Is it worth trying to fix light seals in this mju?

ChrisR

ChrisR

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My wife has an Olympus mju that I bought for her on 42nd St in New York... they saw me coming I'm afraid. Didn't work when I got it home, warranty not valid, and had to spend £40 to get it going. It turned up the other day, still with a film in it, but I remembered that it had a bit of light leak...

CN05B01r.jpg


So that's one big leak across the top, signs of a small one down the RHS, and some vignetting (pretty bad in some other shots). :eek: Is this a no-hoper, or is it worth trying to get it fixed? :thinking:

The good thing is, this is about the most pocketable film camera you could hope for!

Chris
 
Ouch, £40 to fix a camera you can get on eBay in good order for £10?
I don't normally say this but just get another one, or two; i just checked the completed listings on ebay for "olympus mju 1" and saw a nice one that sold for £2.75, rest seem to be under or around £10. Most people go the Mju-II as it's smaller and has a much better lens than the Mju so it's pretty cheap to get.

If you have no luck with ebay send me a PM and i can dig out my Mju and send it to you for the cost of the postage.
 
Morinaka said:
Ouch, £40 to fix a camera you can get on eBay in good order for £10?
I don't normally say this but just get another one, or two; i just checked the completed listings on ebay for "olympus mju 1" and saw a nice one that sold for £2.75, rest seem to be under or around £10. Most people go the Mju-II as it's smaller and has a much better lens than the Mju so it's pretty cheap to get.

If you have no luck with ebay send me a PM and i can dig out my Mju and send it to you for the cost of the postage.
Click to expand...

Ah, I'm not even sure eBay existed back then... 2002 I bought it. Thanks for the comment though.

The "better lens" in the mju-II is the money quote, I think. I think I'm going to let this old fella lie in the drawer. BTW does this "better lens" also apply to the zoom ones? There are a few 170mm zoom Mju-IIs going on eBay now. Could be interesting having a 170mm zoom in your pocket.
 
I would be happy to send you a couple of "off-cuts" of foam you could use to re-seal it. I don't have a kit made for it since I never get any requests, but I'd bet repairing the leak wouldn't be too difficult. Just let me know with a personal message or email if you want and of course I'd need your address.
Jon
 
Oh right i thought you got it recently as you didn't say before, but eBay has been around since 1995.

The Mju 1 has a basic f/3.5 three element lens from what i remember, and the Mju II is a f/2.8 four element lens with an aspherical element, and i think the zoom models have the aspherical element but are much slower on the wide end around f/4.5.
If you aren't worried about the speed i'd imagine the zooms give images equal or superior to the Mju 1 in quality.
If you want to read up on the Mju-II (or Stylus Epic as it's known elsewhere) try reading this page here on the up and downs of it.
 
ChrisR said:
The "better lens" in the mju-II is the money quote, I think. I think I'm going to let this old fella lie in the drawer. BTW does this "better lens" also apply to the zoom ones? There are a few 170mm zoom Mju-IIs going on eBay now. Could be interesting having a 170mm zoom in your pocket.
Click to expand...

The zoom models were standard good quality zoom compacts, if that makes any sense :lol: Their lenses didn't have the performance or reputation of the fixed version which was a popular choice for pros or serious amateurs who wanted a compact.

I listed a mint mju II on here a while ago but got no interest. I keep meaning to ebay it but if you are interested let me know and I will resurrect the thread (now archived).
 
bailout said:
I listed a mint mju II on here a while ago but got no interest. I keep meaning to ebay it but if you are interested let me know and I will resurrect the thread (now archived).
Click to expand...

just out of interest, how much were you hoping to get for it?
 
They are over priced on eBay due to the cult status, selling in the £40-60 range, £20-25 is a fair price but i got both my Mju-II's cheaper, got a near mint one from rocky cameras for £12 and the other one i got in a local second hand shop for £10 which was in equally good condition.
Yeah the zooms aren't as good as the fixed lens but they are more than good enough.
 
The thread TheBigYin linked to is the archived thread with price. I couldn't find a way of resurrecting that thread so I have just recreated it in the For Sale forums (Other Brands).
 
ach - should have said mate, i'd have resurrected the original for you..

not that it's a problem setting up another thread BTW - but it's a matter of 2 clicks to re-enable the original for me, and it would save the hamsters a bit of running :lol:
 
politics hey ! :lol:
 
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