OM-2 in manual mode

[remegius]

Since falling in love with the OM cameras and getting a couple of OM-2s I have pretty much resorted to using AE via the auto mode. More laziness than anything else, I guess. But it occurred to me that using the needle in manual mode might be a better way to go, especially since there is a scaled reference for making exposure adjustments. I'm just wondering how accurate you can be making exposure adjustments in that manner, and whether any of you Zuickoholics are doing just that.

Cheers...

Rem

 

[newspaperguy]

Mostly use my OM-2n in manual.
Aids in transitioning from my OM-1n.
Especially when I'm carrying both.

Exception would be night shots, or hail mary* situations.

*Sometimes referred to as shoot and pray.

 

[remegius]

Mostly use my OM-2n in manual.
Aids in transitioning from my OM-1n.
Especially when I'm carrying both.

Exception would be night shots, or hail mary* situations.

*Sometimes referred to as shoot and pray.

LOL. I know about "shoot and pray"...that's what I was doing with my IIIC the other day when I was waltzing around with no meter. And I had forgotten that manual mode is the only thing available on the OM-1n. Well, the meter on the OM cameras seem to be quite good as averaging meters go, and being able to accurately compensate one or one and a half stops in either direction seems to work quite well in manual mode.

Cheers...

Rem

 

[John Hermanson]

Centering the needle in manual will be as accurate as shooting in auto. John

 

[remegius]

Centering the needle in manual will be as accurate as shooting in auto. John

Thanks for the heads up on that, John. If anyone would know about the accuracy of the OM meter it would be you😉 I'm going to take one of my OM-2s on a test drive today and see how well I do using manual mode for both normal exposure and compensation.

Cheers...

Rem

 

[Paul Connet]

Centering the needle in manual will be as accurate as shooting in auto. John

I would think shooting in auto, (off the film) has a slight edge over manual if only that the danger of extraneous light coming to the meter from the eyepiece is eliminated. I have a couple of OM 2's that give readings in manual that do not match a known good hand held meter, but give good exposures in auto. This is not a fair evaluation of course because I am shooting color neg and the film has so much latitude that meter errors are masked.

I was also under the impression that the two modes in the OM2 do not use the same meter circuit. John would know the answer to that.

Regards, Paul C.

 

[John Hermanson]

Yes, meter needle position could be affected by light coming in through the eyepiece lens, but actual otf auto exposure is adjusted independently of meter position. Meter could be correct but auto could be plus or minus. If manual speeds are off (like 1/1000 being plus or minus) auto will be affected the same way. John

 

[pagpow]

shooting in manual has the advantage of letting you choose a metering target in varied light situations and then framing -- its very quick.

Haven't shot my OMs in a bit and don't have one at hand, but I shot slides and found the cutout references very helpful/accurate for the underexposure (mostly) I wanted to do.

When i know the whole roll is going to want to be exposure compensated a bit (old Kodachrome, Velvia) i set the film speed to avoid frame-by-frame compensation.