Olympus Ecru

[Rob Horner]

Hi guys,

I have just received an Olympus Ecru from 1991, which has never been used. And so far I haven't been able to find much information about this little guy.

Unfortunately so far, I have not been able to get it to work. I have tried various batteries (AAA) , and tried to insert film with no winding or response from the camera.
The small screen does show a low battery symbol and flashes 'E' when it is turned on.
There was a small amount of light blue corrosion on one of the battery terminals, of which i removed as much as i could.

I took it in to my local camera shop which deals with alot of film stuff, but they told me they would not touch it as they did not know what it was
The only thing i can think of is that the insides of the battery terminal may have corroded a bit, but then the screen is showing those symbols..so?

Would anyone be able to advise me?

Thanks,
Rob

[TheFlyingCamera]

The Ecru was a "limited edition" "collectible" Olympus with more or less the guts of an Olympus Stylus inside. They made 10,000 for Japan and another 10,000 for the rest of the world. Have you tried fresh batteries? I know that they had a reputation for being battery-eaters due to the flash, and the otherwise stupid decision to put AAAs in instead of the lithium CR 123 that went in the Stylus.

[Francis in VT]

How did you clean the contacts. I used ammonia which I understood was an alkali to neutralize the acid (Corrosion) .
Use it on all contacts and the batteries.
Always seemed to work for me.

Francis in VT

[cramej]

You'll have to use another acid to clean the contacts - a little Lime Away or vinegar does the trick. I had to clean battery contacts on several Minolta HiMatic AF2's that I used for a project and it seemed to work very well. Just brush on with a cotton swab and let it set for a few minutes then remove with a wet cotton swab. Try to clean the inside battery contacts upside down so you're not dripping LimeAway down into the camera. Allow to dry thoroughly and then try your new batteries again. A couple of those cameras I worked on went from not working at all to working perfectly with just a cleaning.

[wblynch]

The "E" means no film. When you get the battery problem sorted and it accepts film the "E" should go away.

There are very collectable. Lucky fellow.

[thuggins]

Cleaning contact corrosion with acid is interesting, sort of a "hair of the dog" solution. I have had fairly good luck with a sodium bicarbonate solution (baking soda and water). This is the same as is used for cleaning the car battery terminals.