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Re: [OM] shutter curtain

Subject: Re: [OM] shutter curtain
From: "Dirk Wright" <wright@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2000 08:26:13 EDT
>He want's to convice me that the shutter curtains from OM cameras are
>not so long-lifing and more error prone 
>than those from Nikkon (he was talking about the
>Nikkon proffesional series for journalists, etc), says the problem is 
mostly
>the textile style of the shutter and the way it is build/constructed
> in the Olympus 
>cameras. Because I never have had a Nikkon in my hand I don't know the 
material
>the Nikkon shutters are made (not textile ? some sort of metal plate 
?)
>

The early Nikon shutters are titanuim foil, horizontal running, the 
later ones are Copal titanium vertical traveling bladed shutters, and 
the even later ones are aluminum. I would tend to believe that the 
Copal shutters are more accurate than the OM ones, but I have no data 
to back me up. Because the travel a shorter distance, the flash sync is 
at a higher speed than OM.

>The other curious thing: he said that Olympus lenses may get some 
problems
>from the mechanics of the diaphragm if they are not used for some time
>(he means 2 or 3 years or up) e.g. put the lens in a shelf. 
>The lubricant gets old and the diaphragm may stick and of course he 
never 
>had these problems with Nikkon.
>As some form of argument he said that almost all journalists
>(at least in germany) use Nikkons and not Olympus. 
>

Yes, it is true that most journalists use Nikon. Discussion on the list 
revealed that this is more because Nikon has an extensive pro service 
network that Oly can't match, so that if you're out in some strange 
place and need a replacement Nikon probably has a service center 
somewhere near that can help. With Oly, you would have to bring spares 
yourself. 

But, any lens that sits on a shelf for years and years is going to have 
problems. 

Since I'm not a pro, I don't have to worry about these things. If I 
were a traveling photojournalist, I would be shooting Nikon or Canon. 
If you are not a pro, don't worry about it and use your camera. Buy new 
stuff from Oly when you can afford to do so. 

Be seeing you.


Dirk Wright

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