My Franken-Camera!

Hey everyone! I wanted to show this camera because i think you might find it interesting.

This Olympus started out as my first solid SLR camera wich i was able to get for a steal back when thriftstores were closed due to the pandemic. They only were open upon request, and due to the amount of stuff they had piled up in the time they were closed, they priced everything insanely low, just to get it gone. Believe it or not, i got this for 10 bucks with a zuiko 35mm F/2 attached!

Anyway, the camera was a great working early Chrome/Silver OM-1 though it did have some cosmetic issues like dents and scratches. I used to use it with the Sunny-16 rule since the meter was faulty but i still got a lot of use out of it back then, and i still do now! I took it with me every trip i went on.

A few months ago I came accross an advertisement for a bargain black OM-1n, wich had a lot of issues. It was super dirty and none of the electric circuits were working. I pulled the trigger on it, just because it still looked okay and had absolutely lovely patina from all the use.

When it arrived I tested it ofcourse and it became clear that the camera was not functioning right. So i began merging the two together to make one nice looking and functioning camera. As i dont have too much experience repairing camera’s this was quite stressfull but i took my time. I began replacing the easy parts like the bottom plate and the shutterspeed dial. Then i replaced the top plate, and in the meanwhile i swapped the doorlatch, all the rusted screws and even a faulty prism. Afterwards i did some soldering to get the meter to work again, and cleaned up all the dirty OM-1n parts (lots of sand?!).

What you see here is the result, i am a big fan of how it turned out, and since its working perfectly and looking good again, i will be able to take it with me even more :)

I would love to know what your thoughts are on the camera!