You'll have to indulge Mike Johnston's enthusiasm for the Pentax Spotmatic.
He's tested lots of lenses and has determined that many of those old
Takumars were superb, among the best ever made by any lens manufacturer.
And if you want to use 'em, you'll need a Spotmatic (or old Fuji or old
Yashica, blah, blah, blah...but why not get the real thing?).
I'd agree with him in classifying it among the 25 best. Aside from the
stop-down metering, the Spotmatic is a very satisfying piece of equipment to
work with. Using one took a little extra time, much like using a classic
rangefinder - hence, Mike's comparison to a Leica. It's an extremely well
made, elegantly simple camera. If only it had been offered in a true
spot-metering model, as originally intended...
He made the right call in selecting the OM-4T, which is the pinnacle in
manual focus SLR design. If he had to choose one OM, that should be the
one.
I doubt Mike intended to slight the OM-1, but when you've arbitrarily
decided to list the 'Top 25' cameras it becomes difficult to make room for
everything from the Brass And Chrome Era ('70s). Of course a Nikon must be
in there, one of those confusingly named F-Potomac-something-or-others. And
a Canon, probably an F1, maybe even the AE-1 due to its incredibly
successful marketing. Did the article omit my personal favorite, the
FTb/FTbn? Probably - there's nothing truly special about it. And the
Minolta SRT series? Great as they were, my FTbn has everything they had.
What about my first SLR, the Miranda Sensorex, by far the coolest, quirkiest
design ever to be successfully marketed in the U.S. - for a while?
Let's be honest...those were all great cameras and systems at the time. But
how many of 'em can be listed before glaring omissions occur? Do you leave
out a Koni-Omega or Yashicamat 124G to make room for an OM-1?
Mike...I feel your pain. Editorially speaking, of course.
-----------
Lex Jenkins
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Budda-budda-budda!!!" - Sgt. Rock
======================================================================
From: Chip Stratton <cstrat@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 2000 19:38:11 -0500
Mike Johnston, departing editor of Photo Techniques, has a '25 Best
Cameras'
article in the Nov/Dec 2000 issue. Naturally, the OM4T is listed since it
has the 'best metering system ever devised for a 35mm camera'...I was a
little surprised that the Pentax Spotmatic was listed because it
'may be the closest we've ever come to a Leica rangefinder in an SLR...'
So, like, what about the OM-1, huh?
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