Well, I researched the 350mm lens and made several phone call to Olympus
America about 3 years ago. It's not scientific.
I mentioned the # 50 because that is what I heard through the grapevine.
I was told, and again, take this for what it is worth, (hearsay evidence
does not weigh in court) that the 350mm was a special order lens. They only
made "around" 500 when they were originally produced.
Olympus America, NY keeps a few in stock. How many? Try getting parts for
the 350mm, it's a whole different story...
I stated in that conversation with the Olympus Rep, that it seemed hard to
believe that so few of these lenses would be made, and the gentleman I spoke
to went on to say that it takes 1 years worth of labor to produce that lens,
from start to finish. (in other words, very expensive to produce) I am not
certifying this to be truth, I am just repeating what I have been told by a
reputable Olympus rep.
I believe if you call Olympus America, they only have 3 or so Olympus 350's
in stock, that are new.
Try calling B&H Camera and see if you can purchase ten - 350mm Olympus
lenses and see what they say.
I agree it seems hard to believe, but then think again, you never see much
of them. (ebay doesn't count)
I read somewhere that ebay in a way "diminishes" the rarity of an item,
because if there is only 50 available of a particular item, world-wide, the
rarity in a way becomes a little lessened because you have seen the item, an
item you may have never come across in a life-time.
So the word "rarity" becomes a little more vague when applied.
An M-1 is a rare camera compared to the OM-1. I believe I have personally
seen 3-4 come across ebay and/or the internet in about 2 years. ( that I
recall seeing), and some were overseas. (not in USA)
With that stated, does the M-1 become less rarer with the perception that
another M-1 may come across one of those internet auction sites in the
immediate future? Who's to say?
It's all relative, I assume...
Sam..
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark Dapoz" <md@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, February 26, 2001 9:57 AM
Subject: Re: [OM] Mmmmmm1
> On Mon, 26 Feb 2001, dolphans1 wrote:
>
> > If that many M-1 cameras where produced, it would seem that many of them
> > would have survived.
>
> I'm sure there's quite a number of them around, but remember, this is a
> 30+ year old camera so many (most) of them have probably died off by now.
>
> > Considering the fact that only 50-500 350 f2.8 lenses were produced,
makes
> > the 350 appear that much more rarer?
>
> I would think more than 500 350/2.8's were produced. After all, you can
> still order one from B&H if you have the cash. Perhaps you were thinking
> of the black 350/2.8. That one is somewhat rare.
>
> > I have heard that as little as 50 were made in the black version.
>
> The black M-1 is very rare, and I would expect very few were ever
produced.
> -mark
>
>
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