OM was (and still is, for me) a great system with some real advantages
over the others of similar times. But to suggest that the other major
players only made junk is silly.
I have a couple of Nik*ns inherited from my father. The FG is a very
nice body, compact (Oly size), well made and easy to use. The FM2a is in
some ways a marvel. It is indeed huge and heavy compared ot Olys, but
the quality of design, materials, construction, fit & finish is really
impressive. The mechanism for DOF preview, aperture stop down and mirror
lock-up is a thing of beauty and shows they were ahead of Oly in
understanding and controlling vibration at the time of the OM-1 and 2
(I'll bet all that weight helps too!). And titanium shutter curtains,
1/2000 top speed, self timer calibrated in seconds and have you seen
that back latch?. That back isn't opening by accident from a fall or
something catching on the rewind crank. I dropped my old, pre OM-1, Ftn
about 5 feet onto the concrete floor of Hoover Dam. Result? One out of
focus shot of the ceiling and a small dent in the bottom. Effect on
operation, zero.
All that said, When I met the OM-1 shortly after it came out, I bought
one and got rid of the Ftn. It was a better solution for me, but the
Nik*n and other first line makers still made first rate cameras. Oh
yeah, the 50/1.8 Zuiko that came with the OM-1 was not as good as the
lens I had on the Ftn. But, fortunately, the Zuiko 35-70/3.6 I soon
bought was much better than the then current Nikk*r 43-86mm, likely
better than any of them, and better than the 50/1.8 Zuiko.
Moose
Wim Verheyen wrote:
I know several people in our photo club with 20-year plus Nikons.
(In fact I'm the only one using Olympus gear).
But then, these are F-single digit bodies, all-metal, built like a tank.
< This message was delivered via the Olympus Mailing List >
< For questions, mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
< Web Page: http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/olympuslist.html >
|