Hi Josh,
It sounds like you have a nice system going there.
The slot on the battery cover is designed for a coin. I forget how
many Yen the coin is worth. A US nickel is almost a perfect fit. I
have a little point and shoot that has a plastic key designed to fit
the battery cover without marring anything. Your dealer may have
something like that.
I suspect that if someone drilled a hole in the battery cover that
they put a zinc air battery in it. It needs air to function. That
kind of battery is not very good because of its voltage drop as it is
used making for an inaccurate meter reading most of the time. It
probably needs to be converted to use silver batteries or you need to
get a drop in MR 9 drop in adaptor which is not cheap.
I am always in favor of a CLA, but if money is short, test the
camera. Inspect the foam buried in the channels where the film back
closes to make sure it is still elastic and not gummy or missing.
Also check the little piece of foam next to the prism where the
mirror flips up. If the foam is OK you are in good shape. If not you
can order a foam kit from John Hermanson and there are instructions
how to install it on his CamTech web site at :
http://zuiko.com/
He also handles the drop in battery adaptors.
Load some slide film and go out and take pictures to see whether the
light meter functions. Use all the different speeds by setting up on
a tripod. Starting at F16 and what ever is read by the meter. Then
open the aperture and increase the speed one step at a time till you
work through most of the speeds. Write down your settings for each
exposure. When you get the pictures back this series should all
appear to have the same exposure if the shutter speeds are on. If
everything is OK I would not worry for a while.
John also has his prices for a CLA on his web site. If you need foam
and a battery conversion those are things that he does as part of a
CLA. It may not be much more for the whole thing. You will also be
reassured that the speeds are on, everything is clean and lubricated
and that the foam above the pentaprism is in good shape and not
eating a hole into it.
Our Canadian listees can tell you whether there are any customs
problems with sending your camera to the US for service.
--
Winsor Crosby
Long Beach, California
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