(Extracted from an article in the May 1995 issue of UK photo magazine
"Practical Photography". Review by William Cheung.)
OM3Ti Camera
A decade ago Olympus introduced the OM3, a manual-metering
mechanically-shuttered brother to the electronic OM4. It was a modest
success, but soon disappeared from dealers' shelves. The OM4 later gained a
titanium body and the "Ti" suffix, and the OM4Ti continues today. It's
against this background that the OM3Ti was launched at last year's
Photokina.
In recent years Olympus has concentrated on its compact and integrated SLR
business, leaving interchangeable-lens SLRs on the back burner. Hence, many
loyal OM users have felt neglected. The OM3Ti could have been considered
Olympus' conciliatory gesture to the disgruntled if it were not for one
fact: the OM3Ti body sells for 1400 UK pounds. Let's not get obsessed with
the folding green stuff, but the camera's price does put it into
Contax/Leica territory, and you would expect something quite special. Well,
lovely though the OM3Ti is, I'm not sure it's that special. Thousands of
dedicated OM users (and no doubt Olympus) might disagree.
Don't get me wrong; pick up the camera and immediately you realise why the
OM dynasty has had such a profound effect on SLR design and photographers'
perceptions. Remember how in 1973 the original OM1 bucked the trend of the
time of bulky, heavy cameras, and introduced a whole new generation (me
included) to the joys of SLR photography. The OM3Ti comes out at a time
when SLRs are again bulky, though whether it will excite a new generation of
snappers only time will tell.
The camera's finish is superb. It's drop-dead gorgeous and feels great in
the hands. It's sex in camera form. The design layout is classic, and
anyone who has used an OM manual focus SLR will immediately feel at home
with this new arrival. The shutter speed dial surrounds the lens throat,
the ISO speed/exposure-compensation dial is situated around the manual
rewind crank, and the various metering controls are adjacent to the shutter
release. The viewfinder image is bright, the focusing aids work well, and
the simple LCD readout along the bottom is easily visible.
With very few exceptions, the first thing you do when you buy a new SLR
nowadays is load the batteries. Why? Because most cameras have electronic
shutters, so no power means no pictures. You can use the OM3Ti straight
from the box because it has a mechanically-controlled shutter. Of course,
you get no metering, and two D357-type button cells are required for that.
Metering is activated by partial pressure on the shutter release. The
triggering point of the release is quite definite, so there is no danger of
unintentional operation. Shame there is no shutter lock.
In normal use the meter provides a centre-weighted average reading. This is
fine for most situations, but for contrasty occasions or in tricky lighting
a spot meter is often a better option, and the OM3Ti provides this choice.
Push the "Spot" button and the camera takes a reading from the area defined
by the inner viewfinder circle -- this represents approximately 20f the
total picture area.
And the Om3Ti goes further. It allows up to eight spot readings to be made;
as you take the readings the camera automatically averages them out. So, if
your scene is very contrasty you can merrily meter away and let the camera
do the assessment for you. Then all you have to do is adjust the aperture
ring and/or the shutter-speed dial until the correct exposure index is
aligned.
The aperture-priority auto-exposure OM4Ti has a memory which allows you to
store a set of multispot readings. The OM3Ti doesn't have a memory, but
this isn't a problem as the camera is manual metering.
Look closely, and adjacent to the spot-metering button you will see two
buttons marked "Shadow" and "Highlight" which work in combination with the
camera's spot meter. These are designed to assist when you are shooting
predominantly dark or light subjects, respectively.
For example, if you are snapping a portrait of a Caucasian lady in a white
dress standing in front of a white wall, an unadjusted meter reading will
result in underexposure. The woman, her dress, and the white wall will come
out grey. With the OM3Ti, just push the "Highlight" button and the camera
automatically gives an extra two stops exposure. This helps the tones come
out accurately. The "Shadow" facility gives underexposure by two and
two-thirds stops to ensure dark subjects come out accordingly.
Around the film rewind crank is an exposure-compensation and film-speed
control. To be honest, the exposure-compensation feature is superfluous on
a manual-only camera.
