Hello list members,
This summer I saw an OM-101/OM-88 in a shop. It was a cheap offering in
very good condition. So I tried out the camera, because I have thought that
the focusing wheel must be a horrible thing. I was astonished, that with
the standard lens, focusing was very easy. Then I saw, that the camera has
standard TTL-flash. Further it offers a 1/2000 second and uses a modern
metal focal plane shutter. The next point was the very bright focusing
screen. The viewfinder shows 93 percent of the film area and has a virtual
magnification of 0,8. The latter is for a modern camera a good value. Then
the specimen had the manual adapter 2. The finish seemed good to me. So I
decided to buy this thing. I have not taken many photos with it till now,
but the results were o.k. The sound of the focusing wheel is the most
annoying thing with this camera. Later I was able to exchange a Pentax-M
35mm 1:2 lens against a "new" Olympus AF 50mm 1:2,8 macro lens (the Pentax
was not able to convince me with the open aperture, whereas the Olympus AF
lens is said to be a very best 50 mm macro lens, I have not tested it
intensively, but it is a further lens which would be a nice addition to the
zuiko line). With the steep focusing thread of this lens, the focusing
wheel is a little bit to raw, but it works. I imagine, that the idea of a
focusing wheel is not that bad. If the sound would be absent and the
delicacy of it would be depending on the actual mounted lens, then I
imagine it could be a best solution to focus AF lenses (no moving parts
outside would be necessary and the same wheel for any lens could be used).
The next thing I encountered was that the camera works with the TTL-flashes
(even with the Sunpak) in that way, that it confirms the right exposure
through blinking. This works even with original Zuiko lenses mounted. So a
possible use is to mount the camera on a microscope with TTL-flash. In this
use, the built in winder is also useful. One problem is left, the absent of
aperture and exposure time values in the viewfinder. And with original
zuikos, you can't use the manual mode exposure metering with the manual
adapter 2, but only manual settings without metering or aperture priority
without a warning for long exposure times in the viewfinder. But maybe a
conversant photographer knows when he needs a tripod. In this mode, there
is (opposite to the manual mode with AF lenses) as only metered exposure
compensation possibility a "back light" button.
Matthias Wilke
< This message was delivered via the Olympus Mailing List >
< For questions, mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
< Web Page: http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/olympuslist.html >
|