Olympus EE-2 broken? Metering circuit burnt by flash?

[vicmortelmans]

Hi,
I loaded my Olympus EE-2 with a new roll and started shooting. Suddenly, I found that the camera doesn't block anymore on low light at any iso setting and looking into the lens, the diaphragm seems to go to the same aperture at any dial position of light condition...

Oh-oh! Seems like the meter has resigned.

What has happened? There's no battery in this little machine, is there?

I must admit that it has been the first time that I tried shooting flash with this camera and I tried to attach my Canolite D (which fires, but I don't know it's guide number, so it's not of much use without the Canonet) and some old generic flash with hot shoe and cord (only seems to work with the cord attached).

Could I have 'burnt' some circuits by using the flash??? The camera does have hot shoe and cord sync plug, so that should be compatible, right?

Did anyone experience similar problems? Is this a total-loss? Please share your ideas...

Groeten,

VIc

 

[vicmortelmans]

Hi,

The olympus EE-2 is repaired! It is opened by removing top and bottom plate first. Then the leatherette has to be removed to find another set of screws to remove the front plates. This reveals the metering system.

There's not many circuits that can be burnt 🙂. The metering system is mostly mechanical. You can see a needle that reacts to the light and when you push the release button, a mechanism is put to operation that hits the needle. Depending on the position of the needle, the mechanism is stopped at some position, which is then the setting for speed (there are two speeds), aperture and also the red flag that appears in the viewfinder for underexposure and the mechanism that blocks the release button.

I guess there must have been some dirt in the mechanism, as it returned to normal operation while I was examining it. I applied some oil to the moving parts and hopefully it will serve for another couple of years.

Groeten,

Vic

PS. I was lucky that the glue on the leatherette was soft enough the peal it off undamaged and also strong enough to re-attach it. What would be a good type of glue to repair or replace leatherette? It shouldn't be too strong, to allow repair.