Olympus Pen FT with E. Zuiko 38mm 2.8 pancake.
Well, I had to convince my wife that this was a wise purchase. She becomes quite exasperated when I talk about buying another camera (I can't blame her, I am supposed to be selling them...)
We came across this at a swap meet down in Southern Arizona. The camera was covered in fine dust. I had to literally shake the dust off and wipe it down with my shirt. much to my surprise all shutter speeds worked, though the aperture diaphragm would not stop down with the shutter. I wasn't sure how well I would be able to clean it but figured it at least had value for parts.
I didn't know much about the series but remembered being astounded by the relatively high prices these fetch. I figured that black paint was probably less common but didn't think much about the lens.
I paid the $8 the seller was asking.
Got it home and cleaned it up. Much to my surprise the arm that stops down the aperture on the lens was simply installed wrong. It was a 3 minute fix with a screw driver and another hour and a half with an air blower, brush, tissue, and Q-tips to clean the body and lens. Self timer works, focusing relatively smooth, lens surprisingly clear considering where its been, speeds seem accurate, no oil on blades, meter might be a stop under and significant brassing (but that's supposed to look cool right?). All in all, its a very usable user-condition half frame SLR that will fit in my pocket!
Turns out Stephen Gandy calls that lens one of the rarest and most desirable made for the Pen F series...
after I cleaned it up...
