Ingemar Uvhagen wrote:
> Hmm, am I right about you are not too jolly about the OM-2000? <g>
> Maybe you could try another one and compare to the one you did try?
No, I don't think it's a quality control problem, and I'd be even
less chuffed with the camera if it were. I think one problem is
that it switches on and off with the advance lever (like a N*k*n FM)
but the lever is the wrong length or in the wrong place. This is
a true eye-controlled system - it pokes you in the eye. The dim
viewfinder is typical Cosina. I had one of those dreadful cameras
until I lost my backpack cycling. I replaced it with a Yashica TL
Electro and thought that a step up, which will give you some idea.
Another piece of idiocy in the design: there's no shutter speed
indicator in the viewfinder. With the OM1, you can feel what
the shutter speed is. The dial on the 2000 is simply round,
and no amount of feeling will tell you what the speed is. You
have to look away from the viewfinder.
Ergonomic design is a really hard thing to get right. It costs
money, because you have to build and test prototypes. That sort
of money would not have been in the OM2000 development budget.
AFAIK only two shops here sell OM2000s. The other knows I'm
looking for something else now, and I don't feel good about asking
to handle their OM2000 when I don't intend to buy.
> Sigh, going into a shop here is like going into a C*n*n/N*k*n/M*n*l*a
> shop...
Most shops here, too. Neither does that type of shop handle Leica,
Contax or Hasselblad. Olympus SLRs are bracketed with those now
from a marketing point of view.
It is a fact that an OM camera which lasts 20 years (I bought my
OM1 secondhand 15 years ago) is not perceived as "good value" by
the public compared with a M*n*l**a which costs less but dies
the first time someone drops ice cream onto its top plate,
and has an absolute upper limit on its life of 10 years because
it has an LCD (as does an OM4Ti).
As well, many people are not buying a serious tool to take pictures
with, but a toy which is to provide instant gratification via beeps
and flashing lights. You won't find any Nikon FM2Ns (equivalent
to an OM1n) on display in many shops either, but they still sell
new.
That said, I think Olympus could be a bit imaginitive and bring
the OM1 or OM2N back into production. Perhaps they simply don't have
spare capacity, what with all their other successful products.
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