Oly 35 SPn repair help required

[john neal]

Hi,

I have a user 35SPn that I got for a great price, but needs some tlc to get it back to top performance. Everything works OK, but there is what looks like a flake of film between the shutter blades and the rear lens element. Goodness knows how it got in there, but it shakes around and I'm worried that it will end up in the blades and cause some damage.

I exchanged notes here with GMan who advised that I would need to take off the rear element - the only way I could see to do that was by removing the lens and mount panel from the body.So far so good, I have gotten that far, but cannot see how the rear element comes off - there are no apparent spanner notches, and I don't see how to proceed.

Apart from that, the top plate is a bit dinged and I'm wondering about stripping the chrome, filling the dings and applying some nice black paint, but I'm concerned about things like the battery test and frame count windows - there is no easy way to remove these and I don't want to even try masking something that small while I spray the paint - any ideas most welcome.

Can anyone help?

 

[shadowfox]

I can think only of two people who may be able to answer your first question on top of their head. They are Camtech's John Hermanson (omtech1@verizon.net) and Photosphere's Clint Rumbo (olyfix@olyfix.com). I spoke with John over the phone, but so far Clint only replies to emails.

 

[Trius]

My first of two SPs has a couple of dents on the top plate at the end where the ASA dial is. I've considered having them tapped out from the inside (they're "innies"), but since the camera functions perfectly, I'm leaving it alone. BTW, Clint did the CLA on it after I got it and discovered a problem with the lens.

Actually, there is a retaining ring on the rear element. If you look closely you can see the notches for unscrewing it, but removing and replacing it in situ would be pretty delicate. I don't know the operation would affect collimation or not.

I agree with Shadow: get in touch with Clint and/or John. The other factor is whether or not the camera needs a CLA anyway. If it has the film chip issue, what else might be lurking? Is the RF properly aligned? All seals new/good? Meter and shutter speeds accurate? Upgraded to silver/1.5v battery operation? A CLA will run $80-100 (including shipping) by either Camtech or Photosphere. The SP is worth it, especially the SPn iteration.

 

[john neal]

Hi Guys,

Many thanks for the input. I suppose I could bite the bullet and send the camera to one of these for a full CLA. I can do most of the work myself - seals, cleaning the RF and making a battery converter are fairly easy and straightforward, but breaking down the lens may be a step too far, as I have no way of accurately collimating on reassembly.

I'll drop both an email and see what sort of cost / time equation I'm looking at. I think the SPn is definitely worth the effort, and I suppose I'm really not too bothered by the dents.

More when I have it.

 

[Trius]

John: As another/final note: If you can do the other work yourself, Clint is probably more amenable to doing just the lenswork, without a complete CLA; just my impression. John makes a policy of not working on cameras that have had "user" attention.