Olympus 35 EC troubleshooting

J

Jan Van Laethem

Nikkor. What else?
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Nov 20, 2007
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Hi,

I have just bought an Olympus 35 EC and can't get it to work. I installed a fresh set of batteries but the yellow light at the left hand side of the top plate doesn't light up. I understand from the instructions that this serves as a battery check and also a low light warning.

There is film in the camera, the shutter lock is in the unlock position but there is no way I can get the shutter to work. What else do I need to check?

Thanks
 
Yes, no corrosion there. The polarity of the 2 batteries is correct also.

When I wind the film on, it doesn't stop to the next frame but just keeps going on, so I guess the shutter is not cocking.

Also, at what position does the guide number ring have to be in for non-flash photography? I can't find a clear answer in the instructions.
 
I think that is a totally electronic shutter. I wonder if the reason the wind on continues is because the shutter is stuck mid cycle. from memory it has a very long shutter travel as the shutter plunger has something to do with recocking the shutter. Also are you using the correct batteries as it was designed for 2.7v (2x1.35v Mercury) i would imagine that the current required is more critical than the absolute voltage with the electronic shutter.
 
Thank you for your answers. This particular camera has been modified to work with 1.5v batteries by the previous owner and the correct type of battery has been installed.
 
If it has been modified for the higher voltage batteries, then one thing that can occur is a 'cold solder joint', where the soldering doesn't take completely, and may actually break loose, causing an open in the circuit. A pinched wire that has finally parted, or a corroded internal contact could also be the culprit. One other thing is, are the batteries you are using the proper size for the battery well, and are they making good contact?

I just tore into a Fujica GER that was jammed up, but it took a long while to find what was causing it. Turns out the lack of battery power kept the shutter release from traveling all the way, so the winding mechanism would not reset. Installed some batteries, and the thing worked like a charm. Since I had not used a fully electronic camera in a long while, it was just something I had forgot about, and I didn't have an owners manual to guide me.

Hope you find a easy solution.

PF
 
Take the bottom plate off and lift out the plastic battery compartment to check the connection, my battery compartment was super clean but when I pulled it out ,the wire was corroded. I took a piece of 1/2 inch pvc water pipe and sawed some rings off the end to put in the batt compartment as spacers, worked great .Heres some diagrams if you need to dig deeper into it.

http://olympus.dementia.org/Hardware/PDFs/35EC-2.pdf

P.S. Concerning the rewind lever,take out those two screws you see there and the whole lever assembly comes out as a unit, I found out the hard way.
 
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Since the camera continues to wind, It's symptomatic of a latch not engaging. If you remove the bottom cover you should be able to see what's happening as you cock the camera. As you cock it there should be a good size plate that you can see rotating on the bottom of the camera. This plate should have a notch in it or there will be another disc with a notch below it. There should be a lever immediately adjacent to the disc(s) and it should move freely and move toward the center of the camera when the latch lines up with the notch.
There are a couple of possibilities.
1)the spring moving the latch is disconnected.
2)the latch needs to be lubricated.
3)the screw holding the latch is loose or missing.
Most cameras have this on the bottom but some have it on top SRT series, Spotmatic.
It can't hurt to look.
 
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