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[OM] Malaysian breakdown

Subject: [OM] Malaysian breakdown
From: "Ulf Westerberg" <ulf.westerberg@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sun, 27 Aug 2000 16:21:33 +0200
Hello all,

just wanted to tell you of some of the Olympian hardships I suffered while on 
my latest trip to Malaysia.

Upon arrival in the rainforest of Taman Negara, my OM-4 immediately began to 
suffer from the heat and humidity. Display was turned on, but spotmetering 
couldn't be done, no matter how hard I pressed the button. Still, all else 
functioned so no big deal. Then, 2 hours later, everything was black in the 
finder. No matter what was done, camera was jammed. At the same time the 
display on my OM-4Ti began to freak out, occasionally ALL info was displayed at 
the same time, though everything seemed to be working. Hm, at this stage I 
began to worry, this was the two cameras I had with me, the OM-1n had to stay 
at home because of a newly developed shutter problem at faster speeds.
Then the OM-4 suddenly awakened. I could use for 4-5 more frames, then it all 
went dead again. This time it was really dead, completely jammed up, no 
display, no battery control beep, nothing. No mechanical 1/60 th either, Dead, 
dead, dead.

The next day I went for a hike in the rainforest, managed to get shoots of 
wandering termites, flowers with very strange pink-green leaves, a dragon fly 
with the reddest abdomen I've ever seen. As I was approaching my goal (a hide), 
I thought it would be nice to have some additonal shots of giant trees and 
their buttress roots. That is when the OM-4Ti just goes black. Nothing, nothing 
at all. Not even a mechanical 1/60th. Upon all this, instead of continuing my 
hike, I return to the lodge. There, after another 5-6 hours, the camera awakens 
but I can only use the 1/60 mechanical speed. No electronics, no battery test, 
no nothing. Dead, dead, dead. Except for 1/60 speed and bulb.

After some inital shock I grab my wifes Pentax MZ-5 to get some shoots of a 
giant birdwing butterfly that so nicely decides to rest just outside our chalet 
at the resort. As I approch this giant insect, autofocus goes berserk and 
finally parks itself at infinity. No autofocus at all, though all else seems to 
be functioning. The Pentax stays this way and saves the rest of the trip, 
albeit crippled with no autofocus.
All this happened within 24 hours. Thankfully this was at the end of the trip, 
with only 4 days left, we had had more than 2 weeks of great thrills before 
this, so the trip was fairly succesful, even photographically, despite the 
Taman Negara disaster.

But, as a consequence of not only this but some other breakdowns in the past, 
I'm in the process of changing to more heavyduty gear, ruggedness and 
durability being the main aspects. I've had thoughts of getting a high-end 
Nikon for my Tamron 400/4 as I've never been completely at ease with the 
shutter speed location of Olympus when using long teles (though it's excellent 
for handholding smaller lenses) and the flash system of Nikon is fantastic and 
of great use in nature photography.

I feel saddened by this, really. I feel more or less forced to do this as my 
nerves can't take it anymore. But, I'd like to stress that if it weren't for 
the durability aspect, I'd never part with Olympus. It's still in many ways the 
most elegantly enginered 35mm system ever made IMO, the shortcomings are all 
when it comes down to nature photography, where big teles and ruggedness (and 
weight, puh!) rules. If I did other photography (i.e. not nature), I'd never do 
this, believe me.

I had planned to keep the OM's for macro and landscapes but with virtually no 
cameras to put behind the lenses I'll put them up for sale together with 
accessories etc. I'll offer everything on the list first, there are some 
goodies as macros, fish-eye etc. In contrast to the cameras, lenses are all in 
excellent to good condition. Stay tuned.

I'll keep the OM-1n and a few lenses and a flash, just so I can return to the 
best camera ever made, just for the pure enjoyment. Besides, it gives me an 
excuse for hanging around on this the nicest of all lists!

Cheers all,
Ulf Westerberg
Nature- and Travel Photography at www.start.at/westerberg


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