Olympus OM-1n

I don't know why I always avoided Olympuses. My brother had an OM-10 which was by all means a beautiful camera; it's just that I never got warmed up to them. I had twice the chance to get an OM-1 cheap and twice I shied away. A couple of months ago, a senior gentleman was selling this beauty for £20 on my local car-boot sale, so I went ahead and bought it. He told me that he had bought it in the late 70's and has seen very little use. That must be true, the camera doesn't even display any wear next to the strap lugs and in the battery chamber, there was an original mercury cell, still giving accurate exposure readings.

As always, if you want to read everything about the background of this camera and have a comprehensive guide about its different functions and accessories, MIR's website is the place to start. I will limit my review here on my experience shooting a couple of films with it.

First of all, I have to say that the OM-1n is a much more handsome camera in person that it looks in pictures. It is very compact (although the Pentax MX and ME are smaller) with all controls feeling smooth and very well made. The film advance mechanism has a beautiful, smooth action and the shutter release is quiet with very low vibration levels. This camera is as quiet as the Minolta XD-7 but the mirror/shutter unit is so well damped that you do not feel the mirror coming down. I also like the ring outside the shutter button which provides support to the finger when pressing it. Metering reading is displayed in the viewfinder through a needle display. I have to say that the older Cds element is not as responsive as newer galium or silicon elements but I doubt it will ever cause you to miss a picture. Metering pattern is a typical for the 70's centre weight and is accurate. The light meter on the Olympus OM-1n is designed to work with the now obsolete 1.35v mercury button cell; this means that the newer LR9 buttons will result in under-exposure due to their higher voltage. You can always adjust the ISO to compensate for the difference but unfortunately in very bright or very low light conditions you will still get an error. The solution is either you buy a battery adaptor so that you can use the normal SR44 cells or send the camera away to have it converted and cleaned.

Now, you will either love or hate the ergonomics. The shutter speeds are placed on a ring next to the lens mount and because of that, the aperture ring has moved to the very front of the lens to avoid confusion with the shutter ring. This is not necessary a second nature for photographers but it didn't take me long to get used to it. Actually, I find it genius; you can control speeds and aperture with your left hand and have the right index on the shutter button. I love it; other manufacturers should have done the same (Nikon did with the Nikkormats). All speeds work fine in my sample except from the "B" setting which works more like 1 second. Another clever design on the camera is the mirror lock-up and the move of the rewind release button from underneath the camera to the front. Also, the DOF preview has moved from the camera body to the lens - how clever and effective!!!

The plague that marred this cameras is the foam used extensively as light seals or in order to cushion the prism underneath the top plate. This foam deteriorates into sticky goo that sips through the viewfinder or other mechanisms underneath the top plate and requires cleaning. I am telling you, I tried to clean the light seals and it is a nasty job to do, I cannot imagine what is happening below the top plate. At some point I will have to send the camera away to have it sorted.

Viewfinder deserves extra mention. Despite the compact dimensions of the camera, the viewfinder is big and bright, a real pleasure to look through. Unfortunately - and this is the camera's biggest disadvantage for me - there are no aperture or shutter speeds indicated in there; you need to remove your eye from the finder and look down on the camera to see what settings you are using. Well, I suppose you cannot have everything but it is something that I dearly miss. ISO settings reach up to 1600 and there is no exposure compensation dial, so if you use 3200 ISO film you need to keep in mind that you need to under-expose by one stop. I always use 400 ISO film so no sweat for me.

There are four different incarnations of this camera. The original and very rare M-1, which is the same as the OM-1 but just renamed due to Leica kicking off as they were using "M" for their rangefinders, the OM-1 MD, which accepts motor-drive and finally the OM-1n which is an OM-1 MD with improvements on the film transport mechanism, a LED on the viewfinder for flash and a few other bugs fixed. The cup that seals the motor drive mechanism comes off so easily and it is really easy to lose. I have placed some sellotape on it just to be on the safe side.

Olympus OM-1n Vs. Pentax MX

  The battle of the titans. Which one wins? Let's see. First of all, the MX was produced three years later, so keep that in mind. The MX sorts out OM-1n's biggest disadvantage; It provides both aperture and shutter speed readings in the viewfinder. Also the Pentax MX is smaller in dimensions but film advance on my model (which was CLA'ed by Asahi Photo) is not as smooth as my non-CLA'ed Olympus. Also the Pentax is more noisy and produces more vibrations than the Olympus. The Olympus has a true mirror lock up, the Pentax doesn't although it is possible with a bit of practice to lock the mirror up. It is called the "Pentax flick" and I would definitely avoid it. The viewfinder on the Pentax feels marginally bigger when you look through but the Olympus gives a whopping 97% of the actually picture (compared to Pentax's 95%) and in the Olympus it feels a bit brighter. Another big advantage of the Pentax over the Olympus is that the MX is using LR/SR44 batteries while the Olympus needs the older 1.35V mercury buttons. On the flip-side, Olympus has two advantages for me. The shutter button on the Olympus feels more responsive and better supported by the outer ring and second I find using the needle in the viewfinder being easier to use than MX's LEDs. Let's explain a bit more about it. In the Pentax MX, once the red LEDs are on, you know that you are over/under exposing but you do not

The light meter needle on OM-1n

know for how much. With the OM-1n needle, you have a rough idea about how many stops you are over/under exposing (see picture). The film advance stroke is shorter on the Olympus than it is on the Pentax but one thing worth mentioning is the vast variety of third-party K-mount lenses that are available for Pentax (Ricoh, Chinon etc..), not many companies adopted the Zuiko lens mount standard.

Conclusion

The Olympus OM-1n has been one of those cameras that influenced a whole decade in camera manufacturing and set the standards just like the Nikon F did in the 60's and the Minolta 7000 did in the 80's. Forty years later, this is one excellent piece of equipment still favoured by many photographers. Because of the sticky goo and the 1.35V battery, most of them will need cleaning and conversion by qualified staff but I feel that it is an investment worth both the money and effort. It is a modern classic and definitely one of the best cameras I laid my hands on. Actually the more I started using it, the more time the Pentax MX and Minolta XD-7 tend to spend in the shelf.
A truly beautiful picture taking machine. School perfect for Olympus.

Lasting Impressions

Ten months later and there is nothing that changed in the way I feel about the Olympus OM-1n. In a slim-down crisis, I sold (again) the majority of my equipment (including my Dynax 9xi, Minolta XD-7, Pentax MX, etc...), keeping only this Olympus, the Leica, the Nikons F4s and F90x and the Canon EOS 5. The Olympus was sent to Mr Michael Spencer who did a brilliant job in servicing it. Now the camera feels so smooth, the pentaprism foam was removed, and the battery voltage was converted to 1.5v. I bought a Silvernose Zuiko 50mm f/1.4 and I thoroughly enjoy shooting with it. It is a true masterpiece of a camera.