Olympus OM-2n

This is a review of the Olympus OM-2n – a camera that I bought locally from a shop that was closing down. It cost me £30 which is usually within the maximum amount of money I am willing to spend on second hand gear but still I consider it to be a bargain of a price for such a wonderful camera.

Before you start reading this review, read my review of the Olympus OM-1n that I have here. For me, the OM-2n is just like an OM-1n with aperture priority exposure mode. If you did like the OM-1, you will like the OM-2n too. Everything that makes the OM-1n a classic camera, is here with the OM-2n too: Excellent build quality, small size, big and bright viewfinder, silent and smooth operations and beautiful lenses – everything there to please you. But there are some differences too.

The OM-2n is an electronic camera, no batteries means no camera. Also the light meter on the OM-2n is very sophisticated, in auto-mode and for the shutter speeds between 1sec to 1/45, it reads

The metering pattern on the first curtain

the light directly from the reflection of the film plane, between 1/45 to 1/1000 it measures it from the printed pattern of the first curtain just before exposure. This does not seem to have any impact on the shutter lad time, it feels the same with it's mechanical sibling. In manual mode the meter works just like the OM-1n. Therefore, the OM-2n uses two separate light sensors – the reading you get on the viewfinder is not necessary the same with the one you will get during exposure.

Once you switch the camera to Manual, the camera feels and works just like the old OM-1n. Problems with deteriorating prism foam, unfortunately apply to this camera too, although my sample is not too bad.

Now, something VERY important. You need to use the SR44 type of battery with this camera. The cheaper LR44 gives inaccurate meter reading that can vary from ½ to 2 stops (some report even 3 stops). The Duracell A76 cell that came with this camera, gave anything from ½ to 1 stop

Control dials are self-explanatory really

over-exposure. When I put a “fresh” LR44 cell bought from a poundshop (30 batteries for a pound), despite being just take out of the pack, it gave 2 stops over-exposure! When I bought a Duracell SR44 battery, all readings agreed with my Nikon F90x readings. It is spot on. So be careful, even if the LR44 cell gives you accurate readings, it will deteriorate as the voltage drops below 1.5v. Cheap batteries cannot even guarantee 1.5v.

Once I sorted out the meter readings, I loaded a film and started shooting away. As expected, I like this camera a lot. It feels so well made and so smooth that you enjoy using it.

As I said earlier on, this is an electronic camera, this means that if you run out of battery while taking a picture, the mirror might stay in the up position. Turning the switch to the “Reset” position, should be enough to reset the mirror, some people recommend doing that with the shutter speed set to “B”. In both cases, this will mechanically trip the shutter and bring the mirror down. If nothing happens, then.... hmm.. the camera probably needs servicing.

Conclusion:

As I said earlier on, if you like the OM-1, you will like the OM-2n too. They are very similar cameras and using them feels the same too. There are not many things that I can go into depth about, after reading my review of the OM-1, the same things (in terms of using the camera) apply to this one too. It is a pure pleasure looking through the viewfinder, it is impossible to understand how a small camera like this has bigger and brighter viewfinder than the massive Canon EOS-1n RS, it is brilliantly made. Keep an eye open for one of these and get them if they are in good working order, some 40 years later these cameras will benefit from servicing them. The black samples like mine tend to fetch more money in the used market but unless you really need a black version, the silver ones are the way to go (difference in price is considerable).

I do like this camera a lot, may I dare to say – and that is because I am a lazy photographer who loves auto-exposure – that I like the OM-2n even better than it's mechanical sibling!

A true classic – Highly recommended


Update (11/6/2016)

After shooting a couple of films more with this camera, it has raised it's status from “fantastic camera” to “super-fantastic camera”. There are a few things worth mentioning though.

First of all, I removed the top cover from the camera and cleaned the nasty foam from there. It was easier that I thought it will be – the foam used is relatively small and you can pick some of it out with a pair of tweezers. There is a video on Youtube on how to remove the foam on the OM-1, pretty much the same applies for the OM-2n.

As I said in the review of the camera, the OM-2n uses two metering modules, the one that controls the needle in the viewfinder and measures light in the viewfinder and the other that is placed on the bottom of the mirror box and controls exposure. These are completely independent meters. But, if you are shooting in manual mode and you use the meter reading provided in the viewfinder, you will notice that the more you move your eye away from the viewfinder, the more the needle shows a faster shutter speed. That is because light comes in from the viewfinder and increases the exposure readings. So make sure you keep your eye close to the viewfinder in order to get an accurate metering.

In a way, the OM-2n half-addresses the lack of speed/aperture readings in the viewfinder. Still there is no aperture reading in there but in Auto mode you do get an indication of a shutter speed used.