A Fungus Among Us

Definitely not the best phrase you want to hear when you take a camera to the repair shop.

During my lunch break I brought my new used Olympus OM-1 camera to my trusty camera repair establishment and while going over the list of repairs/modification I want (new light seals, mirror sponge, battery conversion, meter check/repair, shutter speeds test, replace focus screen) I also mention to clean some grime in the viewfinder. Matt takes a look at it and says "there's a fungus among us". The fungus appeared to be on the irreplaceable prism! They said they would be able to clean it, but it might come back. Sad face. Maybe once back in my possession I should figure out how to blast some ultra-violet light to kill off any possible remaining spores.

What I love about the camera is its size, ergonomics, viewfinder, and non-reliance on batteries and can not wait until I have it back in my hands. I also have an OM-10, but the thing eats my batteries and the meter is off, so I am not likely to take it out. I thought about having work done on that one, but the OM-1 is a real classic SLR so I may as well put some money into that one, right? I hope.

Will let you know its performance after all I shoot and develop a roll.

flickr photos