This is a great idea.
I'm not particularly concerned about the copyright issue myself. Worse
case is that Olympus finds it and doesn't like it and asks for it to be
removed. I seriously doubt that they'd complain in this case anyway. For
one thing, it's pretty common practice for camera stores to make copies
of these manuals available for a small fee ($5 or thereabouts). This
would also be in violation of copyright.
I'd have no problem providing a web home for this stuff myself if there
is a need, and I also have a few manuals (incl the T20) and catalogs I
could scan in. :)
Greg
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Lars Haven
Sent: Monday, July 27, 1998 5:37 PM
To: olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [OM] Documentation
Pauls0627@xxxxxxx wrote:
>
> As time goes on, and for various reasons, I think all of us
Olympus-philes
> and Zuiko-philes are having to look more and more to the used market
to find
> lenses and equipment. One of the disadvantages of this is that you
rarely find
> used equipment with documentation (at least this has been true in my
> experience).
>
> This got me to thinking that between everyone on this list, there is
probably
> at least one copy of almost every manual, data sheet, brochure, etc...
that
> Olympus has ever published for the OM system. I was wondering if it
would be
> possible to collect this information somewhere, either on paper or
> (preferably, I think) online? I'm not sure if Olympus' lawyers would
have a
> problem with this, but I think we would all find it both interesting
(wishing
> over the stuff we can't afford) and useful (research before a
purchase, for
> example).
>
> Assuming the lurking lawyers out there don't object, any ideas on how
this
> could be approached? Or maybe no one thinks it's worth it (I realize
this
> could be a lot of work)? Putting it online might be cost prohibitive
(it would
> mean hosting an awful lot of scanned pages, I would imagine). It might
be
> feasible to create paper collections and bind them, possibly breaking
the task
> up so one person isn't burdened too heavily. Maybe it could be broken
up into
> groups the way Oly does, with a Camera body group, Lens group, Flash
group,
> Motor drive group, Finder group, etc.?
>
> Anyway, this was just a thought. I would love to get my hands on the
manuals
> for my T-20 and T-32! And just think of the poor guy/gal who buys a
used Grip
> Strap someday, has never seen one before, and tries to attach it to
his/her
> winder or motor without the instructions (assuming (s)he's even got
all of the
> little bits and pieces, and if (s)he doesn't, can figure out what
(s)he
> needs...)
>
> Paul
>
Hi Paul,
You have hit right on one of my "small" projects. I have so far
scaned of the manuals for several pieces of OM equipment: OM-1,
OM-2, OM-2n (halfway), OM-4Ti, T32 and Winder 1. Manuals for the
rest are still missing, but the manuals were not my initial interest.
It all began with a sales information file from around 1990. Then the
Danish branch of Olympus very kindly let me borrow a sales
information file from around 1980, which I also have scans of.
There is even promise of more treasure but, as you point out, there
is a legal problem. Olympus has the copyright to all this stuff.
While I suspect that they are not extremely protective, I find
it necessary to have a formal permission before I can publish any of
this. It all fits on a CD-ROM with plenty of space to spare. I'd love
to make the material available, either on CDs on on the Web, but not
until the legal issue has been resolved. Until then it remains under
wraps. Maybe Olympus in Denmark will want to put it on a web site. We
shall see.
I have so far kept a very low profile on this, as I suspect that
"everybody" will ask for a copy, which I am not at liberty to give.
So far I'll just try to keep up with the flood of questions...
Regards
Lars
Now I prepare my life-boat to be ready for the flood :-)
--
Lars Haven <mailto:lhaven@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> aka <lhaven@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
"When writing about women, one must dip one's pen in a rainbow"
D. Diderot
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