Olympus 35 SP Flare??

[garythegit]

Just got back my first roll from the Olympus that I've lovingly restored 🙂

Most of the photos were fine but some were grossly overexposed. I shot these on a really overcast day in Glasgow and yet the skies were burnt out. These kind of skies won't even burn out on my digital! What's going on? I suspect the metering... Should I be spot metering off the sky? I shot most of these in auto mode.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/garythegit/51591585/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/garythegit/51592921/

I tweaked some of these down.

The original version of the statue is attached below:

EDIT: Uploaded more photos. Would you chaps say that there is too much sky in the shot to fool the meter into exposing a few stops over??

 

[Trius]

What battery are you using? I know we talked about this in an earlier thread, so I'll assume you're good with the battery. I'd say the metering might be off a bit if you're using the correct battery/voltage. For these shots, using the spot meter on a middle value, NOT the sky, would have improved things. For example, in the 1st and 3rd shots, you could have metered off the statue and roadway, respectively. As they are rendered now, they are about 1 zone higher than middle value. The other two have better exposures, but the sky does appear badly blown.

Which leads me to wonder about the film you used, the scans or even the processing (not likely). If you're using a high contrast, vivid film plus the a less than perfect scan, I think you could end up with results like this. But I'm no expert on scanning, so that's just an educated(?) guess.

Trius

 

[garythegit]

Hey there Trius! I took two rolls of film that day. One with the SP and one with the Canonet. The canonet shots were fine. The film was bog standard AGFA vista 200. Processing was done at the same place too. The battery is 1.4v zinc-air which was the same as the one used for hte canonet.

G'man reckons the meter is simply off a bit and that I should just shoot 1 stop down. i.e. use iso 800 if I was using 400 film. I think that should be ok since the photos I took manually were fine.

 

[Trius]

Gitman ;-) Thanks for the extra info... sounds like it is a meter problem. One of my SPs benefitted from a CLA and the meter was adjusted to proper function. It also came back with a real PX625 battery, so I should be good for a long time with that body!

Shoot one stop down with the SP and as indicated with no compensation with the Canon, shooting identical scenes, and see what happens.

Gman: That would be one up. If it says 14, use 15.

Trius

 

[garythegit]

Ta very much chaps! Just out of curiosity, how would a CdS meter be off? I know for selenium it just reacts away to nothing but I thought CdS would be battery dependent? Does the electrical contacts inside the camera need cleaning maybe?? Hmm Oh well ta very much gents.

EDIT: Just read some other articles posted last year on this forum re: meter being off several stops. I think the meter is off sometimes by as much as 4 or 5 stops curiosly in bright conditions whereby it's only off by 1 or 2 in low light. Hmmm Solder points need fixing? Or should I just shoot manually from now? 🙂

 

[chenick]

That's a pity if the meter is off.
My first roll in my Oly SP was generally underexposed, especially shots with a grey sky. This was using a 1.5V 625 alkaline battery,
I now use a 1.4V 675 hearing aid battery (blister pack of 6 cost very little) and the exposures look spot on to me (generally using Fuji Superia 200 colour film)
Great camera, takes the best photos of anything I've ever used...

-Nick

 

[garythegit]

Yeah it's quite annoying. Someone PMed me and told me that it could be the circuit board that forms the sensor being corroded. The spot part especially. Like I said before I don't think it's the battery as it's 1.4v zinc-air hearing aid battery as well. Oh well.... might try give it a clean again over the solder joints and sensor but there isn't really much I can do!

 

[Trius]

gary: Certainly sounds like non-linear response of the meter. In addition to the connections, it might well be a fault component such as a resistor. WARNING: I AM NOT AN ELECTRONICS ENGINEER. I DIDN'T EVEN STAY IN A HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS LAST NIGHT!! (Joke based on an advertising campaign in North America.) Hence, I could be all wet.

You might want to email John Hermanson at zuiko.com, point him to this thread, and ask if he has any suggestions. He is one of the best Olympus repair guys in the business, and is generally very generous with advice.

Trius

 

[Folderholder]

Olympus 35 SP Flare??

Have you compared the meter readouts to a meter you know is accurate? You could just as easily have a shutter issue as a metering one. If it turns out to be the meter, and the error is consistent, you can compensate, as suggested. Otherwise, at least you can set the exposure manually and see how you like the picures it takes. Good luck.

 

[julio1fer]

If manual exposure went all right, then the shutter is OK (I think).

You may need to have the meter adjusted. First, make sure the sensor is clean - dirty sensors will give overexposure.

Also, try a test roll measuring with the spotmeter all the time to confirm the overexposure problem (or compare with a trusted meter).

 

[OlyMan]

I had this problem on my 35SP when I first started using zinc/air hearing aid batteries and it was down to the fact the slightly thinner battery wasn't making as good a contact with the screw-cover as the original mercury battery did. I soldered a washer inside the cap and it's been fine ever since.

Remember that you'll be looking to change the battery once every three months regardless of whether you use the camera or not. Or at least I find I have to, or it over-exposes for fun.