Olympus OM-2n

[Finn McCoull]

Hi all, I've just inherited a near mint OM-2n, new batteries and everything appears to work OK. However, can anyone please tell me if the Film Advance Lever on this camera is spring loaded to return by itself or whether you have to manually move in both directions?
Thanks.

 

[frank]

Spring loaded to return to body, but I've got an om1 with the spring broken or disconnected, and I have to manually push the lever back towards the body.

 

[vysk]

yep, spring loaded return

 

[Mark Feldstein]

Any reasonably good repair person would probably fix that easily as part of a Clean Lube and Adjust (CLA) which you should probably invest in anyway as you just inherited this very nice piece of equipment.
Mark

 

[DLawson]

Hi all, I've just inherited a near mint OM-2n, new batteries and everything appears to work OK. However, can anyone please tell me if the Film Advance Lever on this camera is spring loaded to return by itself or whether you have to manually move in both directions?
Thanks.

From my OM-1 experiences, it should return on its own.

As for service, I have nothing but praise for zuiko.com, though they/he only does rebuilds (about $100, check site), but *everything* (unless he warns you otherwise) is returned to original spec. (blah, blah, just a customer . . . .)

In my opinion, nothing in 35mm can approach the OM system.

Obviously, many will differ.

 

[Finn McCoull]

Thanks for all your help, much appreciated.

 

[nsurit]

Another "Amen" on the recommendation of zuiko.com. John has done work for the OM community for years and his work is superb. Bill Barber

 

[xtolsniffer]

I've got an OM-1 like that, you have to manually return the lever but this one just has very gummed up lube on the wind-on mechanism. If you warm it with a hair-dryer then it slowly makes its way back to the correct position.

 

[John Hermanson]

If return spring breaks, lever must be pushed back manually. Also grease may have thickened up over the years making the wind stroke a bit difficult. John

 

[dbuckle]

I have an OM-1n I picked up at the Thrift Store for $20 that had that problem. I started to fire the shutter and slowly the advance lever started to return after about 50 times it was working perfect. I applied a little contact cleaner to it. As John said, it could be that the grease gets sticky from the camera not being used.

 

[wblynch]

I also recently got an EXC+++ / near mint OM-1 in black that has a broken plastic battery connection screw so the meter doesn't work.

I think it happened early in the camera's life so it spent many years unused on a shelf somewhere. The advance lever stiffened up to the point where you have to force it closed.

I removed the top to take out the melted foam and lubricated the film advance shaft and it 'sprang' back to life.

The camera works great now. (well, except the meter still doesn't work due to the plastic screw and of course it has a touch of the prism grunge...)

 

[John Koehrer]

The return spring attaches to the advance lever under the screw holding the lever on.
If the camera has been "serviced" in the past the spring may be trapped under the lever. It may also be broken or just be old lube.
By removing the screw the shaft that the lever pivots on is plainly visible and an itsy-bitsy teensie weensie(IE, head of pin size) drop of oil should cure it.