Look on my site for several references and scans of original Pen F/FT
promotional literature here: http://www.skipwilliams.com/olympus/non_om.htm
For my opinion: Very nicely made cameras. Original Pen F was a
double-stroke, ground-glass focuser. No in-camera meter. Pen FT was
single-stroke w/microprism focusing, uncoupled in-camera meter (translate:
pain in the ass to use).
OM-System Zuikos and all other non-Pen FT lenses, function at ~1.5x
effective focal length. I.e., normal on a Pen FT: 38-42mm. Remember that
you only get automatic diaphragm with Pen F/FT Zuiko lenses. All others,
including OM-system lenses are used in stop-down mode.
Nice features? Small size, small high-quality lenses, flash synch all the
way to 1/500. Generally high build quality. Pen F's are more prone to
failure, as I understand.
Cons? Dust tends to get in where the film wind is, so they are often dirty.
Pen FT's meter steals ~1 stop of light vs Pen F. (Pen FV's are really the
best shooters, as they don't have meters)
Repairable? Sure, but catestrophic failures will require cannibalization of
other body or a stock of long-discontinued spare parts.
Skip
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***********************************************************
From: Jim Brokaw <jbrokaw@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Reply-To: olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [OM] Pen FT
Date: Sun, 29 Jul 2001 13:22:43 -0700
on 7/29/01 8:54 AM, Parzival Herzog at parz@xxxxxxxx wrote:
> Has anyone got a PEN FT? What are they like to use?
>
> Are they still repairable? I.e. Are parts available?
>
> When a Pen FT has an OM lens adaptor, the image
> area from the OM lens is cropped, persumably a
> 50mm OM lens behaves like a 100mm lens. What
> about the effective f-stop, is it one stop less?
>
> - Parzival
>
I got a Pen FT recently, still has the first roll of film in it. Not having
seen any pictures, I can only assume it is actually taking them, although
all the functions seem to be normal. Getting twice the pictures per roll
has
slowed me down, I may have to just burn the film to get it out.
It is a joy to use, small and well-shaped. Good sounds, it reminds me of my
Leica in that it feels very solid, like its got no empty space inside. The
shape fits my hands well, the controls are in the right places. It is a
little different in that the 'natural' composition for the image is
portrait
instead of landscape, but its easily held sideways to get the 'normal'
layout. I have the 38/1.8 and 50-90/3.5 zoom lens.
I think there are few parts available, probably not from Olympus. They can
be repaired, although I wouldn't want just anyone working on one. I think
John H. says "inquire" regarding repairs.
The OM lenses will work as longer effective focal length when on the Pen,
but I'm not sure if its double. It seems to me that the aperture won't be
affected, only the image area. You'll in effect be using only the middle
portion of the full-frame 35mm image area, but the light intensity on that
area will be the same as if it were using the whole frame.
--
Jim Brokaw
OM-1's, -2's, -4's, (no -3's yet) and no OM-oney...
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