At 09:01 PM 12/31/2004 -0800, Jim Couch wrote:
>
>Keep in mind that sales dates for cameras will not correspond in any
>real way to manufacture date due to distribution and sales variations.
>There is no way of knowing how long a particular camera sat on a
>distributor and/or retailer's shelf before actual sale. On used gear it
>is even more confusing since it is very easy to switch base plates. (My
>orginal OM-1 has an OM-2 base plate for example.
While this is quite true, I was referring to manufacture date and not sales
date. Mark's M-1 and OM-1 lists at http://olympus.dementia.org/M-1/ tell
an interesting story. If you look at the list of serial numbers and
manufacturing dates (not sales dates), it is clear that the serial numbers
are not sequential. They're all over the place, with some M-1s numbered
higher than OM-1s. The possibility that the majority of these cameras had
their bottom plates switched must be small (although the M-1 on his list
with a high serial number is a likely candidate). In fact, my brother's
M-1 is "brand new" (not even a scratch mark on the pressure plate from film
usage) and the serial number is "out of order" (has a higher serial number
than one I have that was built a month later).
Conclusion: you can't tell the age of an M-1 or very early OM-1 (S/N <
200,000) from the serial number.
Steve Troy
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