Hi,
> There have been quite a few favourable postings about the OM-40 in the
last
> few months (from Olaf, George S and Hans in particular) I am sending this
> collective wisdom in a Word doc to your email address.
Yes, the OM-40 is (IMO) a very nice camera, it's just a pity it doesn't have
a spot meter... I have even been looking with great interest at the OM-2S as
a third body, to kind of have the OM-40 with a spot meter.
Now, I read in a subsequent post about the opinion on how often the Program
mode is actually used. Well, this really depends on just "how many of the
parameters" you want to control yourself. For a great many years (when I
wasn't so much into photography yet) I solely used the camera in program
mode and it (almost?) always gave me properly exposed pictures. Nowadays I
find myself using the camera in Auto (i.e. aperture preferred) mode most of
the time, just so I know for sure what diafragm is actually used. The
program mode uses an algorithm for determining which aperture to use, this
algorithm is based on what diafragm you have set on the lens (i.e. it
behaves differently if you have the diafragm set to max. or min. aperture,
then when it's set somewhere halfway). I don't know the different algorithms
from memory (they are described in the manual; I can post them Monday, if
there's an interest in them), but I think they're aimed at obtaining a
shutter speed of 1/125 or faster if possible. This means it will keep the
diafragm wide open in low light conditions to minimise the time the shutter
stays open, but if there's abundant light (i.e. when shutter speeds can be
<= 1/125) it will also start adjusting the diafragm; again, the algorithms
have to be checked to know exactly which aperture/shutter speed combo is
used.
So, if you just feel like taking pictures where you don't care about which
diafragm to use (and hence don't feel a desire to fully control the DOF
yourself), the Program mode will do just fine. It's just when you want to be
absolutely certain of specific diafragm and/or shutter speed settings that
you find yourself switching to Auto or even Manual mode. I hardly use the
camera in Manual mode at all, I only do this in very difficult lighting
situations (most noticeably so with counterlight) where you have to enforce
a different shutter speed than what is indicated in the viewfinder.
Similar reasoning goes for the ESP (= Electro Sensitive (Selective?)
Pattern), this is a means of "correcting" exposures when you have great
differences in the light measured in the centre of the viewfinder vs. the
"outskirts" of the viewfinder. This normally works well, however, just like
with the Program mode you can't tell what the camera is doing exactly (in
this case you don't know which shutter speed it actually uses and whether
your object will be correctly exposed or over or under exposed). At times
when doing deliberate counterlight pictures of a big enough object, I switch
off the ESP, get close to the object, measure the light of it (using the
camera), enforce this value in the Manual mode, determine the composition
and then fire away. This is what I would call the way to perform a
"spot-metering" with the OM-40, mind you, having to perform this little
procedure over and over again finally made me switch to the OM-4Ti. A lot of
people don't take pictures in difficult light conditions though, so then you
don't have to bother using such an approach.
For a more detailed description of my findings on the OM-40 I would like to
refer to what will undoubtedly be written down in the Word document that
Keith mentioned (can you send that to me too please?). Alternatively, if
someone is interested in seeing it, let me know and then I can probably
compile a detailed description using some of my previous postings.
Now, for some other comments about the OM-40:
> Within a couple of weeks of my buying it, the postings have been about
> light leaks and locked up mirrors!
I would assume the light leaks to be a coincidence; in my case it took 13
years before this occured, and then it was very easily cured (by simple
putting a piece of black tape over the cassette window). The locked up
mirrors can be annoying at times, but they aren't show stoppers either.
Normally you would just release the mirror again by putting the camera in
battery test mode, then you will have lost one picture, but most of the
times when you take it again it will work. I'm not certain to what extent
all OM-40s suffer from this though...
> I'm delighted with it though and have yet to experience any problems.
There you go, almost the same goes for me...:)
> Only time will tell whether I have a battery eater, but if it turns out to
be one
> I'll just remove batteries between outings -
I found this to be a bit of an issue, if you leave the batteries in they
will die within half a year, even if you don't take pictures.
> not a very time consuming job; a lot quicker than changing films and we
don't
> complain about having to do that.
True, but still it's nice to be able to have your camera ready to fire at
any and all times, with the film you can anticipate this (leave the film in
it for 8 months and it will still be set at the same frame), but it's not so
nice if your batteries will have died somewhere in the meantime, however,
your statement about the short time it takes to replace them is definitely
true, so it's not a big issue (as a small reminder: the OM-2S, OM-3, and
OM-4 (but not the T(i) versions!) apparently suffer from the same problem).
O.k., that about wraps up the comments on the OM-40, IMO it's a very nice
camera which gives you a lot of value for money. You might miss features
like interchangeable focusing screens etc. but I never found that to be a
big issue. For some more technical details I'd like to refer you to Hans'
excellent e-sif page (then you can also compare it's features against the
other OM cameras) which can be found at:
http://www.veluwen.demon.nl/om-sif.htm and if you want to see some of my
work with the OM-40, please check my photo gallery at:
http://members.xoom.com/olaf_greve/
For any other questions, you know where to find me! :)
Cheers!
Olaf
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