Fun on film

Having braved the recesses of the loft to recover the Christmas stuff, I decided that I'd better continue my (very) slow but steady clear out of all the forgotten treasures.

There is a box up there that contains a number of old film cameras, and since the last time I considered moving them on was over 5 years ago (and I haven't looked at them since), it is time to bite the bullet.

So:

A perfectly serviceable^* Pentax ME Super with various lenses

A perfectly serviceable^* Olympus OM20 with various lenses, including a rather large Vivitar 25-200 zoom that was my go-to one

^*That's a bit of an assumption as they went away in perfect working order. The mechanics are still fine and tested, but there are no batteries aboard to do further testing.

Both of these appear to have some value. I was considering throwing them on fleabay, but it being the season of goodwill and all, the one-armed haridan (sorry dear!) suggested Oxfam might want them. As they appear to have a central point for flogging just such photographic stuff, that is now the plan.

I'd put a Pentax Auto 110 and an Olympus Trip AF on one side to dump, but a further check indicated that even these might have some resale value, so they will be offered with the others as a job lot. The Pentax is a bit of a "niche" product.

Anyway, a trip to an Oxfam shop is now in order to see if they will take them (and I can pick up a few nice "new" ties at the same time).

My inner kit demon would be interested to know about your ‘various lenses’ for the Pentax. Anything fixed in the 100mm range...? Or (gasp) a 24mm/2.8?

The ME Super will be fine if it’s been stored without batteries, as leaking cells are about the only internal thing that can harm it. As will Humph’s Trip (a very different beast from the Trip AF) because that doesn’t use batteries at all. If it’s been in its case all this time, there’ll have been no light to use up the finite selenium meter cell either.

I almost bought an OM-20 in the olden days. I had a book by Patrick Lichfield, who was the highest-profile Olympus enthusiast at the time. Only the one in the shop seemed to have been put away with its mirror stuck up, and nobody knew how to free it. This didn’t bode well, so the ME Super got the nod instead. Olympus film gear seems to fetch lower prices than Pentax and (especially) Nikon nowadays, perhaps because there are no current Olympus cameras that can fully use the lenses. (The mirrorless ones can, with adapters, but only with a severe crop and no automation.)

Anyway, yes, Oxfam has cottoned on to the value in film gear and sells it at pretty much what you’d pay a dealer — but without the warranty. It’s still kept in the shops but you can order from a central website and pay only one delivery fee even if multiple shops are involved. My Auto 110 came from Oxfam in Wokingham. I made myself wait a whole week before going back in to buy it (for £20 with the toffee-sized 24mm lens.) It’s undeniably cute but the picture quality is awful.

I took a hyped and sought-after Yashica T4 to Prague last week, to see if (a) it still worked (it did) and (b I still liked it enough to not sell it. (I didn’t.) For family reasons I actually have two of them, and it’s time to turn both into what ought to be a useful chunk of cash.

....and with the batteries inserted, the mirror immediately went "clunk".

Both cameras look fully functional, including electronics.

The Vivitar 70-210 Series 1 was my usual 'go-to' lens for my OM1 and later OM4s. Damn good lens and very good when coupled with an Olympus 2x teleconverter for wildlife shots.

The OM1 is a peach of a camera. Light, quiet and very intuitive to use. The OM4 is a bit of a faff in comparison and eats batteries.

A lot of my black and white stuff was done with the OM1 and I was a big fan of the Zone System using my Pentax spot meter.

I've not used my RX100 enough to probably get it like that. I also did not know this was a problem. Great cameras though.

I don't think it's delamination per se, I think it's the anti-reflective coating breaking down.

As I say, once I started researching, I found a lot of (too many) hits on the web outlining the same problem.

The failed plastic protector is very well stuck down, and not easy to get started, but once it is slightly raised, it can be pealed off carefully, thought it takes quite some effort.

I'd found a mildly-daunting Youtube video of fixing an NEX 5, which recommended going for an optical glass replacement rather than 'plastic'. The glass I bought was an excellent fit, and much easier to apply than any plastic screen protectors I've ever used.

Aesthetically, the result is very pleasing.

...as I said, there are a large number of occurrences described on the web, across a range of Sony cameras. It doesn't look like delamination in situ, and I have seen it described as a breakdown of the protector. I have, however, also seen it described as delamination. TBH, once it is off, it is difficult to work out exactly what it is.

My, extremely similar, camera shows no effect whatsoever, and though it is newer, it is at least as old as when it was very noticeable on SWMBO's, so I suspect there'll be no future issue. Whatever, it looks like a Sony-specific manufacturing issue.

Here is a Youtube video (not the one I referenced before repairing) with a similar issue on a touch-screen (the RX100 isn't). Replacement with an optical glass cover has retained the touch-screen function.



If it were me, if all is currently OK I think I'd leave well alone. If I were really worried, however, and wanting to keep the camera in perpetuity, I might just invest in the appropriate optical glass cover now (whilst still readily available) and keep it in reserve.