OM1n black prism foam

[nobbylon]

I had nothing to do this afternoon so I decided to take the top off the OM. Sure enough the black foam had started to go like tar. I cleaned it all off with some nail varnish remover and also cleaned behind the eye piece and prism. If you do have an OM it's worth checking before this stuff trashes the prism.

 

[feenej]

Got to send mine for a cla soon.

 

[nobbylon]

Why not have a go yourself? there's loads of info on the net. A cla will probably cost more than the camera's worth! I've managed to do light seal replacement, slow speed sticking shutter and now foam removal with just instructions from the net. I wouldn't play around with anything that costs a lot of cash but om's are cheap.😀 imho best value for money slr out there

 

[warren1960]

Nail polish remover?

I'm glad you had no trouble, but I would be worried the stuff would eat into the black paint and the silvering. I would gently scrape off what I can, and then clean up with a much more mild solvent, like denatured alcohol.

 

[feenej]

My shutter speeds are all off, and my meter is not working. zuiko.com charges about $100? I might try it myself on some camera that I did not mind wrecking, but probably not this one. It's kind of nice; they install a diode so you can run it with a modern battery.

 

[nobbylon]

Warren, there was no problem with the nail polish remover, the paint on the prism is pretty tough but even so I wouldn't want to scrape it with anything. I pulled as much off with tweezers and then used q-tips dipped in the remover and just kept dabbing the black goo off. The earlier om1's had the prism foam but later ones didn't. My 1978 om1 didn't. Olympus then used the foam again on the OM1n's. I suppose a good idea as to whether it needs doing would be the back door seals. If they have gone to goo then the prism foam will have too and the prism could be at risk

 

[Cale Arthur]

For what it's worth, OM-1's with serial numbers past (apx) 1,110,000 have no prism foam at all, so there's no need to go on an expedition to find it. Strangely, all OM-1n's have the prism foam, regardless of serial number (all of this according to John Hermanson).

--c--

EDIT: pardon the redundancy re: OM-1n foam..

 

[Spyderman]

It's definitely worth doing this before the foam eats the silvering. I removed the foam on my 2n and 1n early enough. An early OM-1 of my friend was in pretty bad condition and I had to swap the prism from an OM-10.

Do it before it's late! OMs are just so beautiful and great cameras... I've got 5 single-digit OM bodies at the moment 😱 plus one of each OM-2000, OM-10 and OM-20 😀

 

[Peter_Jones]

🙄 I thought I was bad with 3 single-digits and half dozen OM10s

 

[Chris101]

Oh man - I only have a single 1n, but when I was in the camera store yesterday, I saw they had another in the case, and I got to lusting badly. I don't know what's wrong with me - I need to be getting rid of cameras, not adding ones I already have! :O

Zuiko dot com costs $109 for an overhaul, and it comes back in excellent condition! It's especially nice to be able to use readily available alkaline batteries, rather than those funky air-zincs. That's the cost of an OM1n in fair condition. I'm very glad I sent mine in (well, the shutter was broken, so I had no choice, actually.)

 

[ChrisN]

While you OM fans are all here - I have an OM-2n with an issue: after winding-on, it does not prevent winding-on again, and sometimes fails to cock the shutter. This is just on the last two rolls. Any ideas?

 

[Cale Arthur]

While you OM fans are all here - I have an OM-2n with an issue: after winding-on, it does not prevent winding-on again, and sometimes fails to cock the shutter. This is just on the last two rolls. Any ideas?

Chris.. does this also affect the mirror movement as well or does it just wind on with seemingly no activity internally? I seem to remember JH saying that there are small rubber bushings in the mirror box (not visible by removing the lens) that wear out, which can cause what you're describing. Don't know if that could be the issue or not..

--c--

 

[ChrisN]

Chris.. does this also affect the mirror movement as well or does it just wind on with seemingly no activity internally? I seem to remember JH saying that there are small rubber bushings in the mirror box (not visible by removing the lens) that wear out, which can cause what you're describing. Don't know if that could be the issue or not..

--c--

Thanks Cale. Mirror movement seems to be fine, once the shutter is cocked. Actually I'm not certain now, that the problem causes the shutter to not be cocked. That is, I think winding the lever does cock the shutter, but shutter release does not seem to be available, and the mechanism does not lock the film transport to prevent a double-wind-on. I'm in the habit of checking that the film is wound-on before taking a shot, by putting pressure on the lever, and this means I have been winding-on twice as the mechanism isn't locked to prevent it.

I've only had the camera for a couple of weeks, and fortunately the seller has agreed to swap it for another if he can't fix the problem.

 

[Spyderman]

🙄 I thought I was bad with 3 single-digits and half dozen OM10s

Actually I originally had only 3: 4Ti, 1n and 2n, but then I did a trade with our former colleague Pitxu which involved a beater OM-4 and a 2SP. I'll soon be back to less OMs, as the "4" will go to my girlfriend - she wears glasses, and the "4" is the only camera with built in diopter correction. Don't know yet what I'll do with the 2SP...

 

[AzzA]

Sorry about the quick hijack.
To those people who have taken the top plate off their OM's, do you have any tips?
I have several OM bodies and was recently given an OM1 that i want to take apart. But i cannot for the life of me get the film advance lever off. I cant remove the cap ontop.
Any special tools you guys use? I tried to make one out of two (drawing)compass points, but it didnt work =/
Im about to start hacking at it if i cant figure anything out.
Would apprecaite any help!
cheers

 

[Spyderman]

AzzA:

you need a sheet of rubber (canbe cut from bicycle tube) and a socket wrench.

Place the rubber between the socket and the advance lever for adhesion and unscrew with the socket. Works similar with most old cameras (for removing advance lever).

 

[ChrisN]

Sorry about the quick hijack.
To those people who have taken the top plate off their OM's, do you have any tips?
I have several OM bodies and was recently given an OM1 that i want to take apart. But i cannot for the life of me get the film advance lever off. I cant remove the cap ontop.
Any special tools you guys use? I tried to make one out of two (drawing)compass points, but it didnt work =/
Im about to start hacking at it if i cant figure anything out.
Would apprecaite any help!
cheers

Also see: http://olympus.dementia.org/Hardware/tutorials/OM-1CoverRemoval/index.html

 

[AzzA]

Thanks for the help guys.
I tried the rubber stopper technique, but it wouldnt budge and ended up ripping the rubber. Maybe i was using the wrong type of rubber not sure, but it was gripping but not turning. Thats when i started getting frustrated =/
I'm going to try the technique you suggested Spyderman. I've read quite a few instructions on how to remove the top plate, but i have never seen a mention of using a modified socket wrench. I think it should work nicely.
Cheers 🙂

 

[Cale Arthur]

I've only had the camera for a couple of weeks, and fortunately the seller has agreed to swap it for another if he can't fix the problem.

That's probably the best idea - no matter how you slice it, that's a potentially invasive fix.

I did experience the same symptoms that you're describing last Friday with my new black OM-1, but i don't think the two could be related. Good story, maybe for another time, and to be filed under "..this is why some people shouldn't work on cameras.". There's a happy ending, though, as i managed to solve the problem and learn a few OM-things along the way! 🙂

--c--

 

[nobbylon]

I've removed a few of these winder screws and some tend to be much tighter than others. I use a normal pencil eraser. It's just a question of getting a/ the correct rubber stickiness and b/ downward pressure on the screw. The cover with the holes in doesn't actually do anything and is just a cosmetic trim plate. I had one come off and just super glued it back on when I had finished. Keep trying and sooner or later it will budge!