Stuart,
I've had a Pen FT for about 9 months and I really like it. I've got a 40/1.4
and a 100/3.5. The Pen F's It's a real small gem, easy handling, and solid.
The Pen F is a double stroke, meterless body. The Pen FT adds single stroke
shutter cocking and a TTL meter (it uses PX625's). The meter isn't coupled to
the lens though, you must transfer the meter reading (1-7) to a special scale
on FT/FV lenses. Older F lenses do not have the meter number scale on the
aperture ring. The Pen FV deletes the meter from the FT. Since the partially
silvered mirror is the light's path to the meter cell, you lose light on an FT
vs FV/F (An original Modern Photo test says 2 stops loss, Steven Gandy at his
CameraQuest site says 1/2 stop). But I see about 50 FT's for sale for 1 FV.
If brightness is an issue, go with the F. Just be aware of its shorter, double
stroke winding lever. The FT/FV lenses fit fine on the F.
I'm intending to assemble a "full" system, but I don't want to pay through the
nose. Look on my page at http://www.skipwilliams.com/Zuiko_Ebay_History.htm to
see recent Ebay Pen lens prices.
As for body + lens prices, this is the most I'd pay with the 38/1.4, $40-60
more for the 40/1.4: F: $200, FT: $250 ($50-100 more for black), FV $300.
If you're looking for info, the following two have all the poop.
http://members.aol.com/xkaes/olympus.htm
http://www.jetlink.net/~cameras/olypenf.htm
The camera seems to be popular, there's someone buying all those Pen F/FT's on
EBay. There's a few fans on this list, most vocal is Francisco Mostaccio
<francescoarg@xxxxxxxxxxxx> from Argentina.
I have not done any real tests on the lenses, but they've been rated very
good. My few B&W rolls have been nice and sharp.
Skip
At 7/20/99 08:46 PM -0400, you wrote:
>
> Is anyone on the list actively using an Olympus Pen system? I am
> contemplating buying a Pen F and would like to discuss a few things.
>
> Stuart Phillips
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Skip Williams - skipwilliams@xxxxxxxxx
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