Olympus PEN EES-2 - Review and Test the Meter
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 ก.ค. 2024
- #olympus #film #cameras
My second vintage Olympus camera to the collection. The Olympus PEN EES2. A beautiful half frame camera, solid in build with a Selenium crystal meter that never needs a battery. I paid $90AUD for it from eBay but unfortunately the meter doesn't work. I read these meters last forever, so it could be just rusted connections inside. I was going to try and fix it, but would probably break it even more.
You can use it in manual mode, but it will only shoot @ 1/40 shutter speed, which is meant for when using flash. I was going to give it a go, but at that speed during the day walking with Jerry it would be a nightmare. I would be way too overexposed even at f/22
In the end, it's a very expensive paper weight that is going strait into the poolroom. I have a few tips on how to test the light meter you can do if you decide to buy one. Skip ahead if you came here for that. Otherwise, enjoy my little video on a beautiful vintage camera from Olympus
Rob and Jerry
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I can tell already, that I will learn lots with you, Roberto! Cheers!
🤪 i need to learn first. Im just bumbling along learnimg from my own mistakes. This new hobby could get expensive lol
Someone at Olympus product marketing had a really good sense of humor naming this camera PEN( )EES(-2).
Haha.... and it came with a small lens 🍌
LOL, you're a funny guy Roberto, that was my question (concern) on your last video about buying “stuff” (the OM-1) on ebay, I already have a bunch of paperweights in the house, but I do agree with you, the camera looks great.
Ha. Yea i have joined the paper weight club. I guess i could fix it but prob cheaper to try again. The pen f is on my radar now. 😳
Yes, I got Zenography-itis as well. Now I have a collection of vintage lenses and cameras, too!
Haha. That zen guy is a classic.. so calming voice and great collection 👍
As I watch this I have my old Pen EE-3 beside me. I was given the camera in the 1980's by a friend who bought it, and hated it. I also hated the camera, but I still have it. I much prefer half frame cameras that have a landscape orientation. It was the portrait mode that people most disliked in the old days. Portrait orientation is much more popular these days because people are used to using their phones like that.
Olympus definitely did NOT invent half frame. Half frame cameras go back to the 1930's but weren't very popular. Olympus released their first half frame camera in 1959. They made the discovery that unlike earlier half frame cameras, like the Mercury, half frame proved to be popular in Japan and East Asia, so their Pen series became popular there, and the series lasted into the 1980's. Because of the Pen series popularity it caused other manufacturers like Canon and Konica to develop their own half frame models. Konica and Yashica, in particular were very successful and were much more innovative than Olympus, and were making half frame cameras until well into the 90's.
Olympus gets credit for popularizing the half frame format in East Asia, and to a smaller degree in the rest of the world. Half frame cameras, however, were never a large portion of the camera market outside Japan. The Olympus lenses are also very good in terms of sharpness, and the cameras tend to look good, and feel good in the hand.
The many things to not like about those old Pen cameras were only two shutter speeds, too much automation/lack of manual controls, and lousy minimum focus distance. My EE-3, for example only focuses to 1.5 meters. There was an accessory close up attachment but I never saw one back then so they cannot have been common.
In the long run the biggest flaw is the Selenium cell. Selenium cells deteriorate over time, become less accurate over time, and eventually stop working. Pen cameras that still work are on borrowed time, and eventually they will all stop working. I had a 1930's Westin Meter that lasted to the end of the century, so lasted over 50 years, but eventually died, and all devices that use a selenium cell seem to last over 30 years, but at the 50 year point a high portion of them are no longer working. This is not an eBay problem. It is a Selenium cell problem. Sellers can tell you if the Selenium cell is operating, but they usually cannot know how accurate it is.
There is an internal adjustment that can be made to compensate for lack of accuracy, but it is not a permanent solution and impossible to do without disassembling the camera.
You are not alone in having a Pen camera that is just a paperweight. I have a couple of Pen's, and they both still work, but I am very aware that they are on borrowed time, and then they will eventually be paperweights as well.
