OM-1

[Michael Fraley]

Here's a few from the first roll taken with my 'new' Olympus OM-1. The lens is a very nice Zuiko 50mm/f1.8. Film is Kodak Gold 200. This is a refurbished camera from John Titterington -- he does a great job with 70's SLRs..

[Andrew]

Michael, the OM camera particularly the first few are my all time favourite SLR, even though i moved on with the times and used the latest top Canon cameras as they appeard, for their modern features, no camera ever felt as nice, solid and compact as the OM. i still have my OM-1n kit. i think the only difference between that and the OM-1 is the mirror lock up? which i use to use often for astro photography. i keep forgeting that i need to get some kind of battery adaptor for mine. i think there is guy on ebay that sells an adaptor. is that what you have in yours?

because i liked the OM-1n so much i went into the store recently to handle the latest Olympus digital SLR (i forget the model, perhaps 420 or 520 something) that is said to be nice and compact. from what they were saying it reminded me of the OM's but it only took a few seconds of handling it for me to exclaim 'YUK" he he ..it didnt feel nice at all.

[Deleted]

There was one feature of the OM-1 with which I never got comfortable. I don't know how many set of batteries I ran down because I forgot to turn the switch off. Other cameras had manual on/off switches that never caused me any problems. I only owned an OM about 6 months and sold it primarily because I dislike that switch.

Wayne

[Andrew]

Yeah Wayne i used to often forget to turn it off as well, although the switch is pretty clear on the top, i was used to using the cheaper Ricoh KR-5 (same camera as the Pentax K-1000 but only went to 1/500) and that turned on or off with the wind lever, so when ever you put the camera away you naturaly turned it off.

so i had to force myself to get in the habit of turning it off, having said that though, i dont recall going through batteries much at all..is it possible that once the lens cap was on the light meter doesn't use power? less so nowadays but back then i was always in the habit of replacing the lens cap often

either way i loved that camera at the time, perhaps because at the time it was just so sleak compared to everything else on the market. i have never heard a bad report on the lenses for them either

[olroy2044]

Michael: N-i-c-e! Where were those taken? Never have even handled an OM-1, but always liked the looks of them. Roy

[renaldo]

Nice pics. Kodak Gold is still quite a good print film, and the 1.8 lens on the Oly is a charm.

There are a couple of "adaptors" that change the voltage for use in the old cameras, but they cost about $30. Or you can buy the original size Wein battery which is zinc air...but it can deplete fairly quickly .

What I use and the set up is very inexpensive...A 1.35v zinc-air hearing-aid battery and place a rubber "O" ring around it to take up slack space in the battery chamber. The difference between '1.3v and 1.35v' is negligible. You can get 8 of these batteries in a pack for a couple dollars.

The setup can be used in a number of the same vintage cameras.

[Michael Fraley]

Renaldo, the hearing-aid solution is a good one. The person who did the CLA on mine, adjusted it for standard 1.5 volt batteries at the same time. It's a convenience but not necessary. Roy, I took these at Ocean Beach, Golden Gate Park, and the reflecting pool is at the University of San Francisco. I have an OM-1n and one online source says the difference is an autowind adapter. But I have an OM-1 which is now my wife's and that has the autowind too, so I guess I need more research. Andrew, they both have the mirror lock.

Besides the compact format, my favorite thing about the OM-1 is the incredibly big, bright viewfinder!

[olroy2044]

Had'em all but the reflecting pool Gotta get back down there soon! Roy

[mickeyobe]

Michael,

The OM-1 is quite a performer.
So is the photographer.

Mickey

[jack]

Hello
The OM-1 had no motor drive.
The OM-1MD has the motor drive, does not have model name upgrade only paper sticker. If lost looks like OM-1.
The Om-1N has flask ready in view finder, takes T series flashes with number 4 hot shoe.

Jack

[Michael Fraley]

Thanks Mickey, and everyone, for the comments!

Jack -- thanks for clearing up the mystery. I wondered about the branding of my first OM-1, must be an OM-1 MD.. I didn't know about the flash ready light either. I see the 'number 4' hot shoe engraved on the pentaprism housing of my latest which is the OM-1n. I wonder, does the flash ready only work with T series flashes?

[jack]

Hello Micheal

The flash indicator works with the T series flash or 3rd party flashes specifically for the Olympus, made by Sunpak and Vivtar to name a couple..It will not work with generic electronic flashes even though the camera does, just no view finder display.

Jack

[Reiska]

Michael, those are really nice pictures, keep posting them!

I have this picture on my web site and it shows how small Olympus was compared
especially to the contemporary European competitors. My OM-1 is a "MD" version.
Except the led in the viewfinder it has several redesigns inside.