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[OM] Re: OM Zuiko lenses on E series digital bodies

Subject: [OM] Re: OM Zuiko lenses on E series digital bodies
From: John Hermanson <omtech1@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2008 08:43:51 -0500
You got it.  The OM-10 is not to be relied upon.  May be acceptable with
print film, but I predict that if slide film was used regularly with it,
you would abandon it.  I remember fielding lots of the complaints from
dealers while at Olympus.  They were left steaming over OM-10 quality.

___________________________________
John Hermanson
Camtech Photo Services, Inc.
21 South Lane, Huntington NY 11743
631-424-2121 | Olympus OM Service since 1977
http://www.zuiko.com  |  omtech1 AT verizon.net


Moose wrote:
> JOHN DUGGAN wrote:
> 
>> moose OR C.H. Ling wrote.....a good reputation for quality and 
>> reliability undone by the OM10   :-O
>> 
> 
> That was me.
> 
>> Scurrilous remarks about a camera that I must defend :-)
>> 
> 
> I speak generically, or statistically, or whatever, not anecdotally.
> As a whole, the OM-10 sticky magnet debacle had a huge negative
> effect on Oly's quality reputation and cost Oly and their
> distributors a ton of money. See below.
> 
>> I originally bought an OM10 as a backup to my first OM1n and 2n.
>> Used the camera in situations where I did not want to risk my "good
>> cameras". Frequently took it caving in good wet welsh caves.
>> Usually banging about in an old ammunition case. Also used when
>> hiking and camping etc. No matter how I treated the camera it NEVER
>> let me down.
>> 
> 
> Also, Oly redesigned the OM-10 internally, starting with serial
> numbers over 2 million. You may have one of those - or simply be one
> of the lucky few. Cold and wet, by the way, would be much better for
> a type I OM-10 than warm and wet or dry.
> 
>> It is now enjoying a new lease of life with my elder daughter who
>> uses it....
>> 
> 
> Chuck last posted these earlier posts from the experts less than a
> year ago. I guess they are classics that need regular reposting.
> 
> Moose -------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Date: Wed, 11 Apr 2001 19:14:01 -0500 From: clintonr@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>  Subject: Re: [OM] Re: Why the OM decline? (the OM-10 story - long!)
> 
> Chris O'Neill wrote:
> 
> 
> 
>>>>>>> ... Olympus did some stores dirty in the recent past,
>>>>>>> which has probably left some store owners with hard
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>>> feelings...
>>>>> 
>>>>> The owner of a local (Wichita) camera store told me things
>>>>> began to go downhill with the OM10.  For whatever reason,
>>>>> Olympus
>>> 
>>> 
> 
>>> determined that this would not be covered by warranty.
> 
> 
>>> A former dealer here in Edmonton told me that at one point, not
>>> sure when, Olympus tried to "strong arm" dealers into pushing
>>> more equipment.
>>> 
>> 
>> 
> 
> 
> Ah, memories, memories!
> 
> Let's start at the beginning of all this -- the OM-10.  Prior to this
>  model, Olympus Camera Corporation (OCC, Olympus' US Distributor) was
>  going "great guns".  The OM-1 and 2 had established the Olympus name
> as one of quality, overcoming the resistance of a consumer market
> where "bigger is better", and the intransigence of the "professional"
> market as well.
> 
> The OM-10 was designed as an economical amateur camera.  Inside, it
> has plastic gears and shafts where earlier OM's had metal parts --
> and _that_ I suspect was where the problem started.  To make the
> shutter work "smoothly" (my analysis), the plastic gears were
> liberally doused with shutter oil (an indisputable fact).
> 
> This (over-oiling) was fine for a while.  But in a year or so, 
> particularly in warmer climes, this lubrication began to migrate, 
> eventually saturating the armature and electromagnet of the shutter.
>  OM-10's began to pour into the (5) Olympus repair facilities, all
> with the same problem -- erratic exposures.
> 
> At the time, some may recall, Olympus OM products distributed in the
> US by OCC were covered by a 2 year warranty.  I don't know about the
> other facilities, but in Dallas (where I was Customer Service Manager
