First time Restoring Cameras

Nikon photographer

Nikon photographer

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Geoff Brown
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I've been buying and selling cameras since the mid 1990's, usually when I'm not busy doing my photography, before this one, I'd give them a good clean, and make sure there working perfectly, but this one needed a little bit more work than a clean, although the body was clean, the spring was weak in the film rewind knob, the baseplate was scratched, but mainly the prism was corroded, if you have the OM1/OM2 that hasn't been affected, your very lucky, or it's been corrected, the only option is a new prism, luckily all OM's even the later 10,20,30 &40 share the same prism, but they didn't use the foam that corrodes.

First the top cover has to be removed, there's a few videos on YouTube that shows it better than I can explain in words.

This is what the corrosion in the viewfinder looks like



View attachment 467890

This one was toast, luckily I had an OM30 that I bought for spares for the princely sum of, £13

With the top cover off, you can see the corroded foam

View attachment 467892

The hotshoe bracket needs removing, all the black gunk needs removing, it's not a nice job, but I took it slowly, and a final cleaning with Isopropyl alcohol on cotton buds and sponge applicators, I removed the focusing screen, as it makes it a little easier, although I replaced it, as it did have a few marks on it

Prism removed, a little more cleaning needed.

20251111_204805.jpg
 
Plain Nev said:
Well done. I admire anyone that can work on vintage cameras.
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Thank you, it's something I've been interested in for a while, but never did anything about it, but after watching a few YouTube videos, and buying the tools I needed, I finally gave in, and had a go, if it all went Pete Tong, I would only be out of pocket by a few quid, luckily it worked out, and I'm looking forward to the next one.
 
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Amazing skill and dexterity. My hands shake too much for that kind of work :)
 
After putting it together, time to check the meter, even though it was working before, it was dead, so without panicking I started at the source, and there was the problem, broken wire at the battery box, luckily I have other cameras to strip bits from, all I needed was a short length of wire and a small plastic tube, looks like I'll be soldering later on 20251116_130345.jpg20251116_124014.jpg
 
I'm waiting for a new soldering iron to arrive tomorrow, my USB isn't hot enough to heat up the metal contact enough to get the solder to flow, but the day wasn't waisted, I finally got all the gunk removed from the light seals channel.

20251116_172216.jpg20251116_172209.jpg
 
Nice work!

Replacing the light seals is a job I hate.

Are you going to add a diode to drop the voltage so that an SR44 battery can be used as a replacement for the old 1.35v mercury cells?

I've got an OM1 with the same battery lead issue and think I may also need to upgrade my iron as well as I've struggled to get a good joint. I'm currently waiting on some flux paste coming to replace the liquid flux I've been using to see if that helps.
 
Flighter said:
Nice work!

Replacing the light seals is a job I hate.

Are you going to add a diode to drop the voltage so that an SR44 battery can be used as a replacement for the old 1.35v mercury cells?

I've got an OM1 with the same battery lead issue and think I may also need to upgrade my iron as well as I've struggled to get a good joint. I'm currently waiting on some flux paste coming to replace the liquid flux I've been using to see if that helps.
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I'll be leaving this one as standard, I've been working on it too long, and just need to get it sold on, perhaps the next one I'll replace the battery chamber, as I have a few from the later OM2's with the diode fitted, my new Soldering iron arrived today, but I'm waiting for some Soldering paste and flux to arrive, I'm hoping to it all finished by the weekend
 
Cracking work sir! And though I'm probably not your next customer, do you sell your repaired cameras here or? If at EBay how do we find you?
 
tikkathreebarrel said:
Cracking work sir! And though I'm probably not your next customer, do you sell your repaired cameras here or? If at EBay how do we find you?
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Thank you, I have an eBay store that I sell cameras, accessories and spare parts, you can find it here, I hope it's OK listing it on the forum.

www.ebay.co.uk

geebeesphotographic on eBay

Follow geebeesphotographic on eBay. Buying, Selling, Collecting on eBay has never been more exciting!
www.ebay.co.uk
 
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Flighter said:
I've got an OM1 with the same battery lead issue and think I may also need to upgrade my iron as well as I've struggled to get a good joint. I'm currently waiting on some flux paste coming to replace the liquid flux I've been using to see if that helps.
Click to expand...
After putting this off for a while, bought a new soldering iron, solder paste and flux, and after what seemed like a lifetime, I managed to get a good joint on the battery terminal, I had to trim the original wire a bit as there was quite a lot of green verdigris on it, but after it was all put back together, I'm was pleased to find out that the meter works.
20251206_165442.jpg
 
Excellent, glad to hear it all worked out.

