I did a "News-Editorial" (or "print" as the entire rest of the world knows
it) Journalism degree at the University of Illinois in the 80s. I also
worked on the Daily Illini as a photographer, an independent daily published
for the University community. In both my photography classes and at the DI
there was a sort of bias hierarchy: Nikon then maybe Canon (perhaps if you
didn't do a lot of rough and tumble in pursuit of the picture) for work, and
Leica was your Sunday best. Almost everything else received a raised eyebrow
at best and sneers at worst. I started out with a Fuji AX-3 because I was
broke and moved to Olympus when the OM-4T came out. I read the specs, liked
the spot metering system and also I'm tiny and Nikons were huge and heavy
while the 4T was strong, light and easy to hold and carry. The Fuji was and
still is a very good hard working camera, and with an EBC lens produces
fantastic results. The Oly and genuine Zuiko optics are even greater. I've
never regretted the 4T, and am still regularly amazed by the sharpness of
the Zuiko optics. I think this man who rated the cameras has similar biases
to those I experienced in University. There's no rhyme or reason to it --
it's like my dad, he only bought GM cars. Never mind he owned some real
lemons (and some good ones) in his day, he just had it in his head he was a
GM man. I think you get similar brand-loyalty irrationality with some camera
owners.
Oh, ironically, the best sports photographer on campus, bar none, used
Pentax equipment exclusively.
I'd lay odds if I were to show this guy some images from the Oly and from my
medium format Rolleiflex, he'd have a hard time telling them apart without
blowing them up pretty severely!
> Date: Thu, 14 Mar 2002 11:23:43 -0800
> From: Jim Brokaw <jbrokaw@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: Re: [OM] 25 Best Cameras of all time ?
>
> on 3/14/02 7:19 AM, Mike Butler at butlerfamly@xxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
>
>> Ed Senior wrote:
>>
>> Well, to be fair, could it be Bob Shell's 25 Best cameras of all time?
>> <snip>
>>
>> Well, if this is the same Bob Shell that spends time on the
>> camera-fix@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (maybe Jim Brokaw can verify that this is the
>> same guy) he has a very low opinion of the Olympus system and Zuiko
>> glass in particular.
>
> Yes, I think it is the same guy.
>
>>
>> We don't use our Oly gear because its popular, for myself, I use it
>> because it is the best tool for me. I find that I lose very little
>> sleep over Bob's opinions of my cameras. He does have some very
>> insightful thing to say on the subject of camera repair though.
>>
>> Mike Butler
>> Dublin, California
>>
>
> Today's wonderbricks are huge comparatively, even compared with the old
> Minolta, Canon, and Nikon SLR's of the late 60's. But they are light because
> they are all plastic (or light alloy). Imagine a Canon EOS-1v, Minolta
> Maxxum, or Nikon F5 made all of brass -- it would weigh 5lb!
> - --
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