Hi,
Not entirely sure if this answers the question but there are 2 possible
faults quoted in the question.
The battery issue, as far as I'm aware, is one of excess drainage. There is
a simple test to do to find out if yours has the circuit that causes excess
drainage, or if it's been upgraded. Turn battery check on. If the beeping
stops after 30 seconds (or thereabouts) then it is OK. If it continues then
you will suffer from higher battery drainage. This said, however, many
people are quite happy with this. The batteries are relatively cheap, and
it's not like they burn through one set of batteries per film (can someone
confirm roughly how long they last with the high-drainage circuit ?).
Second problem of circuit failure is a more complex one. I'm not really
experienced with it, but from what I've read it could be a number of things
(display goes faulty is one of them I think).
As far as I know, the two issues are not connected. The higher-drain
circuitry does not necessarily mean you will end up with the circuit
failing, and similarly having the lower-drain circuitry is not a safe-guard
against the circuit failing in other ways (I believe the T(i) versions also
suffer from circuit failures, even though they have the "upgraded" circuits
?). Of course, it is fair to say that most T(i)'s will be newer and
therefore might last longer before failure. They also have the extra pins
on the hot shoe to allow flash sync at different speeds.
I've got a plain ol' 4, with the low-battery-drain circuit. It's great. It
works fine for me (tempting fate !) so I'm quite happy. I'm sure the day
will come when it doesn't. Much cursing and worrying will occur, and I will
have to either try and find another working one or get it fixed !! That is
the way of everything vaguely electronic these days. Either way, I will
hopefully have had many rolls of film from it.
Please - someone with more knowledge jump in and correct anything in the
above which is wrong !!
Regards,
Jon
PS: Welcome to the list. We're nice really !!
----- Original Message -----
From: <fred42@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, August 18, 2003 3:17 PM
Subject: [OM] OM4 Condition
> Hi there,
>
> As my first questions to the group at large I would be interested to here
members thoughts on the OM4.
>
> Given that the OM4 has some well know problems regarding circuitry and
battery drainage what I was wondering was has there been a progressive
failure over time of previously working units? Is a currently good camera
that has not been upgraded to OM4T(i) boards likely to fail? If so is it a
predictable change caused simply by usage or environmental conditions?
>
> In other words is a currently working OM4 a good idea or not?
>
> Thanks, Dan.
>
>
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