Have the film bug but don't know which camera to use...

I would think it's a flat battery. Without a battery, or with a flat one, the meter responds a little bit to bright light. This would explain your experience. The OM1 was designed to use a now banned PX625 mercury battery. You can use a silver oxide but the reading will be out by a couple of stops. It might be worth getting one just to check that the meter is working. To get an accurate reading you can either buy an MR9 adapter from the Small Battery Company http://www.smallbattery.company.org.uk/sbc_mr9_adapter.htm (these are £30) or put a diode in series inside the camera yourself http://olympus.dementix.org/Hardware/PDFs/OM1DiodeVer2_1C.pdf I bought the adapter for my OM1 but with hindsight, the DIY method would have been a lot cheaper and easy to do if you are handy with a soldering iron. There is plenty of room inside the bottom plate and nothing too delicate to break or lose. I would have used a Schottky diode type 1N5711.

P.S. If you do get the adapter, then it needs a smaller size battery to fit inside; it uses a 386 silver oxide type.
 
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Thanks guys

Well, it doesn't appear to be the battery. I took it down to London Camera Exchange and they fitted a brand new SR44 battery, and the guy said it made no difference - it was the camera.

So that means it's probably the meter that's not working properly. I'll send it to Michael Spencer and see if he can solve the problem. I just spoke to him and he said he was about 3 weeks behind. I'm going to miss it now...tempted to get a cheap OM-2n in the meantime ;)
 
That's odd, clearly it was getting some current with the previous battery - but nothing with a new SR44?

I'd imagine it might be something to do with corrosion of the battery terminal wires, especially if a battery has been sitting inside for years.
 
It is getting some charge with the current battery - the needle moves if the shutter speed is reduced to 1/4th and slower. Outside it actually gave a correct exposure reading at 1/1, f1.8!

Is this fix going to be tricky and/or expensive (if you've had experience of a similar problem)?
 
southernjessie said:
It is getting some charge with the current battery - the needle moves if the shutter speed is reduced to 1/4th and slower. Outside it actually gave a correct exposure reading at 1/1, f1.8!

Is this fix going to be tricky and/or expensive (if you've had experience of a similar problem)?
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So some current with the previous battery indeed, but nothing with the battery at LCE.

It's very difficult to accurately judge how much a camera repair will cost, and actually despite owning an alarming number of cameras I've never actually had an intermittent power problem before. Whatever you do, make sure you ask for an estimate to be given to you before any work takes place - OM1s are not hugely expensive, and you may have to weigh up the cost of service vs. replacement.
 
freecom2 said:
That's odd, clearly it was getting some current with the previous battery - but nothing with a new SR44?

I'd imagine it might be something to do with corrosion of the battery terminal wires, especially if a battery has been sitting inside for years.
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I also think that corrosion in the wire to the battery terminal may well be the reason. It might be worth you taking the bottom plate off. There are just the 4 screws to undo and nothing will fall out. This is what the connection should look like:



You can't see that connection between the brown wire and the solder tag with just the battery cover removed. Good luck with it, whatever happens.
 
I don't know what happened when the guy at LCE put the new battery in - he said there was no change and since the light in there was darker than outside, my guess is that the needle didn't move, although I saw him rotate the shutter ring from one end to the other.

You're right about the costs, that's why I'm considering an Om-2n (Ffordes have a few at around £59-£69)


freecom2 said:
So some current with the previous battery indeed, but nothing with the battery at LCE.

It's very difficult to accurately judge how much a camera repair will cost, and actually despite owning an alarming number of cameras I've never actually had an intermittent power problem before. Whatever you do, make sure you ask for an estimate to be given to you before any work takes place - OM1s are not hugely expensive, and you may have to weigh up the cost of service vs. replacement.
Click to expand...
 
Thanks freecom and Nick. I'll check the battery terminal as well tonight. It's disappointing since the camera is in really good condition cosmetically.
 
southernjessie said:
Thanks freecom and Nick. I'll check the battery terminal as well tonight. It's disappointing since the camera is in really good condition cosmetically.
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One of my Pentax Spotmatic that I sent to Michael had the same problem. He fixed it for no extra charge. Really great guy.
 
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