3:00 You're right. Mr. Maintani did such a stellar job with the OM1 and OM2 that I could buy an OMD EM10ii in 2017 and it had the identical on/off switch to the original OM1. How cool is that? Plus I love that gorgeous little metal bodied camera (in black or chrome) that has the original OM aesthetic as do the later EM5s mark ii and iii especially. Though they recently went away from metal bodies except with the EM1 series and the new OM1 for 2000 quid. No flash unit ever looked as cool as that T32 and no manufacturer of anything had such great quality product literature as Olympus did around 1981-2.
I have got FM2n which I love and shot many great photos on it. Now I recently got OM2n and I fell in love with it. It’s impossible to like one over the other but I must admit - due to automatic function and being so small the OM2n I more preferred choice these days.
They’re both wonderful examples of camera design from that era. At the end of the day, looks and compactness made me choose the Olympus. I’m very lucky to have both.
I have both. Build quality slightly better on the Nikon, wind on smoother BUT like you the Olympus would still be my choice. Just look at the thing. A design classic.
I think it’s the best looking camera ever made. Nice viewfinder also. My OM2 overexposes by a stop, so I have to adjust the ISO to compensate, but I don’t care.
The entire system was stellar un style. The small size of the lenses compared to their performance was remarkable. My faves: the 16mm fisheye and 21mm f/3.5. Those lenses were tiny jewels of design and functionality. The 85mm f/2 portrait lens would fit in the standard camera case.
@@threeminutepro I agree. Even in 1982 when I was ttying out a bunch of comparable cameras, the OM2N was awesome in some way, even though it was the oldest design and due for a viewfinder display. They really fluffed it with the OM2SP, OM3s and OM4s
@@threeminutepro Do you remember when the black OM2 was $40 more than the chrome one? In 1981 Jessops was out of atick of chrome OM2s at 179 quid (or less) and the black one was around 215, same as a Canon A1! I should have just gone to Comet and got the chrome OM2N there at £169. I wventually got an OM10 from there and an 80-210 Sigma zoom. The next year I swapped it for a Canon A1 and a Tamron 80-220 zoom!
0:04 Oh good! I have 4 black OM2Ns here. In 1982 I was in Jessops trying out the Nikon FE, Olympus OM2N, Canon A1 and the Minolta XD7 and XD5. Couldn't go wrong. Pentax ME Super was nice too. The Nikon EM was tempting, basic, cute and cheaper. So was the Olympus OM10. Canon AE1 was still around. The AE1 Program was either about to arrive or had arrived. I wanted every one of them!
3:00 / 3:10 Yes wasn't that a design bummer not having a proper On/Off switch on the OM3s and OM4s. CRAZY indeed. Now my digital OMD EM10 mark ii has the identical On/Off switch to the original Olympus OM1 from 1972!👍👍👍
The battery drain issue on the 2SP, 3 and 4 is very strange. The way the metering is turned on and off was no different to most other cameras of the time. And yet most SLR camera batteries lasted for several years.
The OM-3Ti and OM-4Ti don't have the OM-2s/OM-3/OM/4 battery drain issue. The metering circuit was redesigned to shut off automatically after a few minutes of being unused.
Yes, TTL even with daylight exposures. However, I think the strong centre weighting of the meter on the FE is also good, and it has an exposure lock too!
I got a full almost 2 minute automatic TTL off the film metered exposure out of my OM4Ti once or twice and it exposed correctly! The streetlights lit up the entire garden where I was staying in 1992. In Leicester, where the huge Jessops store was. The OM2 would have done the same.
I've owned a handful of film cameras over the last 30 years. But the one's I settled on were a Contax G1 and an Olympus OM-2n. I had some trouble with the OM recently and figured, "F-it, I've never owned a Nikon manual SLR, maybe I'll sell my OM and get a Nikon for once". I decided to get an FE2... BEAUTIFUL camera. And 1/4000th shutter speed on top of it. Loved that the film advance lever was also the on/off switch as to not drain the batteries. And to be honest... I prefer the shutter dial on top. Besides that... I like basically everything else about the Olympus that I had just sold. I instantly started feeling buyers regret and if I had made the right decision. Finally the shear size of the thing compared to the OM was really starting to bother me. Especially when I started to look at lenses. A good example is both cameras 35-70 zoom lens... the 35-70 on the Nikon is as you would expect, a pretty big lens (at least long) because it's a zoom. But on the olympus it looks like a small prime. It's really crazy. I think it was the size discrepancy in both the body and lenses that ultimately did it. I just couldn't see myself (if I owned both at once) wanting to take the Nikon out shooting over the Olympus. That 4000th shutter speed on the Nikon is pretty bad ass though. I ended up returning the Nikon. And in the process of getting another OM-2n
The OM frame is fantastic. World leading design. The shutter speed ring of the Olympus was genius.
