Okie, I said something about the OM40 making a good point-and-shoot
camera, then went mute and let everyone else argue my case.
What can I say? I've been busy with work. I'm trying to comment on this
mail and give my reasons :) Sorry for the delay...
On Mon, 24 Jun 2002, Benson Honig wrote:
<SNIP>
> Also, regarding the OMPC/40 - I agree entirely with Moose. While awaiting
> delivery of my OM4 (purchased from a list member) I sold my trusty OM2 -
> and started making use of the OM40 that was a backup. Turns out - it really
> is an excellent camera
It really is a nice camera.
> - I have to agree with the sentiments stated so far.
> Handy to have the film window, better hold of the flash, I have made use of
> the pre-fire on a tripod,
These things are nice, although I have honestly not used a single of these
features really much yet :)
> and generally, it's easy to carry (and you don't
> worry about it as much).
Exhibit A: my OM40 was bought as a "nice beater" from Bernd a while
back. I didn't pay a fortune for it, and though I take care of it, it's
really one of those where an extra scratch doesn't make a lot of
difference :) Definitely an advantage, compared to my almost manic care
towards the other OM's I have....:)
> Only thing I don't like is it has a kind of greasy
> feel - but that might be because a former owner took pictures at the local
> fish and chips or something..I don't know....
Mine is a bit like the same. Not too disturbing, though, and I think it is
general for them to be like that.
> Of course, the off camera
> flash is a little trickier - but can be accomplished.
Never use that for p&s anyways. Not that I use much flash atall,
actually....
> I used the OM40 for
> the last TOPE. I was so happy with this camera, I went and bought another
> one (A PC version) this week ($42.00 with lens - supposedly in excellent
> condition- we'll see). That way - I won't worry about a circut board dying
> on me. Of course - it raises a new question. Will the 35-70 3.5/4.5 look
> better on the OMPC....or on the OM40??? Decisions, decisions....any advice
> happily accepted.
Tsk tsk tsk. You, of course, have to go get two 35-70's.....that would be
the real zuikoholic talking :)
Now, my main use of the OM40 is as point-and-shoot. As mentioned, the
sample I have is sort of a beater, but it works perfectly fine. It does,
as mentioned by others two very important things for a "p&s", namely
1) program exposure and
2) "automatic spot metering".
Just after I got this camera, I went to London for work, followed by a few
days of vacation. I had my trusty om2s/p with a b/w film, and
thought...."let's test this esp-thing". So in with a K25, on with a lens
and a winder and off I went with the camera running in full auto-pilot.
I did chose K25, since it is a rather unforgiving film. However to my
positive surprise, the slides came back with a fairly high succes-rate
(exposure-wise, that is). Ok, it was not the most challengeing subjects,
but there were a few of friends standing on Tower Bridge with a bright sky
in the background. Those, and similar shots, came out surprisingly fine.
I could have spot-metered my way through London (and, indeed, did with the
OM2s/p + bw), but it would have been a bit more troublesome.
Now, for an interresting comparison. I've tried on another occation to
take the same pictures with "no-esp-program" and "esp-program" on the
OM40, as well as with the Pentax MZ5n. The Pentax has a 7-segment
"esp-like" light metering system. Upon getting the slides, and comparing
with those from the OM40, it came out that for the majority of the shots,
the OM40's fairly simple "3-segment" metering was largely sufficient,
providing the same exposure as the Pentax.
Of course, there are situations where the ESP is fooled...there're also
situations where the Pentax are fooled.
However, my conclusion was, that can I run in full auto-pilot with a K25
and get good shots in the most common p&s situations (surprisingly many
of which actually illuminate the "ESP-symbol" in the viewfinder), then it
is not all bad.
So for now, the OM40 lives happily as my p&s camera in a small bag with a
50/1.8 and some consumer negative film. Works like a charm
--
-------------------------------------------
Thomas Heide Clausen
Civilingeniør i Datateknik (cand.polyt)
M.Sc in Computer Engineering
E-Mail: T.Clausen@xxxxxxxxxxxx
WWW: http://www.cs.auc.dk/~voop
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