Olympus Pen S CLA

[bed_hugs]

Hey Y'all,

I was just quoted for a CLA of a Pen S and the total was $220 (!!!). This just seems like a high price for this small camera. I've decided to just not get the CLA and use the money to purchase another one; if I do decide to get a CLA though, do any of you have a place that you trust and can recommend? I'd love to have this one fixed up eventually since the body is near mint.

Thanks!

 

[mpaniagua]

Probably getting a working one and changing the body from your near mint one would be the cheaper option. Related to the topic, looking for a reliable place to CLA my Pen F, FT an FV. Any advice?

 

[aizan]

DIY! if I can clean it up (and fix the transport mechanism), so can you. 🙂

 

[bed_hugs]

DIY! if I can clean it up (and fix the transport mechanism), so can you. 🙂

I've never CLA'd a camera in my life! haha, I'd love to try if you can point me toward some learning resources online 😀

 

[aizan]

there aren't any repair manuals for this camera, but all you need are the tools and supplies.

first, what's wrong with it?

 

[bed_hugs]

@aizan,

It has a sticky shutter; it's slow on the open for all shutter speeds but closes quickly. Every speed shoots around a second or so.

 

[bed_hugs]

Probably getting a working one and changing the body from your near mint one would be the cheaper option. Related to the topic, looking for a reliable place to CLA my Pen F, FT an FV. Any advice?

You could probably send it out to zuiko.com, although since you're in mexico the shipping costs may be a bit cost prohibitive.

 

[aizan]

here's the list of tools and supplies you'll need:

small flat screwdrivers, about 1.2mm and maybe 1.8mm too, i forget
dental pick or big needle
tweezers, dumont #5 or similar
q-tips and lighter fluid

the lens comes out in one piece, and like usual you have to make little scratches with a dental pick to mark where the lens unscrews from the helicals so you know where to screw it back on. i think you also have to mark the focusing ring in relation to the helical, though i don't remember the details since i only tinkered with the lens out of curiosity.

then unscrew the cover of the shutter unit to get at the insides. take out the blades with the tweezers, clean everything up with lighter fluid and q-tips, and put it back together. easier said than done, but still not difficult.

 

[zuiko85]

You could probably send it out to zuiko.com, although since you're in mexico the shipping costs may be a bit cost prohibitive.

He no longer works on any leaf shutter cameras, just OM and Pen F reflex cameras.

 

[mpaniagua]

You could probably send it out to zuiko.com, although since you're in mexico the shipping costs may be a bit cost prohibitive.

No problem about shipping. Live on just the other side of the border. I cross to USA very often. If fact Im currently on San Francisco Bay Area (Livermore) on a business trip. Will try to contact zuiko and see about them.

Thanks.

 

[mpaniagua]

He no longer works on any leaf shutter cameras, just OM and Pen F reflex cameras.

Thanks for the info. Got leaf shutter Pen's as well, but currently interested on doing CLA on my F, FT and FV pen's (slr), so its alright.

 

[mothertrucker]

I had Michael Zacks at Zacks Camera Repair work on a Pen W and an original f3.5 Pen for me and he did a great job.

Zuiko.com doesn't work on them anymore, unless maybe you've got an in with him by knowing him from olden times. I did mail and ask hoping he would but the answer was negative.

 

[bed_hugs]

here's the list of tools and supplies you'll need:

small flat screwdrivers, about 1.2mm and maybe 1.8mm too, i forget
dental pick or big needle
tweezers, dumont #5 or similar
q-tips and lighter fluid

the lens comes out in one piece, and like usual you have to make little scratches with a dental pick to mark where the lens unscrews from the helicals so you know where to screw it back on. i think you also have to mark the focusing ring in relation to the helical, though i don't remember the details since i only tinkered with the lens out of curiosity.

then unscrew the cover of the shutter unit to get at the insides. take out the blades with the tweezers, clean everything up with lighter fluid and q-tips, and put it back together. easier said than done, but still not difficult.

I forgot to reply back to this thread! I ended up just buying a couple other pens on an auction website that seem to be working fine so far 🙂 I figured that the pen s model is cheap enough to warrant the purchases. I'll keep this repair in mind for my other one though!


