A tale of three OM1s

 Having explained how I found myself with an OM1, forty plus years after buying an OM10, it's time to look at the camera(s) I have settled on.

In fact, it nearly wasn't an OM1 at all. The Contaxiia I had been happily using was out of action, and causing the repair man to scratch his head, the Kiev4a which filled in for it seemed a bit on the heavy side to carry around for evermore, and so I decided to make use of the OM lenses which I had kept from years before. A few days of online browsing and auction-watching later, I found what sounded like a really nice OM2, in full working order, cosmetically pretty well perfect, and at a price which didn't seem too steep. I went for it. But when it arrived, it only took a few minutes to realise that all was not well. The shutter speeds just didn't sound or look right. Time to do some tests...

I have a small light-to-sound probe, which I plug into a laptop. Place the probe in the back of the camera and then use Audacity sound recording software to record the visual "noise" of the shutter opening and closing. I can then zoom in on the shape of the sound wave produced, and get a pretty good idea of how long the shutter was open for. What I found was that every shutter speed faster than 1/60 was measuring the same - about 1/50 of a second. The seller was apologetic, quickly sorted out a refund, and back went the OM2.

A few days later, it was an OM1 which caught my eye. The same promises of a camera in great condition, light seals replaced, crystal clear lens, already converted to take a modern battery, reasonable price. And this time it was true. So my second-time-around affair with the OM series began. 

A couple of test films later, and I was hooked. I found focussing a good deal faster and easier than on the Contax rangefinder, and unlike some people, I thought that having the shutter speed selector on the lens mount was no problem at all. It just felt right in my hands.

But of course, the nature of these things is that having found the ideal camera, you start looking for another, and it's fair to say that I have always thought the all-black models looked pretty good. So it wasn't long before OM1 number two came my way. The black version, with a serial number well beyond 1.1 million, so hopefully no troublesome prism foam to cause problems. This one has the added MD badge on the front, and that made me look again at the first OM1. That one has a serial number just over 1 million, no MD badge, but it does have a motor-drive door on the base plate. I understood that by the time the serial numbers reached a million, they were all MD models. So it could have been an earlier model with a replacement (and later) baseplate, or maybe it has been re-covered at some point, losing the MD badge. Next time it has no film in, I will look for clues inside - there are numbers and letters on the back of the pressure plate which can point to the manufacture date. Unless, of course, the pressure plate has been replaced...

And that was it until a third one appeared. This one is not quite perfect. Cosmetically very good, but the meter does not work. I haven't tried to find out why - to be honest I am quite happy using Sunny16 and experience/guesswork, as I did for several years with the Kiev and Contax. With the first two OM1s I will occasionally flick the meter on to check my settings, and most of the time it is close enough. If I do find myself using it in tricky light, there is always an app on my phone, or the ancient Weston Master V meter which sits on my shelf.

And that's it for now. But watch this space...I am always looking for bargains...