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[OM] OTF: Reliable? NOT!

Subject: [OM] OTF: Reliable? NOT!
From: "jlamadoo, home account" <jlamadoo@xxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2001 22:21:23 -0400
<rant mode>

Okay, I'll admit to being new to this OTF deal.  My old T-20 / OM-PC
combination worked reliably but I never used it.

Then I gave away my OM-PC to a new mother and upgraded to the T-32.  I got a
NIB shoe for the OM-2.  (Yes, it was the correct shoe for the 2, not the 2n
shoe.)

Anyway, I shot flash pictures of friends using the T32 on the shoe on the
OM-2.  Most were severely underexposed but two were perfect.

Now if they were ALL underexposed, I would be thinking, "It's my own fault
as I should really have a CLA."  But the fact that two were perfectly
exposed leaves me thinking that the OTF thing is completely unreliable.  I
didn't have that film processed before I went on a trip though.

On the trip, the flash failed completely 3 times in a row.  I was shooting
EI 100 under low light with the OM2 set at auto, 1/60th, f 8.  The T32 was
ON and the stupid, easy-to-lose calculator panel was set to "OM2 Fully
Automatic".

I removed the T-32 and reseated it, screwing it onto the shoe.  No flash.  I
removed the T-32 and tried yet again.  Nothing.  I reseated the T-32 a third
time and it started working.

So, I began to think about what I could do to fix this.  Hmmm. The socket
that the shoe fits in is completely recessed.  There is no WAY a user should
try to clean that out.  And the shoe is uncracked.  NIB.  The T-32 shoe is
uncracked.

What the heck?  Is it time to buy a point and shoot, just for flash
pictures?

Before my trip, I tried out my other new shoe for a TTL cord.  I could not
even BELIEVE that they have the shoe aim the cord directly over the lens.
What's up with that?

So I put the shoe on the camera, and tried to mount the camera on my non-Oly
flash bracket and what do you suppose?  The towering shoe made it impossible
to attach the camera to the bracket.

This is even more moronic than the slip-on hood I had for the 50mm /f1.8 on
my OM-1 (pre n).  Remember those hoods?  He had this friction ring idea
which was a good idea, but then to tense the friction ring, he designed a
very, very, shallow aluminum threaded hole into which was threaded a
miniature, aluminum fingerbolt.  So, you head out into the world with this
BOLT hanging off your hood.  Naturally, the first time you brush a coat
sleeve across the dangling BOLT, the thing bends.  When you straighten it,
you just weakened it further.  The second time you brush your sleeve against
the hood, the bolt snaps off.  Sheesh!  I loved to fire that OM-1 but the
hood was an expensive piece of crap in my book.

Sometimes, I'm tempted to just get an advanced p/s.  More and more
often.....

</rant mode>



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