On 8/16/2011 6:18 PM, C.H.Ling wrote:
> If you are interested on these lenses you better buy the Nikon version, to
> get a film body could be cheaper than modify the mount.
That's what I'd do. Well, if I didn't already have a couple of Nikon film
bodies. :-)
> I'm an OM lens fan, they have excellent performance.
Many of them do, especially the later ones. The early 50/1.8 I got with my
first OM-1 was significantly softer than the
Nikkor 50/2 it replaced.
> While the OM body is fine but the are nothing special.
Relatively true with the time compression of hindsight. When I traded a Nikon
Ftn for an OM-1, there was simply nothing
like the OM, light, compact, quiet, and very solidly made. I made the switch
eagerly and, after correcting the lens
problem, never looked back.
Much later, I inherited a few Nikon bodies from my father. I was quite
surprised by the FG. It's essentially the same
size and weight of an OM-2(n), and functionally similar, with an added Program
Mode. It has TTL flash control, but not OTF.
BUT, the OM-2 came out in 1975 - the FG in 1982, seven years later, only
slightly before the OM-4.
At the time they were introduced, the MF OMs generally WERE "something
special". Looking back over the panorama of MF
film SLRs, there are several cameras from other makers than are quite
competitive, although they came later.
The big positive that still stands out is the TTL-OTF exposure and flash
control. Unique and very effective. Close to it
is the exposure control systems on the OM-4 series and OMPC.
The big negative is the aperture mechanism. Even a genius like Maitani can make
mistakes. The decision to drive the
normally open aperture closed against a stop at an unknown (to the camera)
location against a spring of unknown strength
was such a mistake. It requires strong radial motion that bangs against the
stop. That's true even with a small lens
with light aperture mechanism and spring, as it has to also be able to drive
the big ones.
The Nikon design, with a normally closed aperture, held open by the camera when
the lens is mounted, is inherently lower
vibration. The camera just gets out of the way of the lens closing it's
aperture. No big bang from the camera mechanism.
Even so, the manual mechanism on the F bodies (at least through F2) both locks
up the mirror and closes the diaphragm,
something Oly didn't manage until late in the series, and only at the cost of
using the timer for every shot.
Moose
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