Topic: Oly Pen revived

[jharr]

So I was a little embarrassed when this happened, but now all has worked out, so I can tell the story. 

I received an Olympus Pen EES-2 from Diane Peterson in the Share the Love 3 exchange. I put one roll through it (72 exposures!!) and noticed that everything seemed pretty underexposed. So I did a little research and learned that it is common for the aperture blades to stick closed in this model as it ages. It seemed like a pretty easy fix, so I went ahead and disassembled the camera and got the aperture blades working again, but when I got to the very last step, I couldn't get the front lens element to catch the threads and screw back on! This was terrible! The camera was functioning perfectly otherwise, but without the front element, it may as well be a 'parts' camera. Fast forward to the present. I am refurbing an Agfa Isolette III and lo and behold the exact same thing happens!! Well, I can't put this camera on the shelf, I haven't even taken a single photo with it! So I start asking around and I get an answer from Jurgen over at Certo6.com. He seems to be a really nice guy and was very responsive to my questions. It turns out the Isolette just needed a really good cleaning of the threads with some solvent and a bit of lithium grease. So I decided to try the same thing on the Pen. No luck. Jurgen had also said that he had taken the glass bits out and deburred the threads with a brass brush on a rotary tool. So that was next. I have to say that a whole bunch more gunk came out of those threads once I hit them with that brush. More solvent, more grease and a little more effort and I finally got the front element back on!! I am so happy to have my half-frame RF back in service! I have a roll of FP4 Plus in it now and will post some pics when I get through it. I must say, it does take a long time for me to shoot 48 half frames, so maybe in a month or two.

Thanks again to Diane for this cool little camera. I am really enjoying it.

[Indofunk]

What a great success story! I'm slowly getting a little bit bolder about popping cameras open (though I'm still barely beyond the "take top cover off - get scared by the Swiss watch inside - put top cover back on" stage ) ... maybe someday I'll approach your level of expertise!

[jharr]

What a great success story! I'm slowly getting a little bit bolder about popping cameras open (though I'm still barely beyond the "take top cover off - get scared by the Swiss watch inside - put top cover back on" stage ) ... maybe someday I'll approach your level of expertise!

Haha! I'm certainly no expert. The best advice I got was to get a Yashica Electro 35 cheap. It will most certainly have 'something' wrong with it and the fix will be well documented on 'The Google'. It was a great way to get my feet wet and get over that fear of 'I'm going to turn a camera into a brick'. It was the same idea with the Isolette. There are just a couple of standard problems that these cameras have and lots of people have written about how to fix them. There's nothing magic about it, just take lots of photos as you disassemble, make no assumptions about things you can't see, and stay organized. I find it to be a great additional dimension to my hobby.

James

[Hungry Mike]

Nice work James! Nothing brings me more satisfaction then seeing some old bit of gear getting revived to bring pleasure once again.

As a suggestion, use the half frame slightly like you would a digital camera. Mindful of the composition beyond the single frame & think in diptychs & triptychs, opening yourself up to the serendipity. At least that's how I use the half frame.

[02Pilot]

I remember doing that same service on my old EES-2 (which eventually went to jojonas in exchange for a Retina folder). The auto-exposure needle-capture mechanism is pretty robust as it turns out, but it scared me to fiddle with such relatively fragile bits. The shutter and aperture, however, are very simple on those cameras. Glad you got it working.

For general camera repairs, unless you've got specific training, you just have to dig in and learn as you go. Practice cameras are a great option before you go after something you truly care about. Fortunately most models are documented on the interweb somewhere, so you'll rarely have to go into a fix completely blind. Organization and methodical work are necessities. The proper tools help an awful lot too.

It depends a lot on your expectations, but from my half-frame experiences I strongly suggest using very fine-grained film for best image quality. I'm using Ektar and TMax 100 in my half-frame cameras these days with very good results.

[Hungry Mike]

Re: Film & Half frame - Fine grained films are the usual way to go. I liked my results with Double X (shots from that roll are here http://www.filmwasters.com/forum/index.php?topic=6980.0) and finishing up another roll of that now. I'm also curious to see the results of Dacomatic A in half frame (I know you have loads!)

[jharr]

Mike, you're right. I do have plenty of that. I was anxious to start shooting with the Pen again, so I grabbed the shortest roll I had in the fridge which happened to be a 24 (48) exposure roll of my 'Professional' film. That is pretty grainy, so I am excited to see it. I am 20exp into it today. The Dacomatic is definitely next!

[Diane Peterson]

Jharr..and I am such a novice I had no idea! But I am really happy you made a go of it! I think it is a beautiful little camera. Definitely found a good home!

[John Robison]

Congrats on the Pen. You can tell if your efforts were successful, just look how the aperture blades open up in different kinds of light. Outdoors in daylight they will not open up much, in the shade a little more, in deep shade they will open up almost all the way. You can see the effect by looking at the lens while you slowly press the shutter button.

But...be warned, half frame is addictive.

Says me, a half frame junky for 40+ years.

[Ezzie]

Thanks for the info. I have a couple of lenses where this has happened to me, and have yet to get them working again. I thought that it was just me, being ham-fisted, wrecking the threads.

[jharr]

Congrats on the Pen. You can tell if your efforts were successful, just look how the aperture blades open up in different kinds of light. Outdoors in daylight they will not open up much, in the shade a little more, in deep shade they will open up almost all the way. You can see the effect by looking at the lens while you slowly press the shutter button.

Actually, now that I look closely, the aperture is opening all the way no matter what the light conditions or iso setting. That makes me think maybe the meter isn't working or needs cleaning. I took the top cover off just to verify that the stop needle wasn't blocked or stuck and it looks to be able to move freely. So once I have this roll of film through (finishing it on aperture priority settings) I will be taking this little guy apart again. Stay tuned for more half-frame fun!

[02Pilot]

The ISO setting just covers part of the selenium cell with a shade - make sure it's actually doing this. You can test it partially disassembled with a bright light source to see if the needle is responding. If not (which is very possible if it wasn't stored in a case or other dark spot), you've got yourself an aperture adjustment only, single shutter speed camera. That said, I always wondered about converting an old nonfunctional selenium cell camera to either a CdS (which would require a battery) or solar cell scavenged from an old calculator (which wouldn't).

[jharr]

This guy replaced a selenium cell with a silicone one. It takes a little soldering and possibly adding resistors to get the output voltage right.
Selenium Meter Replacement

This guy just did a little cleaning of the selenium cell and claims that worked.
Selenium Meter Repair

I will try the latter, but may need to do the former eventually.