Never enough light with Soligor zoom

[tirediron]

Victoria Camera Service on Pembroke St.

 

[joel.hunter]

Victoria Camera Service on Pembroke St.

Awesome thanks, I was just about to look up repair shops in Victoria haha. I don't think there are any decent ones in Nanaimo. I'll head down there next week on my days off and visit some buddies in uni I suppose.
Also, a little off topic, are there any good shops for 35mm lenses/filters/etc other than Camera Traders? They never seem to have any good Olympus stuff. Looking for 49mm filters specifically and don't want to pay $30 in extra fees to buy from B&H.

 

[tirediron]

No, unfortunately, they're it now. Keep an eye on Craig's List' there's a fair amount of good junk that shows up there. You can also call Kerrisdale and ask them if they'll keep an eye out, but their used line mostly runs to Nikon & Canon digital era stuff.

 

[joel.hunter]

No, unfortunately, they're it now. Keep an eye on Craig's List' there's a fair amount of good junk that shows up there. You can also call Kerrisdale and ask them if they'll keep an eye out, but their used line mostly runs to Nikon & Canon digital era stuff.

Ah darn, okay. Thanks for the recommendations

 

[astroNikon]

point a flash light into the camera and see if the light meter changes. Cover up the flashlight with some such as a white paper plate and thinner things to see if it reacts to moderate to bright light.

I'm assuming the images are properly centered on the film and the image isn't skewed at all.
Is there any lens flange when in the camera that could be blocking light to the light meter?

fyi .. haven't touched a film camera in ages, just helping troubleshoot.

 

[joel.hunter]

point a flash light into the camera and see if the light meter changes. Cover up the flashlight with some such as a white paper plate and thinner things to see if it reacts to moderate to bright light.

I'm assuming the images are properly centered on the film and the image isn't skewed at all.
Is there any lens flange when in the camera that could be blocking light to the light meter?

fyi .. haven't touched a film camera in ages, just helping troubleshoot.

I don't thiiiink so. Image not skewed and they are centered. It reacts to a flashlight alright, but the difference between the covered flashlight and the flashlight by itself isn't as much as I thought it would be. What else I find interesting is the meter doesn't change very much between 200iso and 1600 (on the camera dial). With my other two lenses the difference between 200 and 800 can be significant.

 

[compur]

I suggest trying:

When you actuate the the lens aperture by hand does it move sluggishly or "snap" from position to position?

Then mount it on your camera (without any film) and open the back and look through from behind as you trip the shutter at different aperture settings. Use a slow shutter speed so you can see what goes on during the exposure cycle. See if the aperture is opening/closing as it should (without sluggish movement or other weirdness) and make sure the mirror isn't hanging up on the back of the lens.

 

[joel.hunter]

It moves pretty slowly, actually, yeah.. when set to F/22 it takes a while (maybe almost a full second? Hard to guess) to get there. If that is the issue, wouldn't it over-expose photos and not affect the meter? I'll try to see if maybe the mirror is getting hung up.

 

[joel.hunter]

Alright so the diaphragm does move awfully slowly, but I don't understand how I would then end up with an under exposure issue - that seems backwards to me? Maybe someone can explain how that works..

 

[Derrel]

This could solve the issue! Soligor 85-205mm f3.8 OM lens for Olympus manual focus - zoom | eBay

 

[compur]

Alright so the diaphragm does move awfully slowly, but I don't understand how I would then end up with an under exposure issue - that seems backwards to me? Maybe someone can explain how that works..

Well, it wouldn't affect exposure when set at max aperture since the aperture wouldn't have to move but it does make the lens pretty much unusable at any other aperture.

We don't yet know why it's underexposing at max aperture though.

 

[compur]

This could solve the issue! Soligor 85-205mm f3.8 OM lens for Olympus manual focus - zoom | eBay

I had one of those once upon a time. It was branded Vivitar but I believe it's the same lens. I used it on a Nikon FM.