A question for the OM 30 experts out there.

[Ipno Tizer]

Over Christmas, I bought a non working Olympus OM 30 for £20 just to get a spare 50mm lens. When I got it home , the mirror was jammed half way up bit the lens appeared to have some sort of mark on it too. So I decided to leave it in a drawer at my Mother's house and quietly forget about it.

Anyway. On Saturday, myself, my sister and my mother (all film photographers, by the way) went to London (UK) to see the 'Ansel Adams, from the mountains to the sea' at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, which meant staying at my mother's house over the weekend. On Sunday, I found a load of LR44 button batteries going to £1 in a local shop and decided at that price I had little to loose. I went home, put them in the camera and switched it on. The shutter fired, the mirror dropped and it began making odd noises at me. The problem was simply battery failure.

But it leaves me with two questions. Firstly there's this odd F4 F2 dial under the lens mount. What is it for?

And secondly, the mark on the lens I now think is just dirt inside. But it doesn't stop down properly. So is it likely that the cost of repairing the lens (an Olympus F.Zuiko 30mm) likely to be more than the cost of replacing it?

Chris B.

 

[E. von Hoegh]

Instructions for the OM30. http://www.butkus.org/chinon/olympus/olympus_om-30/olympus_om-30.htm

 

[Ipno Tizer]

Instructions for the OM30. http://www.butkus.org/chinon/olympus/olympus_om-30/olympus_om-30.htm

Thanks.

I'd downloaded the manual ysterday in an attempt to find out what to do with this switch. I found the diagram that explained what to do with the F4 F2 dial but couldn't make out why I should need to use it. I was reading it on a mobile phone which didn't help. As far as I can see now, it has to do with the autofocus lenses that could be used with the Om30. As I only have manual focus lenses, I'll probably never need to use this control.

Cheers.
Chris B.

 

[John Hermanson]

OM-30/OM-F: You set the switch to whatever number is closest to the maximum aperture on your lens. It adjusts sensitivity for the focus assist light. It's kind of a dog OM, like the OM-88/101. Taking 5 batteries really bothered a lot of people. For OM quality, stick with a single digit OM, actually designed by Maitani (he had very little/nothing to do with double digit OM bodies). Try OM-1, 1N, 2, 2N, 3, 4 etc. John

 

[Ipno Tizer]

To be honest, I've wondered about it's battery requirements too. And it's got a mirror slap to put an old Praktika to sname. So it might end up going down the charity shop. But is the F.Zuiko 50 mm wprth repairing or would it be best to scrap it?

 

[wblynch]

Donate the camera and lens together

 

[John Hermanson]

Yeah, the 50 1.8 f zuiko is the oldest version, single coated, and nothing to write home about. John

 

[Ipno Tizer]

I've been out with it today with a different lens and a test roll. I'd had a play with it during the week using the bulb setting and the mirror slap seems to happen when the mirror falls and so the shutter will be closed by then. When I found it in an antique shop, I'd originally thought that the body was knackered but the lens appeared ok abd I wanted the lens to go on my OM1. It turns out that the body's ok and the lens is knackered. But an OM30, particulaely given it's battery requirements, fits awkwardly into my equipment plan. But it didn't cost a lot, so I'll probably donate it eventually and get an OM4 which is what I intended in the first place. Buying it was probably a mistake in retrospect.

 

[wblynch]

Not a mistake. An experience.

 

[PentaxBronica]

And having put a test roll through and found the camera to work properly, you can legitimately list it as "film tested" and get a better sale price when you want rid.

I'd keep it. I have a Pentax K2, KXs, and MXs but I still bought a couple of supposedly broken ME bodies recently. Both turned out to be absolutely fine after a clean and new light seals, they may only have aperture priority auto mode but they're solid little things and will produce very acceptable results with careful use of the exposure compensation dial. It's useful to have a camera and lens which you're not too worried about damaging sometimes. I wouldn't take my K2 out to photograph an off-road competition, but an ME with a cheap winder and old zoom I bought for pennies and cleaned...

 

[John Koehrer]

Many of the OM normal lenses developed slow stop down not from oily blades but oil on the linkages just under the lens mount.
A couple of crosspoint screws to take a look? Sometimes just a wipe with a cotton bud(UK) and alcohol can cure it.

 

[Newt_on_Swings]

50mm lenses make nice loupes too =]