Hi all,
I just got my OM4Ti from a fellow list member and I must say that my
impressions of the camera have been a roller coaster of positives and
negatives.
First some history, I shoot mainly street scenes with a Leica M6. The OM2n
which is the only other OM I have gets use some of them time. It would have
been more save for the Beattie screen which I got installed in it. Its
better than the original 1-13 that came with the camera overall, but I
haven't learnt to live with it well enough. Its great in low light that
much I can say. I can literally see in the dark with the Beattie. In
day-light however, its a different story. The screen doesn't handle glare
well, creating wash outs tones in the viewfinder. Colors are flat and the
DOF is unclear. In short, looking through the Beattie in the daytime, I
cannot have a sense of how the final picture will turn out.
The OM4 Ti however was a different experience. With my first look through
its viewfinder, I was disappointed to see that the screen was dark and had
a greenish tone. I was wondering what was wrong. However it took about 20
minutes or so, and then my eyes gradually adjusted. After that there was
none of the green tone anymore, instead the colors were rendered
beautifully and true to life. Low-light performance was a smidgen lousier
than the Beattie but commendable all the same. In terms of evenness across
the field and tonality, the 2-13 wins hands down. Now here was a viewfinder
that I knew I would be very happy with. In fact, just walking around
looking at things with the camera glued to my face is a pleasurable pastime.
Compared to the OM2n. the OM4Ti seems to have a bulkier pentaprism making
the control interface somewhat claustrophobic. The 2n is by far the more
elegant of the two in terms of design. Putting both side by side, I could
not help but admire the shiny enamelish(?) finish, and the uncluttered
triangular prism of the 2n. In a beauty contest, my vote would go to the
2n. Also the 2n seems to have a smoother feel to the winding mechanism. The
4Ti's feels more ratchety. I had my reservations on this but after starting
shooting with the 4Ti, the ratchety sound actually feels more right. I
don't know if this sounds silly, but there is a more "I've got the shot
feeling" about the sound of the winding mechanism of the 4Ti.
Another thing I am beginning to love about the 4Ti is the spot meter. Saw a
difficult dappled light situation that I would have had less confidence
with with the 2n. No problems with the 4Ti. I initially thought that I
wouldn't be using the spot meter at all when I first got it, but I found
myself instinctively going for the button and metering. Halfway through
this process I suddenly realized that I was using the spot meter!
It was such a weird feeling.
Reminds me of the time when I first got my 2n, flipped the camera to manual
and actually started to use the spot meter( I didn't know there wasn't
one). Only when I got the washed out pics did I realize my mistake. Any way
says something about the reputation Olympus has for spot metering.
Well, in conclusion, I love my 4ti! Will fill out my collection with a 35
and a 300, and then I'm set!
--Adi
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