Had to pick between saving an OM-1 vs just taking the L

I got an OM-1 in last week. Prism was dead, foam was goo. Had two options. Either try to find a donor body and swap the prism myself. Or just tell the customer it's not worth the time. I chose the donor route. Found a beat up body for $40 on eBay. Took me about 4 hours to get the prism out clean without scratching it. Got it installed and the mirror came back to life. First time I'd done that repair. Customer was stoked. Has anyone else done a prism swap on these older OMs?

2 comments

2 Comments

taylor_young14d ago

4 hours seems like a lot of time for a $40 fix. I get that the customer was happy but you basically worked for free if you value your time at all. Prism swaps on these are tricky but if you've got the patience it's doable. I've done a handful myself and the second time was way faster once you learn the trick to getting that damn mirror box out without cracking the plastic. Still would've told them it wasn't worth fixing unless they really loved that specific body.

margaret_taylor4213d ago

What's your secret move for keeping that mirror box from cracking then? I've only attempted one of these swaps and ended up snapping a tab on the bottom. I figured it was cheaper to just throw the whole camera away but maybe I'm missing something obvious?