OM2n Advance Lever

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Lilserenity

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Hiya,

I recently picked up an OM2n with 50mm f/1.8 and 28mm f/3.5 Zuiko lenses for a cool £35. I've sold my EOS 3 (some said I was bonkers and I guess they're right) but for me I am more bothered about smaller cameras than the very latest electronic stuff.

Anyway I have a query. I also have a Leica M2 which will remain my main camera by far but not trying to compare it, I have noticed my OM2n's advance lever is a little bit 'free and loose' compared to my M2. Maybe I've been spoilt for too long with Leica craftsmanship but sometimes it won't advance the film in one action (even if I advance the lever as far as it will go) so I need to do a double stroke (handy to know this as I now know I'd never put up with a DS M3)

Should the lever feel tight or are they quite flappy? It's hard to explain but the M2 feels like it's gliding through the gears in a smooth soft mellow fashion where as the OM2 whips through before 'binding' on the cogs or whatever and then it slides through in a more metallic kind of action.

That doesn't bother me so much, I'm just a little worried my OM2 might need some TLC if it doesn't always advance the film in one action.

Otherwise it's in top condition and actually, apart from the lenses which are small as well compared to Canon and M42 mount lenses I have used, the OM2 is smaller than my M2 just. About the same size. Just how cameras should be rather than rocket launcher sized certain member extensions ;)

Thanks,
Vicky
 
Vicky, funny you mention the film advance, because I'm working on a co-worker's OM-1, and the film advance does the same thing. And a friend's OM-2 also did the same thing. And my own OM-2 does the same thing.

Oddly enough, when the cameras are mounted to the OM winder, there is no problem with it advancing. I'm certain that I know what parts are involved, as I've had some similar quirkiness with a different Japanese camera.

I love the cameras, but I'm not as impressed with the build of the film advance mechanism.

I believe that originally Olympus had marked the first model as "M-1," but then changed the name of the system to "OM" after Leica complained. And of course that means that the bodies marked as "M-1" are collectibles (expensive).

I like the lenses and the compact bodies. You have to adapt yourself to the shutter speed ring. And the viewfinder is excellent.
 
Some OM cameras do that (I had 2 in the past, which I sold), my current ones dont, I guess I'm just lucky, but I find a CLA will help a bit, just clean things up, some lube and overall maintenance wont hurt.
 
Had similar issue with an Oly 35RC.
Took off the top!!
Cleaned the advance mech gears - there were a lot of bits and pieces as well as congealed grease.
Reassembled.
Couldn't believe the improvement.
Broken - probably not - accept it as it is for the time being and get some film through.
Best of luck,
Jesse
 
Vicky,

I recently acquired a couple of OM-1 with the same lenses. One body was completely jammed up so I've had it all to bits. There's a great resource here. It seems the wind should be in one stroke but in any case it seems a bit 'gritty' compared to more precision devices such as perhaps a Leica. If it takes two strokes to wind a frame it's likely that a cam in the base may have slipped. I rebuilt my scrapper and it's fine now. I can't see your situation being a big problem unless you can feel gear teeth slipping.

I'm enjoying the OM experience so far. A lot of gear for little cash.
 
Compared with the advance lever of the M3 I had from 1985 to 2002, that of my current M2 positively flips, flops and flaps around. Leica craftsmanship?
 
Thanks for the replies.

I've just run a roll of FP4 through it this evening and it has worked fine. I picked up a genuine lens hood for the 28mm, and a standard focussing screen for it (came with some macro thingy screen, a 1-12 apparently) and it went fine. It is a nice camera to use and I didn't encounter any problems (I suppose I should see how the roll comes out I guess though!)

Anyway; I think it probably does need some attention, as sometimes it takes as much as four strokes (think that only happened once) -- it doesn't seem to be missing bits in the gear-chain (I have no idea what the right words are, I mean underneath presumably there is a cog thing with geary cog bits.... :p) but it seems to slip through from say normal position (i.e. in against the exposure composition dial to about 45-60 degrees around from this before you start to feel some 'binding'.

It seems to work fine but I will mention it to the eBay seller anyway. They seem to sell cameras so I am presuming that they have handled an OM before and would have noticed perhaps a difference. If they were just a private seller I'd excuse them not knowing.

It doesn't feel broken, nor does it rattle. Just the advance on the M2 is comparitively stiff and smooth where as this is a little bit gritty and flappy (let's hope I haven't run aground on Google's Safe Search with such a combination of words!)

:D

At any rate it's not a replacement for my M2, it's more replacing what my EOS 3 did (which since I got my M2 was nothing at all) -- long exposures, with the OM2n's OTF metering, I have some high hopes.

Vicky
 
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My OM-1 was doing this occasionally and if shooting a sequence of shots at a reasonable clip it was damned annoying ... it's now with John at Camtech having this and a couple of other issues remedied.

The advance mechanism is not one of the strong points of the OM design IMO ... all my OM's feel a little dicky in this area compared to an M.
 
Keith said:
My OM-1 was doing this occasionally and if shooting a sequence of shots at a reasonable clip it was damned annoying ... it's now with John at Camtech having this and a couple of other issues remedied.

The advance mechanism is not one of the strong points of the OM design IMO ... all my OM's feel a little dicky in this area compared to an M.
Click to expand...

Ahh, perfect description of how I feel the OM advance lever/mechanism feels to my M, dicky. It totally is and for an otherwise excellently crafted camera, it really is a shame.

It doesn't help being a left eyed shooter (I have more chance of flying around the moon than taking a good photo with my right eye) as the M being an RF, my face isn't in the way of the advance lever, it is on the OM so I can live with that, but having to crank the damn thing twice wear thin quickly ;)

Assuming it doesn't break before, I'll get it in to my local repairers to take a look at later this year. I've just spent £300 on camera equipment so now it's nose to the grindstone and paying off the credit card :)

Vicky
 
Thanks John. I will take a look at Zuiko.com -- I have found someone in the UK who will take a look and was Olympus trained. We will see how it goes. I've already fallen in love with the OM2n, so it's going to be painful to send it away already!
 
These OMs handle beautifully with a motor winder attached, which also avoids the problem of the wind-on lever sticking you one in the eye. Then all you have to do is find subjects with no sense of hearing.
 
Under the top wind plate there are 2 pawls with pins that interlock with circular sliding rings. Sometimes the sliding plates get stuck together, AND the steel gear the pawls dig into gets chipped teeth Overall, there will be some new parts needed or a good wind mech out of a parts body. John, www.zuiko.com
 
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