Throwback Edit Version: I edited this in August 2024, checked links and converted it to the new WordPress format. While doing this I encountered some formatting issues, especially with the galleries.

This camera was in a right state when I found it. The seals had disintegrated, and the batteries had been left in the compartment and leaked so badly that I struggled to get them out. I spent ages cleaning out the compartment with vinegar and other things, but nothing I did would make the flash work again. Even the skin was in an awful state. So after trying to fix the flash, I got to work on the skin and seals.

After all that, it didn’t look too bad. This was the last half frame camera Olympus released, in 1981. It had shutter speeds of 1/30 and 1/250 and accepted film speeds up to 400 ISO. It is a real point and shoot, no zoning. There is a red flag that pops up and stops the shutter in low and high light situations and this one’s seemed to work as expected.

Now it was all clean and tidy, I could find out if it worked. I was expecting the shutter blades to be jammed or the speeds to be off. Here is the film I shot.

Well actually, it worked great. I scanned the photos a bit dark, but other than that they are sharp and generally well-exposed.

So, keep or sell? I couldn’t bring myself to keep something that didn’t quite work. Every time I used it, I heard a little voice going, “The flash doesn’t work, the flash doesn’t work”. When I looked on eBay, I noticed all the other EFs listed said the flash didn’t work either. I have a PEN EE2, which I have not tested yet as it is not on this blog…I have too many cameras!

Oh and here is another person who likes Olympus Pens too.