Hi,
It's good to see that some people appreciate the OM-40/PC, from the remarks
people make about it in camera stores ("toy cameras") it often seems to be
undervalued. True, you don't have a lot of fancy stuff which you do have
with the high-end cameras, but you do get a very nice camera which serves
well in most circumstances. Since you asked for some opinions, I'll share
some of my thoughts. I've been an OM-40 user as of 1986 and it's been only
1.5 weeks ago that I bought a 4Ti which is yet to arrive.
Here goes:
>and encountered an OM-PC in the used bin, priced at $150. It was a
>"9"--some cosmetic wear, but seemed to be fine functionally. It had a
Hmmm, you can maybe do better, just yesterday one was offered for $80 or $90
on the list.
>50/1.8 SC mounted (sold separately). Having never met the "PC" socially, I
>asked to see it. The salesman pooh-poohed it as "nothing special."
There you go, at camera stores they always only seem to appreciate the
single digit OMs.
>I discovered that I really liked it.
Hear, hear :)
>I'm an OM-2 owner, and a glasses wearer.
I myself also wear glasses and I find that to be no issue when using the
OM-40. I don't really know how it compares against the OM-2 as I've never
used it.
>The viewfinder image of the PC is a little smaller than my OM-2,
>but I could see amost the entire frame,
Correct, when framing shots and seeing the later actual print of the picture
I discovered that the viewfinder seems to cover some 950r so of the actual
picture area.
>and it appeared to be significantly brighter. I also found that the image
seemed easier to focus.
Isn't this mainly dependent on the focusing screen that's used?
>I also liked the way the OM-PC fit in my hands, the lightness,
Yes, the body has a better grip (IMO) than the single digit OMs, also, the
rubber feels nice. The only annoying thing with this is that you need a
special OM-40 camera case, as it doesn't properly fit in the generic OM
cases. In terms of weight, I think it's slightly lighter than a 4Ti (460
grams if memory serves me well).
>and the shutter speed visiblity in the viewfinder.
Yes, very handy for quickly setting it manually.
>It seemed a bit noisier, and seemed a bit flimsier than my OM-2.
Dunno about that, as I haven't got an OM-2, so I'll take your word for it.
:)
>It doesn't have spot metering like the OM2-s, 4T{i}, or even the OM-2000.
Yes, this, along with the (IMO) excessive battery drain were about 950f
the reason why I finally decided to go for the 4Ti, even though it still
feels like I'm "betraying" my trusty old OM-40 which has served me so well
over the years.
>But perhaps the "ESP" metering mitigates this somewhat--or does it?
It doesn't really. ESP (Electro Selective Pattern) is a dressed down version
of matrix metering. It meters the light in the centre of the viewfinder and
on the edge and compares these values. If big differences are present in
both values, it will "correct" the exposure to compensate for that.
Effectively you can't tell just how much it will correct, so it's still
possible to get undesired counterlight effects, whereas you might assume the
ESP fully obliterates that. ESP does generally work pretty well, besides,
the viewfinder shows when it kicks in, so if you don't trust it you can
simply switch it off.
As far as "spot-metering" goes with the OM-40, you have to be creative and
do it yourself. :)
This effectively means that you need to be sure to take a light measurement
(either Auto or Manual mode will do) when the properly illuminated object
fills the majority of the (centre of the) viewfinder, this way the centre
averaged metering will automatically display the correct light measurement
in the viewfinder. All you have to do then is to enforce this value in
Manual mode and you're all set, you can then properly frame the picture as
desired and voila, you have just achieved the same effect as when using
single spot metering. :)
Of course the above method is a bit more complicated than actually having a
spot meter, but you don't really need it most of the times. Normally the
centre averaged metering works pretty well in getting correctly exposed
pictures. It's just when you have difficult lighting situations that you
want to use this method. Of course this way you could also simulate multi
spot metering by taking various measurements and doing the arithmetic
yourself. Let's not get into the discussion that it's soooo much easier
using the 4Ti's spot meter, because that's obvious, the above is just an
illustration of my way of getting around spot metering.
>I've also read about some difficulty with repairs/obtaining parts/circuit
boards
>(John Hermanson, your perspective)?
I think the circuit boards are still available in some shops (John?),
however, in 13 years of use my camera has never needed servicing and it has
gone from Peru to Japan with lots of countries in between them. The only
annoying thing that happens at times (like twice last night when taking
night pictures) is that with long exposures at times the mirror locks up. It
can easily be opened again by putting the camera in battery check mode, but
still it's annoying.
>Now, I know the OM-PC has some plastic in the body,
I'm not 100 ertain about that. AFAIK the camera has a brass body rather
than the plastic that was supposedly used in the 10, 20 and 30. You can
check this on Hans van Veluwen's sales information pages (URL, Hans?).
>is considered a "consumer" rather than "Pro" camera, does not take
interchangeable focusing
>screens, and won't do automatic long exposures greater than 2 seconds.
Yes, it's less flexible in those respects, also it doesn't allow a databack
to be put on it and it works slower than an OM-4 with a motor drive (2.5 vs.
5 frames/sec.), apart from that it's not a bad camera at all.
>But since I have an OM-2 already, it seems to me that the OM-PC would make
>a great second body. And for fast, dim-light shooting, it might have some
advantages.
There's no way I'm going to sell my OM-40 once I have the 4Ti, I also intent
to keep it as a backup camera. There's actually one topic I left untouched,
and that's the Program mode. I think it's the same Program mode as on the
OM-2SP. Most of the times it works fine and for quick action shots you only
have to focus yourself and you don't have to bother with thinking about what
aperture and shutter speed to use. Of course when you want full control over
DOF etc. you'll want to put the camera in Auto or Manual mode.
>Request for opinions on the OM-PC!
I hope the above is of any help, my personal opinion is that the OM-40 is a
very nice camera, even though it doesn't have some of the great features
that are present on the single digit OMs it's still a versatile camera which
I've always used with a lot of pleasure.
If you want to see what pictures can be made with an OM-40 I invite you to
take a look at my picture gallery (http://members.xoom.com/olaf_greve/) I'm
currently in the process of re-scanning most of the images as they didn't
come out very well.
Currently the pictures which are "finalised" (where scanning and fine-tuning
is concerned) are the pictures from Italy, Japan (except for "Harmony",
which I simply can't get correct :( ), Venezuela and Peru. The pictures from
Spain and The Netherlands still need to be re-scanned, I hope to get this
done next weekend, after which I'll let everyone over here know (the
pictures will also be migrated to the Unofficial Olympus Photo Gallery at
some stage). For now, you can at least properly see a part of the pictures,
and just keep in mind that the ones from Spain and The Netherlands will
become sharper and better coloured.
Let me know what you think and if you have any more questions feel free to
ask them. :)
Cheers!
Olaf
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