What's funny is every so often I'll get a frame with a crescent shaped mark on it. At first I thought maybe it was a light leak but it's really oddly shaped to be so, so then I started wondering if it's just a strange flare that these pens have. I'll attach a photo as an example.

 

[bed_hugs]

I had Michael Zacks at Zacks Camera Repair work on a Pen W and an original f3.5 Pen for me and he did a great job.

Zuiko.com doesn't work on them anymore, unless maybe you've got an in with him by knowing him from olden times. I did mail and ask hoping he would but the answer was negative.

I contacted Zack's camera repair and he quoted me a VERY reasonable price, especially compared to the price that I got from a local camera shop. I guess camera repairs come at a premium in California(?).

 

[WJJ3]

congrats on your PEN S! One of my favorite cameras. Mine too had a sticky shutter when I found it for ￥2000. The local repair guy in Sapporo charged me ￥8000 to overhaul it. He said replacememt parts are not usually needed for them. I got it back from him working great, and the cleaned finder was much improved as well. I cary this camera quite a bit and at one point the lens unit started to loosen up, so I took it back to my guy. He said 'well looks like you use your camera a lot', and I said 'yep'. He said 'yeah a lot of people arent really shooting their film cameras so I didn't put loctite on the lens unit screws, give me a sec and ill fix it up'...

Since then my PEN S has served me well. You might want to bring these points up to your repair guy when you send it in 🙂

 

[ABrosig]

I was able to do a cla on the lens/shutter blades myself in about 20 minutes. In addition to cleaning with lighter fluid, used a qtip to dab a TINY amount of dry silicon spray lube onto the blades. Now it works fine. It was deceptively simple, considering I to had never gotten into the works of one before when I attempted it. Give it a shot.

 

[Guy Pinhas]

Hello all.

Not sure of this is the right place so apologies in case it isn't. If indeed it isn't, could you show me the right place?

Found myself a Pen S and I had a quick question. The aperture clicks fromf2.8 through f22, no problem. But the shutter speeds doesn't click, it slides, doesn't feel loose or anything it just doesn't click when turned. Kinda like the aperture on a Rollei 35. I am so used to clicking aperture as well as shutter speed with my other cameras that I was wondering if this is normal.

Thanks for taking the time.

Guy.

 

[zuiko85]

Hello all.

Not sure of this is the right place so apologies in case it isn't. If indeed it isn't, could you show me the right place?

Found myself a Pen S and I had a quick question. The aperture clicks fromf2.8 through f22, no problem. But the shutter speeds doesn't click, it slides, doesn't feel loose or anything it just doesn't click when turned. Kinda like the aperture on a Rollei 35. I am so used to clicking aperture as well as shutter speed with my other cameras that I was wondering if this is normal.

Thanks for taking the time.

Guy.

Carefully turn the shutter speed dial. Can you feel even the slightest detent at each speed? It may be faint but usually there is some feel. The click-in feel is a springy metal tab with a little ball shape pressed into the tip. It clicks into little holes at each marked speed. Sometimes the holes are full of goo or the spring has lost it's springiness and the detents are almost not detected. The important thing is that the shutter speed dial should be set at marked speeds. You should check the speeds visually by taking the back off the camera, setting it at f2.8, and releasing the shutter at different speeds to see if they look about correct. The 5 blade Copal-X shutter is more prone to being gummed up than the simpler 2 blade Copal in the regular Pen with the 28mm f3.5 lens.

 

[Guy Pinhas]

Carefully turn the shutter speed dial. Can you feel even the slightest detent at each speed? It may be faint but usually there is some feel. The click-in feel is a springy metal tab with a little ball shape pressed into the tip. It clicks into little holes at each marked speed. Sometimes the holes are full of goo or the spring has lost it's springiness and the detents are almost not detected. The important thing is that the shutter speed dial should be set at marked speeds. You should check the speeds visually by taking the back off the camera, setting it at f2.8, and releasing the shutter at different speeds to see if they look about correct. The 5 blade Copal-X shutter is more prone to being gummed up than the simpler 2 blade Copal in the regular Pen with the 28mm f3.5 lens.

I was kinda "playing" around with it and indeed, as you mention, it is ever so faint but it is there. Will shoot a roll through it first and then see if it needs any CLA action 🙂 Thanks zuiko85, much appreciated!