Olympus OM1 and long lenses

rmolson · Jul 17, 2013

Olympus OM-1 and 400mm telephoto

This week end I am planning on shooting pictures at my neighborhood garage sale. For some of the shots I want to use my 400mm Soligor. But I find that the metering on my OM1 makes no sense. It reads as though I have lost 4 stops of light even at f/ 5.6 in bright sun. I had this happen before on my OM-10 on automatic and had to switch to manual. I thought it was just that camera. But I am getting the same reaction on the OM1 which is full manual. I can of course set the exposure manually. But is this something peculiar to Olympus and long lenses ?

maderik · Jul 17, 2013

I suspect that lens is a either a T-mount lens that does not couple to the meter or it's not coupling properly to the body. Does it have the two aperture control levers on the back? A little fin or ridge in the back part to signal the max aperture?

E. von Hoegh · Jul 17, 2013

maderik said:
I suspect that lens is a either a T-mount lens that does not couple to the meter or it's not coupling properly to the body. Does it have the two aperture control levers on the back? A little fin or ridge in the back part to signal the max aperture?

Yep, Mederik's right. I don't know if you can do stopdown metering on the -1; check the instructions. There should be two levers on the back of the mount - one to signal what aperture the lens is set to and a spring loaded one to close the aperture for the exposure.

MattKing · Jul 17, 2013

Page 14 of my 1976? vintage OM-1 (pre-OM-1MD) manual includes instructions on how to meter using stop-down metering.

You need to manually stop down the aperture diaphragm on the lens, and then change the shutter speed on the camera until the needle is centred.

You will need to check that the aperture actually does close down at the time of exposure.

rmolson · Jul 17, 2013

OM and 400 mm lens

Thank you The lens is an OM mount but the metering does not couple properly. However the aperture does close down on exposure , so it is usable.

pen s · Jul 17, 2013

Look at the meter coupling linkage of the auto Soligor lens. Does it move when you move the aperture ring? Is it bent and not connecting with the metering coupling inside the body? When you dismount and look at the back of an OM mount auto lens the meter coupling lever moves in a slot from 12:30 to 3:00 as you move the aperture ring.

I don't think Soligor ever made a 400mm pre-set lens with an aperture of 5.6 so this should be an auto stop down, meter coupled lens.

thuggins · Jul 29, 2013

To answer your original question, there is nothing "peculiar" to Olympus and long lenses. The OM series went up to a 1000mm Zuiko while the Pen topped off at the legendary 800mm reflex lens (AIR the FTL only went to a modest 200mm). If your lens is working properly the camera will meter correctly.

Olympus OM1 and long lenses

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