Back in 2004, I was in such dire financial straits that I had no choice but to
sell off my Olympus lenses and accessories. (I still have two OM-4T bodies, if
anyone's interested. Please respond directly.) It was not as heart-breaking as
I'd expected it to be, as I didn't use the OM system too often. And it was the
difference between keeping the camera system and losing my home.
Yesterday I got to thinking about those lonely OM bodies. Why not buy a few
used lenses and put together a nice little film-based system? If I do it over
the next few years, and make good choices, it won't cost a huge amount of money.
Then I thought some more. The OM system is one of the great 35mm systems. It
replaced my Nikon equipment because it let me carry a comprehensive system in a
tiny case when I travelled for Bendix. (The tiny lenses -- especially the f/2
wide-angles -- were and are remarkable.) But is that a good reason for
returning to it?
The OM system is hardly obsolete, any more than a Nikon F or Leica IIIf is
obsolete. But technology changes. A single zoom lens can now replace multiple
fixed-focal length lenses (unless you need a hihg-speed lens). Cameras have
features that make photograhy easier (predictive auto-focus, integral motor
drives, control customization, etc, etc). *
It's also true that Olympus pretty much abandoned the OM system. This was not
altogether malicious; a switch to autofocus would have required a major,
expensive redesign and (probably) destroyed the cameras' and lenses'
compactness, the system's raison d'etre.
On the other hand, there was nothing stopping Olympus (other than money) from
producing an SLR that took existing OM lenses. Had they done so -- even without
a full-frame sensor -- they would have garnered a great deal of good will and
(perhaps) sufficient sales to justify a later body with a full-frame sensor.
Had that occurred, I might have found a way to keep my home without selling the
lenses. At the very least, I would have a good reason to rebuild my OM system.
Olympus's claim that the E-volt system is the first SLR system designed
specifically for digital photography is true, but wildly misleading, and
ultimately meaningless. Until someone figures out how to make a 16Mp 4/3 sensor
with usefully low noise at ISO 800, the 4/3 system will remain determinedly
non-pro -- and a technological dead end. I consider my acquisition of the E-500
to be an interim purchase.
So... If I rebuild my OM system, I'm moving backwards -- at least with respect
to where I'd like to be. The sensible thing to do would be to buy a Canon film
body, plus a couple of Canon lenses, then purchase a Canon digital body with a
full-frame sensor when my savings and the (presumably) declining price of such
a body intersect.
* You'll note I didn't include evaluative metering. Some years back, Popular
Photography ran a test that showed that it doesn't work.
==============================================
List usage info: http://www.zuikoholic.com
List nannies: olympusadmin@xxxxxxxxxx
==============================================
|