Ken,
Stop it! You are making me all misty. Newbie testimony ahead.
I cannot claim a noble beginning to my OM habit, my OM journey began at the
tender age of 12 when I acquired my OM1 (and subsequent OM2 3 years later)
at the recommendation of a salesman. That poor camera never knew what was
about to hit it (or should I say what it was about to hit). Stories of
mountain climbing, Marco rallies, salt water baths are more elegant than
the "camera around the neck while riding a bicycle" mishaps that I
subjected my OM1 to but they all demonstrate the durability of Olympus
equipment.
Fast forward through the years of high school photographer geekhood (four
yearbooks + newspapers), the smell of Kodak Fixer permeating your clothes,
the angst of opening up the bulk loader on $20 of PlusX, the OM1 getting
subjected to one too many gravity checks, and a brief bit of insanity
using a camera impersonating a brick (N*k*n F) comes the appreciation of
Zuiko optics... wow. These are really good lenses. Plus to be able to lurk
on this list and discover that despite the rhetoric OM equipment is still
available and wallah --- Say Yah-ess! I'm re-born!
My only regret is that I wish I had bought my 85/2 in 1979 along with the
OM1 (that would have meant not buying a 10 speed bike, which in turn would
have meant fewer mishaps to the camera, and so on ), better late than never
though!
In the OM irony department: proving that there is such a thing as fate, my
wife's first camera (bought when she was also in high school) was the XA.
She thought it was cute, and it took pretty good pictures too. How could I
resist her?
Ken, your comment about the lightness and beauty of the OM cameras is so
true. I can't believe that at one time I thought a 28-210 zoom (albeit a
Kiron) was a good idea, ack!
At present I am about to embark on that which an amatuer should never do,
weddings. I've avoided these like the plague for almost 20 years, this
time I just couldn't say no. In preparation: I've got the appropriate
equipment backups, experimented with the various Kodak and Fuji pro films,
tried a couple of labs, aquired the wonderful 85/2, sent off the OM2 to
John H. to be blessed, any other suggestions? I would not have agreed to
this, but the couple is on less than a shoestring budget (probably wont
even want anything beyond proofs) and I'd like an opportunity to either
find out if I can stomach weddings.
Ken -- thanks for the stroll down Ole Memory lane.
At 01:32 PM 4/6/98 -0500, you wrote:
>Ah, don't be mislead by the header. <g>
>
<snip>
>
>I send off my OM bodies now to be cared for and prepared for many more years
>of use. In the meantime, I will miss them.
>
>Ken Norton
>
Frank
freinsel@xxxxxxxxxxxx
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