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[OM] OM-40 metering and battey problems

Subject: [OM] OM-40 metering and battey problems
From: Olaf Greve <Ogreve@xxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1999 15:16:11 +0100
Hi,

>, but I think your statement that the
>OM-40 does not have a "spot meter" is not quite right.  On the OM-40
>there is the ESP switch which gives you a sort of spot metering capability.
>I agree it is not as sophisticated as the spot metering of the OM-3* or
>OM-4*, but I believe it is comparable to that of the OM-2SP and OM2000.

Well, first off, I am not familiar with the OM-2SP and OM2000 spot metering,
but as far as I know the ESP (Electro Sensitive Pattern) switch is rather an
"automatic correction unit" than a spot meter. According to the OM-40 manual
it measures the light in the centre as compared to other areas of the
composition, and if one of them is clearly brighter, it will adjust the
shutter speed in order to "compensate" for the difference in light.
Generally spoken that works well, and it should even prevent the user from
getting these nasty counterlight effects (when not desired, that is). At
times I find myself switching it off though, especially when taking
intentional counterlight pictures, and the likes.

The only way to "perform spot metering" on the OM-40 that I have
discovered/employed so far is to make sure the object you want to have
correct exposure for, actually fills up the majority of the picture in the
composition (e.g. just measure the sky without the sun when taking sunset
pictures), then measure the correct shutter speed (in auto mode), swith the
camera to manual mode, enforce the measured shutter speed and take the
picture as desired. Needless to say, this description is given assuming you
have selected the desired aperture setting before performing the light
measurement.

Unfortunately the above mentioned method does not work when desiring to take
pictures of relatively small objects or objects that are beyond reach - the
discussion about spot metering the moon is a perfect example of this. In
such cases you will still have to guess, and rely on experience...

>I've heard that some OM-40's have this battery drain problem, but
fortunately
>mine seems to work just fine.

You are a lucky man :)

>But then, I don't use my OM-40 that much, I tend to use my OM-1. 

Really? My father actually has had an OM-1 for years, and if I want I can
just use that one, however, I really like my OM-40, especially since it has
the aperture preferred (auto) mode...

>When the OM-40 is not in use, I just leave the batteries in and fire it a
few times a month and >everything is OK.

I tried leaving them in before, only to find that no matter if I used the
camera a lot, or hardly at all, the batteries were dead after some 6 months
:(

Cheers!
Olaf


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Olaf Greve
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\  / /  Apollolaan 15,  Fax:    XX-31-(0)20-5750500
 \/\/   1077 AB,        E-mail: ogreve@xxxxxxx
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        The Netherlands
        Personal: http://www.angelfire.com/ca/greve
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