Thanks. That's great insight. Amazing how they figured out these crystals could be used to measure exposure. But yes all things die in the end. A manual option would have been good, but I guess it ease of use was priority. What a good looking paperweight they make lol 😆. What landscape half frames are there? I'm not familiar
@@robdido Konica, Kyocera, and Yashica all sold landscape orientation half frames, but there were probably others that I am unfamiliar with. Kyocera owned Yashica and I don't know why they would sell very similar cameras under both brand names. Often Germany is the reason for such name differences. For example the Ford Mustang is sold as the Mustang all over the world, except for Germany where it was called the T5. I seem to remember being told once that Yashica cameras were sold as Kyocera in Germany as part of the distribution agreement.
Landscape orientation means having a film transport mechanism that is vertical like a motion picture film camera instead of sideways, like a Leica. The Yashica Samurai, for example, looks like a camcorder rather than a stills camera and is a bit awkward. Like the Pens, it has too much automation.
Early Selenium metal compounds were mercury, lead, and zinc compounds. They are semi-conductors. Most of them were red colored, but in 1873, Willoughby Smith discovered that the electrical conductivity of "gray" Selenium compounds would vary conductivity in response to light. This lead to the first Selenium cell light meters for photography in the 1870's, and in 1879, Alexander Graham Bell was using them with his early telephones. It is these older Selenium cells that degrade over time due to exposure to light.
There are two ways to extend the life of a Selenium cell. Firstly keep it in the dark. This includes keeping a lens cap on a Pen at all times except when taking a photograph, and secondly, store the camera in dry and cool conditions. The original Olympus plastic Pen lens caps are much better at keeping light out than modern pinch type lens caps and were probably engineered with the light protection function in mind.
The modern version is the more sophisticated Copper Indium Gallium Selenide solar cell which has application in thin film solar cells, and flexible solar cells or printed directly onto glass. They comprise about 2% of the global solar cell production.
Interesting, thank you
I think "magic or some shit" is how all technologies should be explained.
I know my shit 😁
Such a shame the light meter wasn't working!
I just picked up an absolutely mint Olympus Pen EE I believe it's the 2nd version so has the same 2 shutter settings as yours but it's the fixed focus lens and the back slides away from.the bottom of the camera, not a side opening door like yours.
I tested the light meter just before I paid for it and it's working fine.
Mine has spent the last 30 years in it's original pouch in a lovely dry loft, so it's been in the dark which helps to keep the light meter working.
I'm looking forward to shooting some B/W Ilford HP5 with this. 👍
Yes. The selenium wears out in the light. Good it was covered. Nice catch with the electric eye as they call them. Im going to try find higher iso speed film and shoot 1/40 speed.. lol wish me luck 😆
That's a fine looking camera Roberto, just a pity that it doesn't work of course. As a thought, would it work in manual mode if you used your EM10 as a light-meter as it were - dial in 1/40th of a second shutter speed in shutter priority and then select whatever aperture it suggests for the Pen. It's got to be better than leaving the Pen on the shelf!
You have inspired me to dig out my old OM10 (a modern name now!) and I've put a black and white film in it.
Yes. Been thinking about it. Shame not to give her another glimlse of light😁 i reckon 1/40 might be enough. Blue hour will work fine... or good excuse to buy another one 🤪. Yes that om10 is brand new according the new owners of olympus lol
There's something interesting about the 2nd scenario. In my case, if I use ISO 400 it shoots, but no matter what amount of light it receives when using ISO 100, it never shoots on auto f.
that is very strange. I guess setting the 400 tricks the crystals to thinking there is heaps of light coming in. The only thing we can't be certain of is what actual shutter speed its using when it works on Auto mode. Is it shuttering at 200 or 40... What I was thinking was to use it in manual mode with an external meter on a dark day and shoot close to 1/40 for every shot... then Ill be sure I know what shutter speed its using no matter what. Very limiting but I guess its 50 years old now.. hahah
Maybe only part of your cell is working? The ASA slider covers up part of the cell to trick the camera into detecting less light at lower ASA values. If the slider covers up the only working section of the cells, it could stop it from working altogether.
