Oympus EC2, ERC vs. X2 AND cleaning qestions

[eli griggs]

Earlier this month I hit some thrift shops and yard sales looking for whatever photographic, when I found 2 small Olympus cameras; a minty $3 EC 2 and an ERC for $1.

The ERC was filthy on the outside, tons of dust, which I mostly cleaned off with soft artist' bristle brush, tissue and Everclear, which I have on hand for darkroom stuff.

The interiors are almost perfect and the battery compartments cleaned up well. I do need to put in new light seal material, but I have some on hand from another camera repair last year.

What I'd like to know is, has anyone a recommendation on treatment of the skin, to remove the remains of the dust in the fine crevices? How about protection? One site recommended a touch of glycerin.

I'd also like to know if Simichrome polish is suitable for the brushed chrome of cameras.

As to the other part of my post, can I hear some opinions comparing these cameras to the XA 2? Given a choice, which would be your 'pocket camera?

Cheers

 

[clintock]

You have three of my favorite cameras there!
I use a toothbrush and automotive leather cleaner to clean the fine crevices, just not too much, so as not to let the cleaner seep into the insides of the camera.
Protection with automotive leather conditioner, which I think may contain glycerin.

I don't have any Simichrome polish, but if the label of the polish says it's for chrome, then it is probably good.

You are lucky if your ECR and EC2 have good battery contacts. On mine I had some corrosion. By installing a silicone diode in series with the battery circuit, I use silver oxide cells and the exposure is perfect. Zinc air hearing aid cells work great too and don't require any diode..

Each of those cameras has an advantage over the next.

The XA 2 is the smallest and uses modern batteries. It has a great finder image and lens, and will fit in a pants pocket with no problem.
Once you get used to the electric shutter release, you will adore it.
Disadvatage is it won't take filters and exposure compensating is tough because the asa lever is so small on the front, and easy to forget to reset it after the backlit shot.
The XA-2 does not have an indicator in the finder letting you know which focus icon you have chosen, but each time the shell is closed, the focus selector is moved to the middle, so usually everything is in focus even if one forgets to focus.

The ECR has a faster lens than the xa 2, and a rangefinder to focus with, so bokeh effects are a little more possible. It will take filters, but of a size almost nobody makes. The asa dial suffers the same problem as the XA 2, made even worse if you put a filter on.. Having a rangefinder spot in the finder serves as a good reminder to focus. It's like a program exposure only version of the 35-RC.

The EC 2 has a bright finder like the XA 2 but has the focus symbols inside of the finder, a big help for me, as I'd forget to focus otherwise.
The big advantage of the EC-2 is the asa dial under your thumb on the back of the body, so compensation is very easy. If fitted with a filter, the asa dial must be compensated for by the filter factor, since there is a separate meter window not on the lens front.

Both the EC models suffer from a sort of sad feeling shutter release- it's not a smart, distinct click, but a long vague mush, as the shutter is semi-mechanical, and the mechanical portion is not wound by the film advance, it's powered by the release button, the electrical portion decides how long and how open. Still it's not that bad.
None have exposure lock, which is why I say so much about the asa dial.


My favorite of the three is the EC-2.

Clint

 

[eli griggs]

Clint, Thanks for the info, it's just the sort of thing I'm looking for. Do you know of any online manuals for these Cameras?

The conversion for the meter sounds good; can you tell me more about the diode install and point me to any pages that may show how?

Cheers

 

[clintock]

I took photos of my conversion, but i've moved two times since then, so I'll be lucky to find them, and at least on of the manuals is online somewhere, but right now I don't know where. Fat lot of good I am!
I'll edit this post when I get a chance or post again to bump the thread once I have some real help for you.
If I can't find my old battery conversion pictures, I have a few other ec2 awaiting my conversion, so I can make new pictures.

 

[eli griggs]

Thanks Clint, that would be helpful. I went ahead and pulled the battery compartments and found each camera had bad contacts, so I decide to pull out my truly awful soldering skills and have at it. If you are able to show me your diode set-up, I can practice some more.


I taped a filler strip of paper to form a spacer tube for a pair of 675 button cells and after fitting three new contacts', made of .005 in. brass punched out of a sheet with a paper punch, now have working shutters. Aluminum foil fills the second battery compartment, though now that I think of it, I could have made that space a spare batteries storage space.

The Semichrome worked well on the metal and I think I'll try some saddle soap and a toothbrush on the leather.

I'll put these cameras in the line-up for test pics between now and New Years and hope the meter/shuter is up to par, as I really like small cameras like these.

Cheers