I haven't had any luck trying to get solder to adhere to the terminal in the battery holder of my OM1, despite cleaning the terminal, heating it (removed from the battery holder) to a hot enough temperature to melt the solder and using a RMA223 flux paste. I did manage to bodge a good mechanical joint between the wire and the terminal but again no luck in getting the other end of my short extension wire soldered to the rest of the original cable to the on-off switch, corrosion seems to have gone up the inside of the old wire. So it looks like I will need to remove the mirror box to replace the old wire in its entirety - oh joy! And the I'll still have to work out how to get the terminal to accept solder.
 
Flighter said:
It looks like I will need to remove the mirror box to replace the old wire in its entirety - oh joy! And the I'll still have to work out how to get the terminal to accept solder.
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The brown wire runs inside the body, all the way through the camera, across the front of the prism, and then to the On/Off switch, something I didn't want to do after replacing the prism before finding the meter didn't work afterwards, I might have disturbed it while doing all the work, as I did move the brown wire out of the way a few times.20251110_205045.jpg
 
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Flighter said:
Are you going to add a diode to drop the voltage so that an SR44 battery can be used as a replacement for the old 1.35v mercury cells?
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If you do add a diode, the best place on the OM1 is actually under the top cover, as there's more room there than around the battery chamber.
 
Where did you buy the blue mat from ? I could do with one , Looks proper handy.
 
F1.2 said:
Where did you buy the blue mat from ? I could do with one , Looks proper handy.
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Bought it off EBay, it certainly is handy, and easy to clean

ebay.us

Soldering Mat Phone Repair Mat Maintenance Station Magnetic Heat Insulation | eBay UK

âEasy to Clean---- Its surface is thicken Silica gel, anti-corrosion, anti-sticking. After the solder paste/glue is dry, you can easily tear it off (as AB glue, instant glue or other remains). âMultifunctional Repairing Tools---- This work pad is made of high-quality non-toxic silicone...
ebay.us
 
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A great find that I had last year when cleaning up a Rolleiflex TLR (not the real thing, but a very good quality knock-off) was this: behind the front plate on which the lenses were mounted there was a group of very thin shaped shims of differing thicknesses. It seems that the manufacturer had included them as part of the kit in case future adjustment was required. It was like receiving an unexpected present!
 
Nikon photographer said:
Bought it off EBay, it certainly is handy, and easy to clean

ebay.us

Soldering Mat Phone Repair Mat Maintenance Station Magnetic Heat Insulation | eBay UK

âEasy to Clean---- Its surface is thicken Silica gel, anti-corrosion, anti-sticking. After the solder paste/glue is dry, you can easily tear it off (as AB glue, instant glue or other remains). âMultifunctional Repairing Tools---- This work pad is made of high-quality non-toxic silicone...
ebay.us
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Thanks, Just ordered one .
 
Flighter said:
I did manage to bodge a good mechanical joint between the wire and the terminal but again no luck in getting the other end of my short extension wire soldered to the rest of the original cable to the on-off switch, corrosion seems to have gone up the inside of the old wire. So it looks like I will need to remove the mirror box to replace the old wire in its entirety - oh joy! And the I'll still have to work out how to get the terminal to accept solder.
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View: https://youtu.be/swcuZ9xCFXs?si=cw2mDvwEx7Qx4hhK


This might give you some idea of the amount of work involved in replacing the complete wire from the battery chamber to the circuit board under the top cover, it's not a job I'd like to take on, although if I had no choice, I'd have to.
 
Thanks, that confirms what I read elsewhere that the wire is glued to the body in a couple of places and that the mirror box will need to come out.

I've picked up the remains of an OM1 off Ebay that I plan to use as a practice for extracting the mirror box and will have a go next year when I retire and have a bit more time and emergy.

Edit: energy even! :headbang:
 
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How about using a hand held meter? saves a lot of pain.
 
Most of my photography is done walking the dogs, one of which has to be kept on the lead, so having to use a separate meter is a bit cumbersome. Also, I like to have everything on a camera working, especially this camera, as my parents bought it for me back in the 70s and I therefore have a sentimental attachment to it.
 
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