The probable cause is that the plate covering the selenium and the ISO dial are not linked. It is a semi-circular plate that looks slightly white.
Interesting. Might need to open it up but bit scared ill stuff it up even more
Sorry that you got a broken camera, but I enjoyed your video a lot. Jerry is adorable.
Lol..jerry bday today.. 🎂 i might take it out and shoot at 1/40 speed just to have a laugh see if it works. Jerry wont mind
@@robdido a very happy birthday to Jerry 🥳 🎂
If you want the selenium meter to last use a lens cap or in a camera case, constant exposure to light will degrade it.
Yes good tip. Once it's dead there is no reviving it.
Hi Rob
As you know I caught the bug for collecting old film cameras over the past five years.
Before the recent film renaissance I bought several Olympus Trips (David Bailey type) for very little money as I just loved their styling. I did have one with a dud selenium cell and another that had a damaged body. I managed to cannibalised both to make a working decent camera.
I have never had the half frame …I seem to remember back in the seventies that it was difficult to find a developing lab willing to process half frame film.
Yes its hit and miss getting them in good condition. Just bought a trip from shop fully refurbished for 200$. Yes the interest in film has sky-rocketed. Proccessing half frame should be the same. Maybe the labs wont scan them individually. The hunt is part of the fun 😁 i opened the camera but got no idea what im looking at and a snapped a wire oops.
Zenography is a cool guy. My GAS for cameras & guitars go back to the 70s. Yikes,,, I need help!
Love guitars. Only got copies but ill probably buy a nice original studebaker or les paul
My Selenium meter is broken 😥 How can I fix that ?
Not sure. Its pretty hard if not impossible. Camera repair man would have to take it apart maybe replace it but then calibrate it.... might as well buy a working one i guess for cheaper cost. Im going to try manual flash mode at 1/40 shutter speed on a low light day. That might work.. 😆
@@robdido hey cant wait for your video showing us the oics you took and how they came!
Just got mine and it didn't work either :(
I don't even get the red flag, just realized that nothing was on the film after I had finished the roll. SMH 😨.
Not getting the red flag is a good thing it says the meter reads ok so will trigger the shutter at correct speed. Must be something else. Sorry to hear. Such a nice camera. I might try again one day even at the slower flash speed when in manual
If go to Manila Philippine for holiday you can get it fix cheap
that would be a great holiday going around Phillipines. Thanks
I hate Zenography! Costs me bucket of money and now you start as well! But then again, that little camera is such an eye candy. On the meter: The selenium cells very seldom die. I read that your problem is probably caused by rusty or broken wiring. I recently repaired a Olympus Trip 35. The red flag came up only every now and then. A matter of a tiny bit of lighter fluid and it got going again. There are some good videos on youtube on the topic. So, with a bit of luck and minor skills Jerry will be happily on a photowalk with the Pen-EES II.
Ive been tempted. I think its just the connections. Not sure my fat fingers wont completely balls it up. Ive banned zenography... till next payday 😆 just bought a trip 35 in perfect condition... im hooked and i got a kodak rettinette bid on. My digital cameras are feeling neglected.. hahaha
@@robdido Interesting to see where this ends. In the last two years I gathered 38 analog cameras and still it is itching :-)
Holy underwear 😆 thats awsome. Start a museum. Gotta catch up. Found another channel shoot llike a boss. Hes pretry knowledgeable
Rob, can it be repaired if so how much?
I guess. Prob cheaper to buy one rhat works. Was thinking of taking top off. Some people say its just a rusty connector. Is prob stuff it up 😝
@@robdido Yeah ok might be a bit finicky try anyway or resell it.
Hahahaha your description of selenium cracked me up. #straya
Haha.. dylithium crystals.. beam me up scotty 🙂
Σαντορίνη!!
Γεια σου από την Αυστραλία φίλε μου Έλληνα.
While you've got your wallet open, I've got tons of old camera paperweights and bookmarks (losing lottery tickets) you may be interested in.
They make good props. Lol bookmarks never heard that one before. Id love to win one of your USA lotteries they are insane