Trawling Charity Shops - The film obsession continues.

Well Hivers over the last few months I’ve been checking the charity shops in Newton for old film cameras and something finally turned up something interesting. It’s an Olympus OM-2n probably from the late 70s early 80s so fingers crossed with some new SR44 batteries the electrics will still work.

There was no body cap so a new 3D printed body cap from will tidy things up a bit, they also have an OM Mount lens rear cap that may come in handy if the lens from eBay lens doesn’t have one.

It’s just the body and a little grubby and dusty so it needs a clean and the battery was dead but the shutter fired on manual so it is working. The light seals are rather poor but that’s a simple DIY job to sort out and maybe a post, finally the hot shoe adaptor has cracked but that is a common problem and an easy super glue fix. Looking online meter wise there can be battery drain issues but these can be worked round if that’s the only problem I'll be happy with the price, it was really cheap. I might look for a vintage style neck strap on eBay to complete the 70s vibe and channel my inner David Bailey.

Lenses are another issue eBay will be my friend but I’m balking at paying twice as much as the camera cost for an OM mount 50mm f1.8, the only cheaper ones I’ve seen have fungus or parts only so not good but there are some videos on how to clean them so it may be worth a punt if I get desperate and it’s not too bad and I can’t find a good one at a reasonable price, but there is no real rush. For now I’ve picked up a 28mm f1.8 on eBay at good price so that will have to do for a while, it’s a bit on the wide side but I can shoot a test roll to check the settings and if everything is working. And I’ll keep an eye open for a 50mm f1.8.

But what film to use? I still have a couple of rolls of Ilford HP5 but I’m tempted to try it with colour and to pop a roll of ASA 200 Kodak Gold as I can get that at our local photo shop Snappy Snaps.

So there it is Hive film fans the next step is to run off a test roll of film and see how it develops, no pun intended, to check the speed and aperture on auto and manual, fingers crossed.