Hi, folks,
Some questions bugging me for some time. Have just bought another
OM-1 to give to my daughter who is going off to her second country
(born a Kiwi here, she's also a Yank because I am) for the first time
in her 21 years, so I don't have to give her one of my two.
Please cc any rapid answers to me as well as list as I am on digest.
1. SN/age. Is there a list on the Web anywhere that correlates serial
numbers with the ages/models of OM-1? This camera is an MD, with the
MD badge on the leatherette to the right of the lens as you look at
the front of the camera (not the apparently earlier model with the
badge poorly stuck to the chrome on the other side, next to the
rewind button). The serial number is seven digits, beginning with 138.
2. Batt check. Does this vintage of OM-1 MD have a battery check
capability? I've seen John's page on earlier models that have it, but
he doesn't give any information on HOW early the camera has to be in
order to have a batt check.
And why would not later OM-1s have had it?
And, what IS the batt check procedure? I've never seen this in print,
either, and I don't have an OM-1 manual old enough. (I've been using
OMs since 1976.)
3. Batts. Are people actually still buying PX 625 mercury batteries
(such as from PX625.com) and using them either in the States or
shipping them out to other countries? PX625.com makes you swear on a
stack of old batteries that you won't actually use them anywhere
they're prohibited.
If not, what are you folks actually using? (Yes, I know John says the
best compromise is any 1.5 V silver oxide.)
Why does it appear there are no other 1.35 V large or small button batteries?
And, in OM lore, was the OM-1 actually designed electronically around
some specific characteristics of that type/voltage of mercury
batteries, and what might those have been, that prevents any other
battery from working right. Was it a current factor?
4. Batt mods. Battery compartment modification. I can't tell (after a
search of several years of this list and John Hermanson's site and
googling my fingers off) if the OM-1 battery mods that are out there,
including John's and the MR 9 adapter, have an electronic component
to adjust the voltage of 1.5x V batteries to 1.35 V (or even if that
is desirable).
I have two other OM-1 MDs, one older (only six digit SN) and one
younger, than the one I just bought for my daughter. About four years
ago I made a major trip back to Vietnam after 30 years since my first
trip, and had the OMs CLAed by a reputable local repairman. He made a
battery compartment modification so I could use the smaller-diameter
button battery, and I used Varta V76PX silver oxide batteries. But
the meters never worked right, and, because I didn't take a hand-held
meter with me to Vietnam, I shot 100 rolls of B&W and color by eye
estimate exposure. (I'm happy to report that my ability to do this
was still there, and most exposures were good.)
If the batt mods do NOT include a voltage dropper, then do the 1.5 V
silver oxides work properly, or should one make an exposure
correction (via EI setting)? I have not tried any 1.5 V silver oxides
in the "new" OM-1 yet, so I don't know if it has an exposure meter
flaw or not.
Now that's certainly enough questions. Number four is the most
important, because I would like for the daughter (who chose the OM-1
as the camera she wanted from an early age) to have a camera that
works right.
Thanks in advance for any reprising of any earlier discussion of this
topic, and for bringing it all together in one place.
Regards,
--
Cheers from the Antipodes,
Michael Kopp
Wellington, New Zealand
The olympus mailinglist olympus@xxxxxxxxxx
To unsubscribe: mailto:olympus-request@xxxxxxxxxx?subject=unsubscribe
To contact the list admins: mailto:olympusadmin@xxxxxxxxxx?subject="Olympus
List Problem"
|