hi. i'm new too.
Having owned and thoroughly used two modern (all
singing/all dancing/all bells and all whistles) cameras, I had been urged by a
friend to "get back to my roots" So, like one of your other contributors (Mr
Chang in Oz) I read with interest an article in the English magazine "Amateur
Photographer" about the OM4ti. This little beast, even s/h, was waaaaaay beyond
my budget (the management had already pointed out that I could only raise one
camera to one eye at a time) The afore-mentioned beast, body only, s/h, fetches
between 3 and 4 hundred pounds sterling and in the UK is quoted at £1200 new !!!
Eventually, I was delighted to find, in a sort of pawn shop, one OM1-n
with the f1.8 zuiko on board priced at £130. having utilised all the usual
negotiating tactics, I got the little beauty for £90 with a 3 month guarantee.
Current exchange rates for sterling probably mask the extent of the bargain but
I was well pleased with the deal. I was able to add the f3.5 135mm zuiko to
this for £38 from a local camera store who also promised to look out for a
winder for me. In another branch of the Pawn shop chain, I found a Tamron
85-210mm f4.5 with 1:3 macro marked as being an "unknown fitting" and priced at
£12.99. I didn't even haggle. A Tamron 2x converter was £5 at my local boot
fair and with a modern dedicated flash that I already owned (bounce, swivel,
zoom diffuser etc etc.) £30 from a camera fair, the "shooting" match had set
me back £171 when the camera store called to say that they had found me a
winder 1 with manual for £28!!. Batteries brought the total cost to £200 and I
am revelling in the new-found discipline of old technology manual photography.
All this is not to say that I have deserted my auto-everything camera kit, it
is my preferred choice when travelling and using a camera "socially", but when
time permits thought and consideration on a solo expedition with a camera the
Olympus kit really does take some beating.
So I can only say to anyone who is just starting out in photography or
perhaps more experienced but jaded in the enthusiasm department, START AT or
RETURN TO your roots and if possible, do it with an OM.
3300
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