The camera will be a good
first SLR for my daughter. She is soon .... ahum..... 4 years old.... so I
guess I will have to put it in the closet until........ her birthday. At
least.
"Such a father...such a daughter".
/Claes
PS. I have no manual or no nothing for my OM-88. Do anyone know if the
lenses are the same as for the autofocus OM-77?
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