General question re. mechanical SLRs

I hope you don't mind me asking for help re. other manufacturer's equipment

My late father was a keen Olympus OM user and had quite a collection, some of which has been distributed around the family and the remaining items have been kept in storage for quite a few years.

A colleague of mine has expressed an interest in my father's favourite, the OM2-SP and 50mm f1.4, 75-150mm and ERC / strap (all original and in very nice condition - except for the ERC, which has seen better days).

Pre eBay, the body could have sold for £150 - £200 and considerably more with the excellent standard lens, the zoom was quite common and not worth more than about £50. Bearing in mind today's prices however, I was hoping for £170 for the lot.

Having fitted new batteries and demonstrated the camera to him, inc. firing the shutter a couple of times, I suggested he take it away and put a couple of films through it before making a final decision.
The camera was last used by me about five years ago and performed admirably, although I found it awkward and cumbersome compared to my ME Super!

Sadly he has returned the camera to me with a fault, he had been unable to load a film and the shutter mechanism / winder is now jammed.
Obviously I don't know if he'd tried to load the film incorrectly and somehow caused the problem or if it failed due to age and lack of recent use but it seemed ok when I first gave it to him



The film take-up spool and sprockets turn freely but the winding lever will not move beyond the 30 degree stand-off position. The shutter will not fire although it feels as if it is cocked - I even tried a cable release but it is solid except for the slight movement required to activate the meter.
The self-timer is activated via the shutter button, so that is out of action too.

Can anyone suggest a possible remedy or recommend a repair facility (preferably in the UK midlands)?

I imagine that an official Olympus repair may not be cost effective but would very much like to sell this otherwise excellent equipment on behalf of my mother.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Have you checked the film rewind button/mechanism?
I seem to remember that some mechanical cameras give confusing results with the winder etc when it thinks it's still in the "rewind film" mode.
(Maybe that would explain why the sprockets move freely, which should normally move only in one direction )
Matt

Thankyou for your reply MattMatic,

The same thought occured to me too, the release button is positioned between the winding crank, shutter release and exp. comp. dial. as opposed to being underneath the camera as you'd normally expect.
The button would appear to be stuck in the release position although it can be pressed in about 1mm further. It is spring-loaded and can be pulled up, with forceps, about 3mm but snaps back to it's former position when released.
There is no change to the problem I'm having when the button is held upwards in the forceps.
I also tried manually inserting a film several frames and then closing the back to see if the button would reset to the correct position but again there was no change.

I can't recall exactly what the correct position of the button should be but why would it be spring-loaded in this manner if it didn't protrude fully when a film was loaded?

I now fear that some part of the internal mechanism has either broken or become misaligned

Sounds like it may have been sitting around too long:

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00CZVn
(Mentions that oil gets on the magnets and needs cleaning off)

I just did a Google on "OM10 rewind stuck". You might try the Google Groups too... sure there must be something on the 'net.

Matt

I've found a few 'bits and pieces' on the net but your link is the most informative so far - I'll keep looking

Many thanks.

Hi Kimbo,
If you need the camera looking at, I would suggest Mike Spencer.

Kim

Thanks Kim, I also received this reply from another forum:

The OM2S is a pretty complex camera to start working blind, so you might want to be cautious about changing things until you are more sure of the problem.

The rewind button being in the depressed position virtually never has anything to do with any shutter problem. It just means that you pressed the button and you are unable to advance the shutter - the button will not come back up in most cameras until you wind the shutter the next time.

If the mirror is not locked up, this does not sound like an electronic problem. The shutter release trips the mirror mechanically, and the mirror rising turns on the electronic system (including the self timer). If the mirror has not gone up, I would guess that something is jammed mechanically. (You can check this by setting the shutter speed to the red 60 setting, which does not require batteries)

You can remove the baseplate to check that the shutter release link moves properly; this is a long black link across the front, from a point below the shutter release button to under the lens mount. You can reach the outer end of this without removing the baseplate, by unscrewing the motor drive cover. I don't recommend any further disassembly, though, unless the cost of getting the camera repaired is more than the cost of buying another to replace it.

I can confirm that the end of the linkage, visible with the drive cover off, 'twitches' but doesn't move substantially when I attempt to press the shutter release. I've not yet tried to remove the baseplate (can't find my 'watchmaker's' screwdrivers) but I now suspect that it is a mechanical problem and it would appear to be a lot more difficult to access the electro-magnets, as suggested in Matt's reply, than in the less sophisticated OM-10.

I may well contact Mike for advice but a repair could well cost as much as the camera is worth - it's similar in specification and quality to a Super A and we know what prices they go for today, as opposed to just a few years ago!