The FTL was my first SLR. I bought it new in early 1972 with a 50/1.4
lens. (If I had known the OM-1 was just around the corner I would have
waited another 12 months.) It was a fairly conventional full frame 35mm
camera with a limited range of Pentax style screw mount lenses; - 28/3.5,
35/2.8, 50/1.4 & 1.8, 135/3.5 and a 200/? Its big selling point at the
time compared with other screw mount systems was the open aperture metering
(as opposed to the Spotmatic's stop down metering). Metering was manual
match needle, one linked to the aperture ring & the other to the light
meter/shutter etc. The open aperture metering could only be utilised with
genuine Olympus FTL lenses. Takumar lenses could be used but in stop down
mode only. The Olympus lenses had a locating pin to ensure the lenses
located in the correct position each time they were fitted. I managed to
pick up 28, 35 & 135 Olympus lenses but by the time I could afford a 200
they had been well & truly discontinued. I sold the system in 1979 &
bought an OM-1n.
As far as I can tell, the lenses seemed quite good, but I never really
thought about resolution/distortion/contrast back then, I just used it to
take photographs and was more than pleased with the results. It's a bit
hard to compare the results from the FTL with the OM, as unfortunately most
of my photos back then were taken on Agfa CT18, which has deteriorated
badly. The few Kodachromes I have still look excellent.
Cheers
Ross Waite
On Saturday, January 22, 2000 3:18 AM, Olaf Greve [SMTP:Ogreve@xxxxxxx]
wrote:
> Hi,
>
> > What can anyone tell me about the Olympus FTL? Was this a
> > "transitional" system between the Pen and OM lines? Is it full or half
> > frame? I'd be interested in hearing any info on this camera. Thanx.
>
> I have a Dutch book about the OM cameras, and it briefly treats its
> predecessors. You're right, the FTL was introduced just between the Pen
and
> the OM lines, it was very quickly discontinued (obviously, because of the
> introduction of the OM line).
>
> I'd have to look up the exact data regarding the features of this line,
but
> if memory serves me right it's half frame, and it was introduced
somewhere
> near 1969.
>
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