And now a return to Olympus OM 1n

John Bragg · Mar 4, 2016

I had a shock this week when I took my Olympus OM 1n cameras (one black and one chrome) out to check them over. I realised that I have owned the black one from new for 30 years this year ! The chrome one was bought second hand shortly after I acquired it's Black sibling. Time has flown by, but these cameras are in pristine condition and have never let me down. I will be shooting them very soon when work and life in general permit me some ME time. I had forgotten just how nicely tactile they feel with a certain solidity combined with rangefinder like size. This may be the time to rest my other cameras (Nikon,s) and give the OM,s some outings.

frank · Mar 4, 2016

You could do much worse than the OM1. When I was paring down my collection, I still kept a couple of OM1's (chrome, black) because they are simply classics. Have a 50f1.8 made in Japan lens and a 28f3.5.

John Bragg · Mar 4, 2016

frank said:
You could do much worse than the OM1. When I was paring down my collection, I still kept a couple of OM1's (chrome, black) because they are simply classics. Have a 50f1.8 made in Japan lens and a 28f3.5.

Thanks Frank. I have a 28 f2.8, 35 f2.8, 50 f1.8 , 85 f2, 135 f3.5 and a pair of winder 2s all in a vintage Billingham 3.

frank · Mar 4, 2016

The film advance lever return spring on my chrome OM1 is broken or disconnected, so I have a winder on that camera.

John Bragg · Mar 4, 2016

frank said:
The film advance lever return spring on my chrome OM1 is broken or disconnected, so I have a winder on that camera.

They balance really well with the winder. I was surprised that my Nikon F100 felt cumbersome in comparison.

rpavich · Mar 4, 2016

That's a nice looking camera in black, I had to look it up as I didn't know what they look like.

John Bragg · Mar 5, 2016

rpavich said:
That's a nice looking camera in black, I had to look it up as I didn't know what they look like.

Here is mine

My 30 year old Olympus OM-1n by John Bragg, on Flickr

rpavich · Mar 5, 2016

That's nice!

How is the viewfinder? I only have a Pentax K1000 (which has a great view finder) and a Minolta X700 (which has a viewfinder that I dislike) and my M6 (which I love.)

baachitraka · Mar 5, 2016

John Bragg said:
Thanks Frank. I have a 28 f2.8, 35 f2.8, 50 f1.8 , 85 f2, 135 f3.5 and a pair of winder 2s all in a vintage Billingham 3.

Nice to see someone who have similar lens collection. But added 24mm f/2.8 to it...

If budget permits 21mm and 100mm in the future.

I have all chromes for mechanical and blacks for electronic.

baachitraka · Mar 5, 2016

rpavich said:
That's nice!

How is the viewfinder? I only have a Pentax K1000 (which has a great view finder) and a Minolta X700 (which has a viewfinder that I dislike) and my M6 (which I love.)

OM-1n: 97% coverage with 0.92 magnification and bright screen. There are brighter screens than stock who are identified as 2-x and expensive.

mnemosyne · Mar 5, 2016

John Bragg said:
Here is mine
My 30 year old Olympus OM-1n by John Bragg, on Flickr

Have you had the foam in the pentaprism housing replaced yet? If not, you should seriously consider doing so before it turns into a mess of sticky goo and ruins the viewfinder (this is exactly what happened on my otherwise very nice OM-2n black). It is a time bomb ticking and it would be a shame if it would ruin an otherwise very nice camera.

Ricardo Miranda · Mar 5, 2016

baachitraka said:
OM-1n: 97% coverage with 0.92 magnification and bright screen. There are brighter screens than stock who are identified as 2-x and expensive.

mnemosyne said:
Have you had the foam in the pentaprism housing replaced yet? If not, you should seriously consider doing so before it turns into a mess of sticky goo and ruins the viewfinder (this is exactly what happened on my otherwise very nice OM-2n black). It is a time bomb ticking and it would be a shame if it would ruin an otherwise very nice camera.

Yes, the viewfinder is huge.
The series 2-x screens aren't for the -1 or the -2 and -2N. They are for the -2SP and all -3 and -4 to compensate for the semi-transparent mirror. They gave about the same brightness as the series 1-x in the later OMs.
If the Series 2-x are used on the OM-1 and -2, you'll need to compensate exposures in manual mode. Auto works correctly on the -2 and -2N as these have the auto cells in the bottom chamber.

Once the foam deteriorates and causes a mess, it will no longer do any more harm.
Once removed, you only have to clean the pentaprism and it will be like new.

Ap507b · Mar 5, 2016

My Nikon FA bought new has its 30th birthday later this year. Time flies. Still going strong. I picked up an OM1MD with a dodgy meter off a ebay a couple of years ago & yesterday got it back after finally getting round to having a CLA done on it. Very happy with how it has come back & have started running a test film through it. Controls feel so smooth now compared to before. Will be keeping it on my desk at work with a few lenses to go out at lunchtime with.

