How to replace the light seal on an Olympus XA

[@888pil]

how serendipitous that you uploaded this the very same day i received my XA which is working perfectly but needs the light seals replaced

[@UnderexposedwithAlastairBird]

Ha! Well, I hope it’s informative. Any questions, ask away.

[@starling1360]

Awesome instruction, great tip with removing the back cover!!

[@brain.in.a.body.]

Helpful and instructive for me. I was getting these cool orangey glow light leaks. Part of me is going to miss me with the new set of seals. But Im sure i will enjoy the consist clarity.

[@UnderexposedwithAlastairBird]

Glad you found it helpful. The light leaks are interesting but I find I have enough trouble getting decent images even without the added chaos of light leaks.

[@creepyloner1979]

there's also a seal in the top groove on the body which that kit either left out, or you used it as the top seal on the door, which isn't supposed to go the full length of the door. you gotta pay attention to the exact dimensions and placement of the original seals. you should also be dipping your seals in alcohol. it allows you to reposition them as much as you want without the adhesive sticking until the alcohol dries out.

[@UnderexposedwithAlastairBird]

Doubt there is room for any more seals and we used everything in the kit. Thanks for the alcohol suggestion. Very helpful. I’ll give that a try on the OM-4 we have that needs new seals. And my Horseman…

[@jellyzRL]

@@UnderexposedwithAlastairBird yep, it seems your kit only included the 4 door-side seals. there are 3 more in the body.

[@beckybeighley]

do you think the kits vary wildly in quality, or is it fine to just get the cheapest one? I do a lot of makeup depotting, and if in the future you need something to remove adhesive, you can use parian spirit. it's oil based; you can thin it with some 99% alcohol if you want. other wise it's easy to use and works really well!

[@UnderexposedwithAlastairBird]

Thanks for the parian spirit idea! Always good to have options. As for the kit, I honestly don't know. Certainly the high-quality foam is nice to have, but the foam that they used originally was just so-so, and I think any kit would suffice. A quick read of reviews were you purchase it should give some idea as to how well it works.

[@y2ktube]

Video @ 5:40 - "you get a total of one try" - Well not if one applies either rubbing alcohol or your saliva on to the adhesive side of the self-stick foam. This will make the adhesive 'DELAY' its stick long enough to allow you to position it perfectly (it slides until the 'lube' dries off)...

[@UnderexposedwithAlastairBird]

Thanks for the pointer. Had no idea you could do that.

[@child0fthesun]

Is it possible to install the light seal without taking off the film door?

[@UnderexposedwithAlastairBird]

Honestly, I don't know. I don't have the camera in front of me to check, but I think you could get most of the seals in without too much trouble and with the door on.

[@thepaulhenderson]

With that bottom off the camera I'd be tempted to oil/grease those wheels and maybe blow it out with some compressed air. I wonder what a standard service of such a camera would look like? Can't be that complicated. I say this as a jeweler having the tools and being used to working on tiny things. Great video, thanks! Liked & Subscribed!

[@UnderexposedwithAlastairBird]

Thanks for your kind words. We did discuss a bit of lubrication but my major concern is that I would use either the wrong oil or too much oil - and I wasn't entirely sure where to put it. In my mind I remembered the Nikon D600 issue where they over-lubricated the mirror mechanism and it splattered little tiny bits of oil all over the sensor. Not a great situation. I would love a repair manual for the camera.

[@thepaulhenderson]

@@UnderexposedwithAlastairBird I know, which oil/grease, and where exactly to put it is always the trick with all fine mechanics. Still, when you have a space and the tools to do it, repairing/servicing the teeny tiny stuff successfully can be the most satisfying.

[@thepaulhenderson]

Once you start wearing lighted magnifiers (as you have to with jewelry) a whole new world opens up and you’ll never go back. Especially if you need glasses.

[@UnderexposedwithAlastairBird]

@@thepaulhenderson My eyesight has recently started to show its age. Any suggestions on where to look for lighted magnifiers? I could probably use a set...

[@中国人民志愿军刘支呐]

The door hinge seems to be glued on certain XAs, perhaps the later ones

[@UnderexposedwithAlastairBird]

Wasn’t aware of that. Ours certainly came apart all right and I didn’t realize they light have changed the design at some point.

[@SinaFarhat]

Is that a plastic that doesn't turn sticky?

[@UnderexposedwithAlastairBird]

Do you mean the new foam seals? If so, I'm not sure they won't get sticky, but the foam is certainly much higher quality than what was originally installed. I expect it will last for a long time.

[@SinaFarhat]

@@UnderexposedwithAlastairBird My main question was with the plastic on camera body in general, and reading the comment back some time after posting it I realized that it was a bit vague since the seal is probably some kind of plastic too!

[@UnderexposedwithAlastairBird]

Ah! The plastic on the body is actually in great shape - not sticky at all. It seems to have stood up rather well. That said, the camera wasn't used very heavily at all so it's still in very good shape. Doesn't feel brittle, though - or any more fragile than one might expect.

[@stampydragon2739]

It wasn't too long it needed to start flush with the hinge side seal then go up the curve on the opposite side heleft a giant gap in the light seal

[@UnderexposedwithAlastairBird]

Thanks for the input. So far, no light leaks (at least a half-dozen rolls of film).

[@punkrachmaninoff]

You forgot 2...

[@UnderexposedwithAlastairBird]

Forgot 2 of them? Where are they?

[@punkrachmaninoff]

@Underexposed with Alastair Bird in the ridge that the door fits into there are 2. You can buy a kit online with 4 for the door, 2 for the notches.

[@UnderexposedwithAlastairBird]

Thanks for the heads-up. My kit didn’t have those.

[@punkrachmaninoff]

@Underexposed with Alastair Bird Yeah I restore some cameras myself once in a while, and most cameras are actually ok with just the one foam seal per side. Like many of the Pentax cameras can be light tight without those extra two seals - when I restore an ME or ME Super, I clean out the old junk foam in those two crevasses and it is (usually) fine.

[@UnderexposedwithAlastairBird]

Good to know. That said, when one does a how-to video it’s always good to know if you’re leading people astray. Thanks for the info.

[@protestagain]

Smiling. I did something stupid 15 years ago. I bought an Oly XA never used for € 175 on Evilbay. Like the black Contax T3 for €250 and I sold them for a good price, I thought. Well.

[@UnderexposedwithAlastairBird]

That's always the way. A friend of mine has a Mama 7II that he bought for not much quite a while ago and he is struggling to shoot with it because it's now so valuable.

[@protestagain]

@@UnderexposedwithAlastairBird I just paid € 1750, and I don't care about the value. It's a tool, I think.

[@protestagain]

@@UnderexposedwithAlastairBird Why I do not care, I'm going to die. My heirs, they do not care about photography, far from analog photography, so why should I care about value.

[@UnderexposedwithAlastairBird]

@@protestagain It's a great position to take. A friend of mine had a ton of Leica cameras. As far as he was concerned, they were to shoot with. He didn't care that he had a LHSA 50th anniversary M6 around his neck when everyone else had them in display cases. To him they were tools. And he used them. It was a great lesson in not allowing value to get in the way of usability.

[@protestagain]

@@UnderexposedwithAlastairBird I don't care, I use my OM-3Ti as an OM-1 or 2. It's my tool, and as I said, now one near me understands what I'm using and the value of those. Should I care?