I began with Olympus in 1976 when my mother read a Consumer Report about the
new Olympus OM1 compact camera. I was a youth that was chasing critters with
a 110 Kodak zoom camera. I soon picked up a 200mm f4 Zuiko in 1978 from Hong
Kong-(where I had also picked up my original OM 1 and 50mm f1.4 for the price
of $232)
I used this as my system while I photographed in high school which included
yearbook. Amoung my pictures I took, I shot school sports that included
Kurt Cobain of Nirvana fame when he was on the Jr High football team and
wrestling teams while at our school (forget it Rolling Stone-never sell them
: )
Somewhere along the lines I picked up a 28mm f3.5 and shared custody of a MC
135mm f2.8 with my Mother who had an OM 1n.
I shot for many years to come with OM 1's and eventually dunked 2 over the
years while flyffishing-not too bad for as many chances they had ...They are
treasures that are sleeping forever.
Last year when I was going to Nepal, I rethought my system and picked up
additional bodies of 0M 3's and 4's. I also picked up lenses like 21mm
wides-24's etc.. I also shot with a Contax G2.
Now that I am back-I have really been trying to broaden my lenses. I picked
up a Tamron 400mm f4, 300mm f2.8 and lastly the dream lens-Zuiko 350mm f2.8.
I have "too many" cameras and lenses and I am putting them to the
test-including head to head with a user Canon 400mm f2.8L. I want the best
lenses I can afford and then scale down.
I will soon have only a handful of lenses (yeah right : )
I will always have an OM system to shoot with-I have now for almost 25 years.
I do like to experiment with the others too. It makes me appreciate the
beauty and quality of Olympus!
Nothing stands out more than the remarks people use when trying to promote
the very nice Contax G2 "small size and compact"...well, only if you have
been using the others guys monster gear. For us Olympus users, the Contax is
a jump up in size.
I guess to summarize my taste for the system I have to just look at the table
next to me. I have the $5 Olympus XA from Value Village I use and love
sitting proudly next to the Big White Dream 350..
Olympus is a classic, and I love the system : )
Cheers
John
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