NOTHING lasts forever. But I still believe the OM System will have a longer life
than almost any other platform you can think of.
Consider this. Had you bought an Canon Rebel G and lens for $400 last year,
then,
after Canon comes out with the Rebel 2000, with more focusing zones, what do you
think your used Rebel G is worth?
======================
But the future of EOS does not hang on the ability of the Rebel G to
hold its value. when one owns a sizable 35mm system, most of hte value
is in the lenses. when the day comes that there are no repairable Om
cameras available, the lenses will plummet in value. moreover, the
Rebel is jus an amateur-oriented camera with a plastic lens mount.
Something like an A2 held its value fairly well when the A2E with
the eye controled focus came out.
right now, the supply of OM lenses is largely from folks abandoning
the system and moving to autofocus. over the last few years, this
has led to plentiful used Zuikos on the market and their prices have
dropped compared to 5 years ago. there are very few things being purchased
new and I think a very small supply of new Om equipment is going to
enter the used market over time. thus, over time, as things wear out,
and all the people who wil abandon Om have done so, the supply could get
thinner.
==================
Those modern auto-everything 35mm SLRs hang their user-appeal mainly on the
latest chip technology. And we know how fast computer chips become obsolete.
==================
an autofocus body still has intrinsic appeal as a camera even if there
are faster or better bodies around. they don't depreciate like computers.
the latter will continue to depreciate until their value is so low you'd
almost have to pay someone to haul it away (in some cases, you would).
A camera like the Nikon F4 depreciated alot when the F5 came out. Before
that, used F4's were around $1200, now they are around $750-800. But
their value as a camera with mirror lockup, 1/250 flash sync, spotmeter,
TTL flash AE gives them a depreciation floor as their aren't many cameras
around with those features.
===============
Perhaps someday digital technology will put 35mm film into the realm of a 'mere
curiousity'. If that every happens, the all manual OM-1 will still have more
collector appeal as a classic camera of the '35mm film era', than a Canon Rebel
G.
===============
I don't see either being heavily sought after by collectors. OM-1's are
too plentiful. In time, the supply of spare film transport parts for the OM-1
will have dried up, and they'll all break and get relegated to the trash heap.
Joseph
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