Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Olympus OM-1

The Olympus OM-1 is a small, cute, and a bit quirky but similar to any 70s manual SLR. I always grab them when I see them as they are good for 60-150 depending on the condition, color (black being more) and lenses, preferably the Olympus Zuiko OM-System matching lenses. Benefits of this camera are being light and handsome, having mirror lockup and easy double exposure, and having a f/1.4 50mm lens that has a very short depth of field - the shortest I've experienced of this length and fstop but close to the Pentax (the Nikon is closer to the Miranda). Downsides are it's hard to find lenses at thrift stores (you basically only find lenses on the camera or in a bag with it) and the foam around the prism likes to degrade over time and take the prism with it creating green bubbly stains on the reflective surface of the prism. I also don't like replacing the mirror dampening pad because it is two tiny L shaped pieces of foam, much different than the straight and easy bar of the Canon AE-1. Overall good features, affordable, a little lacking in the lenses, very portable. I would recommend this as an adventure with friends camera because of it's features and low profile that won't restrain your rabid vividness

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