I am writing my "take-home" final for the photography class that I'm
taking at the University of Idaho. One question is to advise a young
person who currently owns no equipment, but is interested in gradually
acquiring a quality system over time. They have a current budget of
about $1,000, but it is also likely that they will receive additional
gear over time from friends and relatives for graduation, Christmas,
birthdays, etc.
Regretfully, I don't see how I could recommend Olympus, in this
scenario. So far, I have come up with a N*k*n FM (or FM2 or FM2n), the
50 mm f/1.8, and the 105 mm f/2.5.
I think that is probably a very out of touch and old fashioned
question for the final. Or it is a trick question. By the time that
the second $1000 is spent by relatives and friends your young person
will have a film system outmoded by digital advances. It makes sense
for some of us who have skills and who have more picture taking years
behind us than ahead of us to stay with film. But even some of those
people are testing the digital waters.
The response to the final question should address that the old
paradigm of buying a system capable camera and lens and gradually
moving into a more complete collection is dead. The computer paradigm
has replaced it. Cameras and system are designed as a system, but
now upgrading involves increasing incompatibility. People who are
able to use their computers a long time either decide what they want
to do and buy an appropriate system which is available and complete
now, never upgrading it; or they buy a very large system with lots of
upgrade capability so that there is a little flexibility in using new
technology. Since that kind of flexibility is not yet available in a
camera you can hold in your hand you are stuck with the solution
buying something that will do what you want now and discarding it
when it is outmoded, like a laptop.
Much as I hate to write it, I think probably the solution is either
to save a little longer or buy on time for a new digital camera, or
to buy something like a used E-10. (Did anyone notice that the
picture on the cover of Popular Photography(March?) of the Nikon FM3
was taken with an Olympus E-10? The future for a young person is in
digital files and Photoshop.
--
Winsor Crosby
Long Beach, California
?
< This message was delivered via the Olympus Mailing List >
< For questions, mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
< Web Page: http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/olympuslist.html >
|