In Hawaii, I had only one 'Ooops' when I dropped my 9+ condition Control
Grip on rocks at the ocean and it bounced into a small puddle of seawater. I
shook out as much salt water as I could. Damage? The insidiously cheap
little plastic latch, which holds 12 AA batteries up against gravity, of
course broke. And the grip would not fire the motor even when I pushed the
battery compt full up and hard against the contacts.
When I got back to our rental house, I removed the batteries and submerged
the battery holder and the grip in a pan of tap water, shaken, not stirred,
while we went out to dinner. On our return, I removed them and shook them
thoroughly to get as much water as possible out. Wiped off what water I
could still see and left them to dry overnight. Next day I put in new
batteries, pushed the holder up tight with one hand, fired the shutter with
the other and - presto - it worked. Went out and bought some black duct
tape (none of that cheesy grey stuff on *my* equipment) and taped the
battery holder up. The thing's still working fine. I may pull off the
switch area to see if there's any corrosion I should clean up in there.
One other incident occurred on this trip which was unique to me anyway. We
were about 10 minutes from the house on the way to the airport when the baby
demanded to be fed. So I pulled off the freeway at the next exit, where I
knew there were a couple of dilapidated farm buildings I had thought I might
shoot one day. While my wife was taking care of bizness, I grabbed the OM-1
I had brought which is my IR camera. I keep a #29 filter taped between the
rails and load usually Kodak HIE and sometimes SFX200 film. I took about
1/2 doz exposures on the brand new roll of HIE but then the next time I
pushed the shutter button down, I heard a very very faint 'click' but
nothing happened. The camera was completely jammed. Couldn't wind, couldn't
shoot, nothing helped. My wife and 11 yr old daughter were not real pleased
when I said we had to go back home to get another camera. I had my 2 4Ts
with me, but I had wanted a manual body as a backup. It looked like the -1
had bit the dust, so we went back and I grabbed my new OM-2000.
That night in the hotel I took the only tool I had with me, a tiny swiss
army knife, and was able to remove the bottom plate from the OM-1. I found
a bit of the mechanism which was bent ever so slightly and causing the jam.
A slight push with the knife bent it back a tiny amount but enuf to get the
camera working again and it's still working.
Moral: Either bring some jewelers flat and phillips with ya, or a swiss army
knife, just in case.
George
-----Original Message-----
From: Chip Stratton <cstrat@xxxxxxxxx>
To: olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thursday, October 14, 1999 3:47 PM
Subject: RE: [OM] Legends and Myths
>
>How about this one:
>
>OM-4T dunked in the sea - wet inside and out - but flushed with fresh water
and
>dried on a warm engine block: All circuits and mechanicals seem fine to
this
>date.
>
>Of course, this happened only 2 months ago - still time for corrosion to
yet do
>its insidious damage.
>
>Chip Stratton
>cstrat@xxxxxxxxx
>
>
>
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