[begin heresy]
Two other excellent camera systems are around on the used market. Yes, it
would mean him starting a system different than yours.
The ubiquitous Pentax "K" mount:
The K-1000 was nicknamed "student's camera" in the U.S. and there were
additional bodies made with more features. They are about the same size
and weight as the Oly bodies and the Takumar lenses are decent. The
drawback is most have no DOF preview nor self-timer.
The also ubiquitous older Nikon's:
I'm not thinking about the F-2, but more along the lines of a lighter FM-2
body. The Nikkor lenses are also good. Would definitely not recommend an
F-2 or an F. Built like a brick outhouse, they are big and heavy compared
to the OM's. There are issues, difficulties and/or expense with the F and
F-2 prism finders, and collectors are driving prices up on F and F-2 bodies
and accessories. Not so much though on most of the lenses though as the
mount (AI-S??) spans so many bodies.
[end heresy]
If nothing else, it gives you two other good beginner systems from which to
benchmark.
-- John
At 19:14 6/22/00 , Thomas wrote:
>Thanks to all, who have replied to my email, foods for thought are always
>great and I am processing all your inputs. In the meantime let me try to
>clarify what I thought when writing the email.
>
>One thing I forgot to mention in the original mail was, that the young guy
>is around 20 years old and is studying to become an engineer. Thus I am
>not too worried that he may accidentially drop the camera or otherwise
>damage it.
>
>It seems, that quite a number of listees favour the two-digit camreas as
>"learners" over the single-digits (I had specifically OM2n in mind). There
>are mainly two reasons why I originally did not think about the
>10/20/30/40. The first reason is that the two-digit series was not build
>to be as durable as the one-digit series, hence I assume that they do not
>age as gracefully (to put it more directly: I'd be more afraid that a 2nd
>hand om10/20/30/40 would break, than I'd be that an 1/2/3/4
>would).
>
>Secondly, I remember at some point considering buying an OM20 myself. One
>of the things I remember as discouraging was, that the camera seemed
>mainly build for using in auto-mode (apeture priority). I.e. when
>selecting "manual" mode, the led's in the viewfinder would only indicate
>the suggested shutterspeed, corresponding to the selected apeture, while
>not indicating if the actually selected shutter speed would cause the
>picture to be over- or underexposed. Thus I anticipated quite a lot of
>"moving camera from eye to chest to check the settings and compare with
>the meter" - and decideded agains that (cannot remember what I bought
>instead, though). For a young lad, eager to learn taking pictures, I
>figured that this would be kind of a "turn-off" - or an annoyance at
>least. And if I recall correctly, this behavior is the same for all the
>two-digit OM's (I only have the OM30 myself, and on thatone behaves is
>like described above). Am I remembering correctly, or?
>
>As for going with Olympus rather than suggesting him to take up some other
>brand, well....
>I am one of those, who has had his hands on a few different cameras from a
>few different manufacturers, and I have to admit that even in competition
>with flagships from other manufacturers, the trusty, old Olympi come out
>as winners by me. There are of course several reasons for this, but that
>is not really the issue at hand. The issue at hand is, that if he gets an
>OM, he'll be able to get a durable body which I know in and out and can
>help him with, and that he will find it easy to borrow lenses from me. If
>he gets a decent camera-body, and then after a while decides to drop the
>interrest (or want another system camera), then I will also be able to
>purchase and use the body from him. If he gets caught on the Olympi, then
>he can always save up for an OM3/4(Ti) and get the best the current new
>market can offer.
>
>Also, I am not too impressed by the current manual focus manual exposure
>cameras, manufactured by other manufacturers and should he purchase such
>he'd be stuck with it and the gear it comes with (I use mamiya medium
>format and Olympus for 35mm - I wouldn't like to start on yet another
>system, and I do not have gear for other systems than those two). They
>appear to me as just "little brothers of wunderbricks" rather than as if
>they were designed for manual operation (of course, I have had my hands on
>only 2-3 of these, none for more than an hour or so, so I may very well
>stand to be corrected).
>
>Again, it is interresting and educating to read your various thoughts,
>experiences and opinions, so please feel free to feed me your comments on
>the above.
>
>Thanks again
>
>--thomas
>
>
>
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