Dear List!
I'm having a photo crisis... You can help me. All of this lengthy letter is
relevant, but you can skip 90 % of it and head down a few pages to the end.
<ZA story from Johan>
I'm now 35! I've have used cameras since I was 4, first with and Instamatic,
later on a Pocket Instamatic. In '86 I kidnapped my mothers OM-1, with three
lenses (28/3.5, 50/1.8 and 135/2.8, all Silvernosed Zuikos[1]). I shoot
Kodachrome for two years, then the camera broke. I went to the camera shop
and they talked me out of repairing it and instead I bought a Oly AZ-330
Superzoom. But I had seen James Bond using a 4Ti[2] and had the lust but not
the guts or money. And the camera shop told me that AZ-330 was just as good.
Little did I know. It was a good camera, but it was not "The camera of the
Year". The camera of the year was the Min*lta Dynax 7000i. So in '89 I got
me one of those and sold the AZ[3]. A friend of mine bought a E*s 630 and we
where both happy comparing which one of us who had the largest. The OM-1 was
now in a shoebox, the lenses too. In 1990 I worked in a jazz club and
brought my camera there, with Tri-X and a 100-200mm/4.5 lens. After shooting
some rolls I realized that the Zuiko 135/2.8 would be a perfect lens. Could
I know afford a 4Ti. Not likely, so I didn't bother, but got me a OM-10.
Those where the days. The years went on and I stopped working at the club,
and the OM-10 got sold and I put the lenses in the shoebox. I used the 7000i
a bit but photography was not main thing. In '98 I kind of for fun put a
roll of film in the now old 7000i and thought, "hey what, this seems fun",
and "but is this camera really any good. Hmm, didn't I have a shoebox some
where with a nice set of lenses and a camera". I held the Zuikos in my
hands. Ohh so small and yet the nice quality. The click when mounted on the
OM-body. The nice sound when winding, the ticking on shutter times at 1/60
and longer. Of to the shop (another shop as the other is out of biz), this
camera needs to be in working order. Well in the shop, after much talk, I
decided instead buy an nice OM-1n, as it was more or less the same money as
reparing the OM-1. But in my heart I knew that the OM-1 deserved a repair.
I didn't shoot much, but it was fun. I kept the 7000i and took that camera
with me instead of the OM-1n when I was hiking. But in 2001 a lot of things
changed. You have all seen her, Anna. We met in a math class[4]... Well she
was heading north after school and I needed something to do for the summer
so I headed north too. And I took the OM-1 with me, not instead of the 7000i
but both. We worked at a mountain station[5] and had a great time hiking
around in the near terrain, and I kept taking the OM instead of the other.
Back to school in the fall, I sold the other stuff.
Early 2002 I joined this list. Four years now. I think it took less than one
month and I got me OM-4 with a Zuiko 35-70/3.6. It could have been on the
same day as Olympus announced they where shutting down the OM line.
Ok what have happened the last four years. There is far more lenses here
now, and the OM-1 is fixed, and at last I got me a 4Ti so now I'm like James
Bond. Ohh then there is the OM-2 too, and the Trip 35, XA, XA-2, etc etc.
I took a photography class in 2002 (B&W foundation course), and got to use a
Hasselblad 500 for some days. And it came to my mind that medium format is
fun, so what else is there photography to try I thought. Large format of
course. Lith-film and more. Well there is a lot of fun stuff out there.
I work with computers all day, as a mac and unix programmer and use
photography as a way to get away from the computers. But I did look at the
E-10 and E-20 when they where the thing. The other brands came with DSLRs,
but I thought lets wait for Oly. And the E-1 was announced in 2003, wasn't
it? Nice but way out of my money. But prices drop on these things and in
April 2005 it was affordable. But it was not a easy pick, for the same money
a could get a small Hasselblad start kit. I love to read the books of Ansel
Adams, and it's fun to make contact prints from large negatives. I'm only
35, I'm not ready with film yet. I can buy a used LF with a roll film back
from a friend but have my doubts that I will ever get time to master it.
Well I got the E-1, with 14-54 and later on the FL-36 flash. Oboy what a
camera, and the lens is superior to all others in its game. And even better
I can mount all my old Zuikos on the E-1 too.
We now write January 2006, and I shoot more film than ever. Why? Because
it's so fun! And the OM system is convenient and the work order is a
challenge. I most often decide what to shoot; colour, B&W or slides. I
usually have one of the fours with slide and the other with b&w. And I have
the MD-2 on one of them, and a Data back 4 on one of them; most often the
same, because it looks kind of cool on the black OM-4 especially with that
35-70/3.6 and hood or Zuiko 180/2.8 or the Zuiko 35/2 or...
</ZA story from Johan>
I tend to grab a OM-1, in a small ready case, mount a wide angel lens and
put some other lenses in their cases and put them under Idas trolley. And of
we go. A small party with convenient cameras that let me do what I want.
That's how I mostly shoot now a days. The E-1 is to big for these kind of
trips. It's heavy, long nosed etc etc. It seems that I prefer a small slim
body with classic look. That is not a big clunky body like N*kon F5 or any
other brands. I can get by with a L*ica M body. But the current R:s is just
big. I've heard that they are very nice to hold, but the looks and the
prices. Nah. Maybe R6.2 for the sake of it, chrome and all. But why, I got
this perfect OM system.
But I can see the signs, film is not the way to go for my every day shots.
Now my E-6 processor only process film on 3 of 5 working days. For art I
think that film will be around, there will be small and expensive market but
it will be there. If not banned of course, but that is another story. So
what do I need. Well something I can throw in the bag under the trolley that
lets me make the photos I want. So what am I looking at, for instance the
Olympus SP-500. Seems right in size, but don't get wide enough. The R*cho GR
Digital is probably wide enough, but that's all. The Panason*c DMZ-FZ30,
doubles the SP-500 in price, and it's quite large.
So help, what have you chosen for a modern age OM-replacement for lets say
the next 5 years, because I can't see the E-series be that.
/ Johan
[1] I didn't know of the term Silvernosed then but they where. [2] In the
same movie James Bond converts a Hasselblad to a rifle. That's kind of handy
if you really need it. The deadly space camera? [3] I shot a lot of horse
shows then, and the 7000i did a good job. Sports program card, what an idea,
as if computer memory was large and expensive. [4] Calculus [5]
http://www.abisko.nu
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