Yo y'all,
well, the way I got to use OMs was a bit different. I originally figured I
_had_ to have an SLR camera after I had borrowed my sister's Canon T-50 w/
50/1.8 and Canon flash for a weeklong trip to Burgundy organized by our
French lecturer at Bamberg university in 1986. While this camera is (a
single) program only, I still find it astonishing how well it handled even
difficult lighting situations. Took some very nice shots with it. After
that, what I really wanted was a T-70, as I figured it would offer me
everything the T-50 had and then some.
When vacation time in '89 approached, I figured I needed a decent camera
_now_, but all I could afford a few weeks before our departure was a used
OM-10, in very good shape but without a lens, supplemented with Pangerl's
"OM-10 and OM-10 Quartz Data"-book (from which I learned _a lot_), to which
I managed to add a Travenar 28-70 zoom just before we left. With this
combination, I used an old, fully manual Metz flash that my Dad didn't need
any longer.
I first regarded the whole thing as a makeshift solution - the best I could
do with the limited financial possibilities I had as a poor student, but to
be replaced by "something better" asap - however, after having the vacation
shots developed it turned out that on average the shots I had taken with the
OM-10 were better than what my Dad got with his T-70, so I saw no reason to
switch over to something else as I had originally planned.
Before I went to The USC (with which Bamberg University has an exchange
program) in '89, I added an SCA dedicated Cullmann flash and a Travenar
70-210, and a cheap Cullmann tripod. While living in South Carolina, in 1990
I acquired an OM-PC (KEH) and a Zykkor 28-80 (or so - it really wasn't worth
remembering), as well as 2 no-name winders (which work quite well).
This remained my outfit until 1996 when both the Travenars - which, in
retrospect, weren't too bad optically and took quite a few excellent shots)
died of broken aperture mechanics, and the Zykkor was dropped by a friend of
mine and practically broke in two. As I was just about to go on a trip to
South Carolina when the 28-70 passed away I needed a replacement real quick,
which I happened to find at my usual photo store: a used 35-70/3.5-4.5 and a
28/2.8 - my first Zuikos (and still among my favorite). It was during this
same trip that the Zykkor met its end. Some time before I had got internet
access (which had just become somehow affordable - due to the monopoly we
used to have in the communications sector, Germany had remained a third
world country internet-wise until rather recently), and used it to learn
more about the OM system (from this list, of course ;-) ) and to order an
OM-2n from Thompson Photo which I picked up on the trip. I kept reading the
OM-list regularly and soon acquired some more lenses. At the time, my photo
dealer used to have some used OM goodies every now and then, and y'all know
how it is once you get started buying OM stuff.
Also, soon after the trip the 70-210 Travenar died and had, of course, to be
replaced.
So, since then I have continued to add more items, especially after some
were stolen on a vacation in Scotland in '99, which somehow tricked me into
replacing them with way more than I had lost (I wonder how this could
happen.... ;-) ). I now own, in addition to my original OM-10 which does not
see too much use any more but still holds a place of honor as my first SLR
which faithfully went through a lot with me and took some of my very best
shots (I think this camera is often very much underestimated), the OM-PC, an
OM-F, 2 OM-1s, an OM-2, 2 OM-2ns, an OM-4, an XA, an XA-2 (both XAs w/ the
appropriate flashes, of course), and an IS-1000 w/ flash + tele converter,
as well as a number of Zuikos and decent third party lenses, flashes, a
Motor Drive 1w/ 18V control grip, some 2x tele converters (partly macro
focusing), and a bunch of other accessories such as filters, wire releases,
tripods, meters, etc. Though I use the OM-4 a lot, I still think the OM-1s
and -2(n)s are the better cameras quality-wise - they just feel better, more
solid. When absolute reliability is required I use them (mainly the 2(n)s),
and the OM-4 stays at home. Occasionally I pick up one of the double-digit
(or letter) bodies to shoot a roll - they all are very fine cameras, too.
So, while it originally was a makeshift solution for me, I am now quite
hooked on the OM system and would not exchange it for anything else (though
it might be supplemented with a decent digital camera in a couple of years,
and is already supplemented by a couple of Praktikas w/ a number of 42 mm
lenses which give me a cheap but rather decent alternative to take wherever
I'd be afraid to risk my precious OMs, and an EXA which I only got because I
wanted to try taking photos with a very basic, simple, classical SLR - and
it was cheap, too).
One gripe remains, though: I still find my Dad's T-70 _way_ easier to focus
than the OMs, at least with any of the OM screens I've tried so far (which
includes a couple of the Beatties which have been judged here on The List to
be roughly equal to the Olympus 2-x screens).
MtFbwy,
Volkhart
--
Volkhart Baumgaertner email: kyu@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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