Ulf, what a sad story.
I took a break from packing my camera bag for the Benelux trip this morning
(I know, it's two weeks away, but I'm excited) to read the list. I think
I'll respond differently to your tale - out comes the OM-2n that I had
decided to use for backup to the -4T and in goes the OM-1n (my original plan
until I started thinking about night exposures on the Seine). Nothing ever
goes wrong with my OM-1s (famous last words!). For that matter, nothing has
ever gone wrong with my -4T, including experience in Texas heat and Costa
Rican cloud forest. And Europe certainly won't be as severe a test as the
Malaysian rain forest. By the way, I'm not taking my Tamron 400/4 along.
The shutter ring has never bothered me with the 400.
Sorry to hear of your experience, but I'm glad you'll be staying with the
list.
Gary Edwards
----- Original Message -----
From: Ulf Westerberg <ulf.westerberg@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, August 27, 2000 9:21 AM
Subject: [OM] Malaysian breakdown
> Hello all,
>
> just wanted to tell you of some of the Olympian hardships I suffered while
on my latest trip to Malaysia.
>
> Upon arrival in the rainforest of Taman Negara, my OM-4 immediately began
to suffer from the heat and humidity. Display was turned on, but
spotmetering couldn't be done, no matter how hard I pressed the button.
Still, all else functioned so no big deal. Then, 2 hours later, everything
was black in the finder. No matter what was done, camera was jammed. At the
same time the display on my OM-4Ti began to freak out, occasionally ALL info
was displayed at the same time, though everything seemed to be working. Hm,
at this stage I began to worry, this was the two cameras I had with me, the
OM-1n had to stay at home because of a newly developed shutter problem at
faster speeds.
> Then the OM-4 suddenly awakened. I could use for 4-5 more frames, then it
all went dead again. This time it was really dead, completely jammed up, no
display, no battery control beep, nothing. No mechanical 1/60 th either,
Dead, dead, dead.
>
> The next day I went for a hike in the rainforest, managed to get shoots of
wandering termites, flowers with very strange pink-green leaves, a dragon
fly with the reddest abdomen I've ever seen. As I was approaching my goal (a
hide), I thought it would be nice to have some additonal shots of giant
trees and their buttress roots. That is when the OM-4Ti just goes black.
Nothing, nothing at all. Not even a mechanical 1/60th. Upon all this,
instead of continuing my hike, I return to the lodge. There, after another
5-6 hours, the camera awakens but I can only use the 1/60 mechanical speed.
No electronics, no battery test, no nothing. Dead, dead, dead. Except for
1/60 speed and bulb.
>
> After some inital shock I grab my wifes Pentax MZ-5 to get some shoots of
a giant birdwing butterfly that so nicely decides to rest just outside our
chalet at the resort. As I approch this giant insect, autofocus goes berserk
and finally parks itself at infinity. No autofocus at all, though all else
seems to be functioning. The Pentax stays this way and saves the rest of the
trip, albeit crippled with no autofocus.
> All this happened within 24 hours. Thankfully this was at the end of the
trip, with only 4 days left, we had had more than 2 weeks of great thrills
before this, so the trip was fairly succesful, even photographically,
despite the Taman Negara disaster.
>
> But, as a consequence of not only this but some other breakdowns in the
past, I'm in the process of changing to more heavyduty gear, ruggedness and
durability being the main aspects. I've had thoughts of getting a high-end
Nikon for my Tamron 400/4 as I've never been completely at ease with the
shutter speed location of Olympus when using long teles (though it's
excellent for handholding smaller lenses) and the flash system of Nikon is
fantastic and of great use in nature photography.
>
> I feel saddened by this, really. I feel more or less forced to do this as
my nerves can't take it anymore. But, I'd like to stress that if it weren't
for the durability aspect, I'd never part with Olympus. It's still in many
ways the most elegantly enginered 35mm system ever made IMO, the
shortcomings are all when it comes down to nature photography, where big
teles and ruggedness (and weight, puh!) rules. If I did other photography
(i.e. not nature), I'd never do this, believe me.
>
> I had planned to keep the OM's for macro and landscapes but with virtually
no cameras to put behind the lenses I'll put them up for sale together with
accessories etc. I'll offer everything on the list first, there are some
goodies as macros, fish-eye etc. In contrast to the cameras, lenses are all
in excellent to good condition. Stay tuned.
>
> I'll keep the OM-1n and a few lenses and a flash, just so I can return to
the best camera ever made, just for the pure enjoyment. Besides, it gives me
an excuse for hanging around on this the nicest of all lists!
>
> Cheers all,
> Ulf Westerberg
> Nature- and Travel Photography at www.start.at/westerberg
>
>
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