John Bragg · Mar 5, 2016

rpavich said:
That's nice!

How is the viewfinder? I only have a Pentax K1000 (which has a great view finder) and a Minolta X700 (which has a viewfinder that I dislike) and my M6 (which I love.)

Brilliant in a word.

John Bragg · Mar 5, 2016

mnemosyne said:
Have you had the foam in the pentaprism housing replaced yet? If not, you should seriously consider doing so before it turns into a mess of sticky goo and ruins the viewfinder (this is exactly what happened on my otherwise very nice OM-2n black). It is a time bomb ticking and it would be a shame if it would ruin an otherwise very nice camera.

Yes I have.

Les Sarile · Mar 5, 2016

Must have been a real eye-opening experience coming from the tiny Nikon viewfinder to the gigantic window of the OM1!

Ap507b · Mar 5, 2016

Never really found a problem with the Nikon viewfinder to be honest. The OM1 is a nice finder, but will admit to missing the aperture & shutter indications I am used to with my Nikon's. Happy though to be slowed down by needing to take it away from my eye to see what is set. For me it's a camera for lazy day shooting like my Nikon F eyelevel finder. Already like the OM1 more than my OM2sp. Wish I had got it fixed sooner.

Les Sarile · Mar 5, 2016

Ap507b said:
Never really found a problem with the Nikon viewfinder to be honest. The OM1 is a nice finder . . .

I don't believe it is a problem per se. More like a personal preference.

All Nikon viewfinders have a very small magnification compared to the near lifesize view from the OM1. All autofocus camera viewfinders are even tinier as they rely mostly on autofocus. Depending on your camera, you will have to choose - or get used to, either small magnification for better eye-relief or larger magnification for less eye-relief. Wearing glasses probably influences this.

I've found that there are far more smaller magnification viewfinders SLRs so it seems more eye-relief is more popular. Of the interchangeable viewfinder SLR types, only the Pentax LX offers a range of viewfinder magnifications - smallest to largest.

ciniframe · Mar 5, 2016

The foam turning to goo and eating through the paint and aluminizing on the prism is not as dire as many make out. My oldest OM-1 has a damaged prism and after cleaning and feathering the edge of the damaged area I can hardly see the effect of the area with lost aluminizing looking through the viewfinder.

Ricardo Miranda · Mar 6, 2016

Ap507b said:
Happy though to be slowed down by needing to take it away from my eye to see what is set. For me it's a camera for lazy day shooting like my Nikon F eyelevel finder.

David,
There are other ways and faster to use an OM-1.
Just a tip: you don't need to raise it to eye level.

Ricardo Miranda · Mar 6, 2016

ciniframe said:
The foam turning to goo and eating through the paint and aluminizing on the prism is not as dire as many make out. My oldest OM-1 has a damaged prism and after cleaning and feathering the edge of the damaged area I can hardly see the effect of the area with lost aluminizing looking through the viewfinder.

Yeap, it is due to some physics law.
A proper engineer can explain that, but it has to do with total internal reflection: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_internal_reflection

albada · Mar 6, 2016

ciniframe said:
The foam turning to goo and eating through the paint and aluminizing on the prism is not as dire as many make out. My oldest OM-1 has a damaged prism and after cleaning and feathering the edge of the damaged area I can hardly see the effect of the area with lost aluminizing looking through the viewfinder.

You can pull the prism out of a junker OM-10 and put it in an OM-1. The OM-10 prisms are always good because there was no foam above them.

Mark Overton

Ricardo Miranda · Mar 7, 2016

albada said:
You can pull the prism out of a junker OM-10 and put it in an OM-1. The OM-10 prisms are always good because there was no foam above them.

Mark Overton

Unless that OM10 is a complete junk, I wouldn't sacrifice one.
I see many kids these days using OM10 as a learning tool.
As said above, you only need is to clean one.

Tony Egan · Mar 7, 2016

An OM2n was my first SLR in 1982. I wore that one out but still have both a black and a silver OM1 which I pull out occasionally. One of the most elegantly designed cameras ever I think. A few years ago I bought a used FM3a as a film travel camera to partner my Nikon digital so I could swap lens and keep the weight down. It often gets rave reviews too but I find it quite agricultural in comparison to the OM1. The zuiko 50mm f1.4 lens is wonderful.

thuggins · Mar 7, 2016

Having done both the replacement and the repair on the prism, I strongly recommend the repair. Just feather the edge of the silvering with a polishing compound like Simichrome or toothpaste.

And now a return to Olympus OM 1n

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