> / Technician), this was recognized as a warranty defect, and serviced
> as such.
> 
> Our first instructions to correct the problem were to simply wipe the
>  excess lubrication off the armature (I wouldn't be surprised if
> other facilities received different directions -- sort of a "test
> marketing" of different repair methods).  This worked fine for a
> while, but inevitably, in a few months, the cameras came back again
> as more lubrication seeped onto the armature.
> 
> It quickly became evident that the only reliable solution to the
> problem was to completely disassemble every OM-10 with an erratic
> shutter, completely flush the excess oil from the shutter, soak the
> electromagnet coil in solvent to remove the lubricant trapped in the
> windings, the reassemble and re-time everything.  That was the
> procedure we began to use in Dallas, and our actual re-work
> percentages for OM-10's dropped dramatically.  Again, I don't know
> what other offices were doing to address the problem by then.
> 
> But it was, of course, too little, too late -- the reputation of an 
> otherwise good model was severely compromised.
> 
> At the same time, foreign exchange rates were such that US dealers
> could buy OM cameras from non-US sources cheaper than they could from
> OCC (resulting in the so-called "grey market")!  Thus, OCC found
> themselves fixing OM-10's they'd sold with a two-year warranty again
> and again, as well as servicing non-US cameras with their one-year
> warranty (this may have been the source of some dealer complaints
> that Olympus wasn't recognizing their warranty) for which they'd
> received absolutely no economic compensation.  Something obviously
> _had_ to be done!
> 
> OCC management decided to do two things to balance their books, 
> essentially "shooting themselves in the foot" -- first, they dropped
> the two-year warranty (clearly the only advantage customers had for
> paying extra to obtain a legitimately imported camera).  Then they
> created a "special" Manual Adapter with the "FC" ("Full Control")
> marking for the OM-10 that was included with the US models (along
> with a little US flag emblem on the body), and they raised the price
> of the accessory Manual Adapters an outrageous amount -- the idea
> being that "Grey Market" camera sellers would have to buy Manual
> Adapters from OCC to "compete" with OCC's cameras.  This was, of
> course, an abject failure.
> 
> With the resulting losses, OCC had to cut expenses.  This meant (to 
> OCC's management) closing offices and laying off personnel.  First
> they closed the Dallas office, then the office in Atlanta.  Next came
> the warehouses in LA and Chicago.  Finally, sales regions were 
> "consolidated", sales positions eliminated, and so on.
> 
> At the same time, OCC was determined to increase profit.  Prices were
>  raised without considering the marketplace, and sales quotas were 
> increased in the face of growing dealer resistance -- to many
> dealers, it seemed as if Olympus wasn't long for the US, if not the
> world!
> 
> So that's the story from my perspective -- others may disagree, but 
> that's what I saw.  Except for a few minor blemishes, though,
> Olympus' products are superior by far -- otherwise they would have
> never survived. 
> -------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> From: "John Hermanson" <omtech@xxxxxxxxx> Subject: [OM] Re: sticky
> shutter Date: Tue, 13 Apr 2004 11:19:56 -0400
> 
> 
> Actually, OM-10 improvements came at serial number 2,000,000.  This 
> included modular shutter with metal curtain shafts (vs. plastic), 
> relocation of the shutter magnet to the front of the camera (where it
>  still gets contaminated with oil).
> 
> One way to check if camera is new style:  open back, fire shutter on
> B, look at floor of mirror box :  there should be a screw hole
> visible near back of mirror box floor cover.  Yes, I suggest any 2N
> or 1N over a 10. G/20 are okay but suffer from some  of the same
> OM-10 maladies (Though a G/20 is really a rebadged type 2 OM-10, with
> built in manual speeds) 
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> 
> 
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