The OM3Ti does not have a DX film-speed facility, but manual setting is easy
with the "lift, turn, and drop" control. But if you are changing speeds
from, say, ISO 100 to 400, remember to zero the exposure compensation index
after the required film speed has been set. If you don't, your exposures
will be out.
F280 Flashgun
I tried the camera with the F280 flashgun. This gun allows flash sync at
all shutter speeds when used with the OM3Ti in Super-FP mode, and you get
TTL auto flash metering. The flashgun is easy to use, and the controls on
the back are minimal. In Super-FP mode power consumption is relatively
high. This is because the flash fires lots of bursts very quickly to allow
sync at all shutter speeds. In this instance, recharging takes several
seconds. In normal TTL-auto mode you get better capacity and faster
operation. I managed excellent results with the TTL auto flash mode and the
F280, shooting both indoors and out. Accuracy was very good in a wide
variety of tricky picture-taking conditions.
35-80mm f2.8 Zuiko Zoom
Of course, Olympus has a comprehensive system of Zuiko lenses, but when the
OM3Ti was launched, a 35-80mm f2.8 zoom lens also arrived. This constant
fast aperture zoom is a nice contrast to many modern plasticky zoom
lenses -- it's bulky and solid by comparison. At 1200 UK pounds it also
isn't cheap, and like the OM3Ti I think it's overpriced.
Optically it's very good -- across the frame and throughout the focal length
range. Handling is reasonable without being outstanding. One thing I find
when carrying the camera and lens over the shoulder is that when you come
to put the camera to the eye, the focusing barrel has magically rotated to
the minimum focusing distance. Annoying, to put it mildly, though regular
checking solves the problem.
Practical Photography Rating
Handling: 80%
In a word: lovely. With automated SLRs in abundance, picking up and using
something as manual as the OM3Ti is a culture shock, but this is part of the
camera's overall appeal. The shutter release has a deliciously smooth
travel, and the point when the shutter fires is easily predictable. The
shutter noise is pure class, and the action is well damped, keeping noise
and vibration to a minimum. Film advance by thumb is a wonderful novelty,
but will probably never catch on.
Features: 70%
In a word: meagre. The OM3Ti doesn't compare on a feature-by-feature basis
even against budget SLRs a fraction of its price. Despite this, there is
more than enough for keen and advanced photographers to take axcellent
pictures. The multispot option is useful, though taking up to eight
readings is over the top -- three is usually enough. And the "Highlight"
and "Shadow" controls, while useful, are limited by their nature.
Performance: 80%
In a word: brilliant. I experienced no problems with the camera's handling,
metering skills, or reliability. It's early days, but our acquaintance so
far has lasted a month and the camera is on the same set of batteries. No
sign so far of the battery-drain problems that dogged early OM4s.
Value for Money: 65%
In a word: overpriced. Olympus is not going to sell many at 1400 UK pounds
for the body only. Invest in an OM3Ti, the 35-80mm f2.8 zoom, and the F280
flashgun, and you are waving goodbye to over 2500 UK pounds -- a few days'
salary to a Quango boss, but several years' hard graft for the rest of us.
Yes, you get a lot of quality gear for your money, but I suspect that the
less-moneyed among us will lavish our cash elsewhere.
Verdict
I gave the game away earlier when I said that the OM3Ti is sex in camera
form. I think it's a belter, and I am well enamoured of it. Furthermore,
its performance is above reproach. After all, being totally manual, if the
exposure or focusing is out you can only blame yourself.
But money-wise the OM3Ti is disappointingly expensive, which means that very
few photographers will ever enjoy the delights of this lovely machine.
Olympus would have done itself and SLR enthusiasts, including thousands of
dyed-in-the-wool OM users, a big favour by pricing it much, much more
aggressively -- a 50% reduction of the current price would be a good
starting point.
Unfortunately that is not to be, and the OM3Ti is poor value for money.
Ultimately, however, it is you and not me who has control of the purse
strings, and so it is your decision whether to part with hard-earned cash
for the OM3Ti.
("Practical Photography" had stopped doing MTF lens tests by the time of
this review, so no test measurements for the 35-80mm zoom are available.)
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