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[OM] Of wunder bricks

Subject: [OM] Of wunder bricks
From: Dr Peter Gilbert <peterg@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2000 11:19:14 +1000
Mike Veglia Wrote:


 Intersting comments from wunderbrick users overheard at the
tracks are things like "I don't even know how to use 900f the features
this camera has but they're cool." I'm serious...this is not an unusual
comment...

I can understand this - I picked up a brochure on the F100 the other day, (just out of curiosity) and was absolutely gob-smacked by the techno-babble jargon contained therein. I have been a keen amateur photog for at least 20 years now, and seriously doubt I could figure out how to use even 100f the options and modes etc on this camera, despite having a good theoretical and practical grasp on concepts like depth of field, aperture/film speed/ shutter speed relationship, Flash GN's, Auto exposure and metering patterns etc etc.

There is even a list of 50 -odd "Custom Command Functions" that you can overide the defaults for. Fifty !!!! Who the hell could remember all these?

I don't know anyone who uses one of these computerised bricks but I suspect that most photogs would (at best!) simply fiddle with some of the custom settings and then never adjust them again. They probably end up just spending their time trying to figure out how to circumvent what the camera wants to do for them......

I can't see how a sports photog could ever get their shots if they had to sit down and thumb their way through an instruction manual to figure out how to ......... overide the AF-S mode multi-point system with SB Matrix metering pattern when in the Aperture priority Mode ....... heaven help you if you wanted to use fill-flash as well !!!!! Maybe you have to re-boot the darn thing first!!!

Another thing that surprised me was the weight of these things. I know we talk about wunder-bricks, but these things DO weigh a lot ! The spec sheet indicates approx 800gms without lens and batteries (6 x AA) for the F100 body and a further approx 860gms for the 28-80 F2.8 ED pro zoom. Given an OM-4Ti is about 490gms without lens and battery this must make for some serious wrist muscle development by the end of a shooting day........

This makes me appreciate even more how brilliant Olympus were to pack to much so much capability into a small lightweight body like my Om-4Ti, and at the same time make it simple enough to use without needing to be a rocket scientist....

peter

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