RE: [OM] Trouble in OM paradise

[Winsor Crosby]

>  > Way back when Maitani came up with some brilliant
> >  ideas to conserve camera weight on an SLR and thus the
> >  OM system was born.
>  Just curious -- what did he do that made them lighter than the competition?
>
> >  Today the thinking seems to be
> >  'its plastic, it'll be lighter so lets just replace
> >  every metal piece with plastic.' The metal OM bodies
> >  just can't compete with an all plastic body in terms
> >  of lightness; same thing about lenses. Now build
> >  quality... thats a whole different story, you could
> >  probably take any OM except the 10 series and bash
> >  almost any current plastic SLR to unusablility, many
> >  to tiny pieces, without harming the OM.
>  Yeah, that was what was a bit disturbing about the new wonderbrick --
> usability didn't seem too bad; point, zoom, shoot (though why not just get a
> point-and-shoot at that stage, of course) but it felt so flimsy..
>
>  -- dan
He completely redesigned the SLR camera.  It was roughly 2/3 the size 
and weight of its contemporaries which launched a whole round of 
downsizing in the industry. He did new things like recessing the 
prism into the mirror box. A replaceable focus screen system is 
lighter than a replaceable prism system. The shutter speed dial which 
I have never really been crazy about actually is a result of the 
redesign for compactness which makes it a good thing. Something 
compact with thin walls can be just as rigid as something big with 
thick walls. He used light alloys instead of brass.
--
Winsor Crosby
Long Beach, California, USA
mailto:wincros@xxxxxxxxxxx



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