Hi All,
With all the talk of prototypes etc I dug into a stash of material
accumulated since the purchase of my OM-1md in 1976. Included in there was
a newsletter produced by the Canadian Distributor. It begins in October
1973 and carries on through December 1978. Some interesting tidbits here
and there. Thought some of you might be interested,
Oct/74 - "Olympus has climbed Everest." The article goes on to mention that
Mountaineer Yasuo Kato had climbed Everest with his OM-1. Kato commented
"..... during my stay at the summit the OM-1 worked as smoothly as in
places far below, the first time this has happened in my long career as an
alpinist." These quotes came hard on the heels of the July/74 issue where
it was stated that Olympus worked on the prototypes for the lenses and
bodies for 5 years before introduction and that for the bodies the various
mechanical components were designed to withstand 100,000 frames in temps
ranging from -4F to +122F.
Sep/75 - Olympus announced with NASA that NASA USA had opted for the OM-1
system for their space research equipment "because of its supreme precision
and versatility."
April/75 - Olympus here announced the arrival of the 8mm f/2.8 fisheye for
the mere price of $895.00 Cndn. They also announced that the 85mm f/2 price
was now $285.00 Cndn. In the same issue they discuss multicoating.
Basically stating that apart from the f/2 lenses Olympus only uses MC where
they want to ensure the colour balance remains consistent across the system.
December/78 - Olympus announced the introduction of the T-20 flash.
Designed to work with both the OM-10 in conventional modes and TTL with the
OM-2.
There is lots more, of course, but thought that you might get a chuckle or
two out of some of the above <esp prices>.
Barry H
< 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 >
|