Jim,
From what you described it may not be dead. Put the shutter speed ring
into one of the electronic shutter speeds, then cycle the mode switch into
"battery check" before switching to "auto" or "manual." Putting the
shutter speed ring into one of the mechanical "red" positions immediately
turns the viewfinder display completely OFF and it cannot be retrieved by
partially depressing the shutter release! The shutter speed ring *must* be
on one of the electronic speeds for the viewfinder display to
activate. You should have to press a very tiny button near the PC socket
on the lower left corner of the lens mount to move the shutter speed ring
from the electronic shutter speeds into the mechanical ones (red "60" and
"B"). It's not required to rotate it back out to an electronic one though.
Under normal operation the viewfinder display is back-lighted by ambient
light shining through the narrow white strip of plastic on the front of the
prism. If it's dark (as in a darkroom) you won't be able to see the
display. The viewfinder illuminator is used to allow seeing the display in
darkness. It is activated by a button on the right side of the
prism. This turns on a small lamp inside the prism to illuminate the
display, and it will remain illuminated for only a few seconds. Using it
heavily drains the camera batteries quickly. That's why it turns itself
off after a few seconds.
You can find a PDF version of the OM-4 manual here:
http://www.taiga.ca/~esif/om-sif/bodygroup/om4.htm
Scroll down to the bottom and use the hyperlink on the left side.
Hope this helps!
-- John
At 20:50 12/31/01, Jim L'Hommedieu wrote:
I just received and installed fresh batteries into my first OM-4. (Not
4Ti). If I switch to Manual and walk into a darkroom, am I supposed to be
able to see a manual metering bar graph? The SIF site mentions a self
illuminator. I can see a floating bar graph, but the left and right facing
arrows DON'T light up. Similarly, the SPOT, SHADOW, and HILIGHT buttons
don't do anything in the finder.
I have booted by switching to manual, and setting the speed dial to "B",
then cycling back and forth between Auto and Manual several times.
I have checked the bottom plate screws for tightness.
Unless you folks can think of anything else to try, I'm returning it.
<sigh>
This is OM-4 dead, right? And a dead OM-4 is beyond economical repair,
right?
Jim L'Hommedieu
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