Beautiful design. So good that Olympus stuck with it for too long and fell behind other manufacturers.
3:00 You're right. Mr. Maintani did such a stellar job with the OM1 and OM2 that I could buy an OMD EM10ii in 2017 and it had the identical on/off switch to the original OM1. How cool is that? Plus I love that gorgeous little metal bodied camera (in black or chrome) that has the original OM aesthetic as do the later EM5s mark ii and iii especially. Though they recently went away from metal bodies except with the EM1 series and the new OM1 for 2000 quid. No flash unit ever looked as cool as that T32 and no manufacturer of anything had such great quality product literature as Olympus did around 1981-2.
Agree! EM10ii is a classic - I use 3 of them!
I have got FM2n which I love and shot many great photos on it.
Now I recently got OM2n and I fell in love with it.
It’s impossible to like one over the other but I must admit - due to automatic function and being so small the OM2n I more preferred choice these days.
They’re both wonderful examples of camera design from that era. At the end of the day, looks and compactness made me choose the Olympus. I’m very lucky to have both.
I have both. Build quality slightly better on the Nikon, wind on smoother BUT like you the Olympus would still be my choice. Just look at the thing. A design classic.
I think it’s the best looking camera ever made. Nice viewfinder also. My OM2 overexposes by a stop, so I have to adjust the ISO to compensate, but I don’t care.
The entire system was stellar un style. The small size of the lenses compared to their performance was remarkable. My faves: the 16mm fisheye and 21mm f/3.5. Those lenses were tiny jewels of design and functionality. The 85mm f/2 portrait lens would fit in the standard camera case.
@@threeminutepro I agree. Even in 1982 when I was ttying out a bunch of comparable cameras, the OM2N was awesome in some way, even though it was the oldest design and due for a viewfinder display. They really fluffed it with the OM2SP, OM3s and OM4s
@@threeminutepro Do you remember when the black OM2 was $40 more than the chrome one?
In 1981 Jessops was out of atick of chrome OM2s at 179 quid (or less) and the black one was around 215, same as a Canon A1!
I should have just gone to Comet and got the chrome OM2N there at £169. I wventually got an OM10 from there and an 80-210 Sigma zoom. The next year I swapped it for a Canon A1 and a Tamron 80-220 zoom!
0:04 Oh good! I have 4 black OM2Ns here. In 1982 I was in Jessops trying out the Nikon FE, Olympus OM2N, Canon A1 and the Minolta XD7 and XD5. Couldn't go wrong. Pentax ME Super was nice too. The Nikon EM was tempting, basic, cute and cheaper. So was the Olympus OM10. Canon AE1 was still around. The AE1 Program was either about to arrive or had arrived. I wanted every one of them!
That was a great era for camera design, I think. I used an ME Super for about 10 years, and also own some of the others that you mention.
3:00 / 3:10 Yes wasn't that a design bummer not having a proper On/Off switch on the OM3s and OM4s. CRAZY indeed. Now my digital OMD EM10 mark ii has the identical On/Off switch to the original Olympus OM1 from 1972!👍👍👍
The battery drain issue on the 2SP, 3 and 4 is very strange. The way the metering is turned on and off was no different to most other cameras of the time. And yet most SLR camera batteries lasted for several years.
The OM-3Ti and OM-4Ti don't have the OM-2s/OM-3/OM/4 battery drain issue. The metering circuit was redesigned to shut off automatically after a few minutes of being unused.
Thanks for this. I believe you can also get a technician to fix the issue on the 2SP
The OM2 has a more advanced exposure meter too.
Yes, TTL even with daylight exposures. However, I think the strong centre weighting of the meter on the FE is also good, and it has an exposure lock too!
I got a full almost 2 minute automatic TTL off the film metered exposure out of my OM4Ti once or twice and it exposed correctly! The streetlights lit up the entire garden where I was staying in 1992. In Leicester, where the huge Jessops store was. The OM2 would have done the same.
they look the same, i thought it was just a rebrand of the same camera
Haha! Don’t say that to a Nikon or an Olympus fan! 😀
I've owned a handful of film cameras over the last 30 years. But the one's I settled on were a Contax G1 and an Olympus OM-2n. I had some trouble with the OM recently and figured, "F-it, I've never owned a Nikon manual SLR, maybe I'll sell my OM and get a Nikon for once". I decided to get an FE2... BEAUTIFUL camera. And 1/4000th shutter speed on top of it. Loved that the film advance lever was also the on/off switch as to not drain the batteries. And to be honest... I prefer the shutter dial on top. Besides that... I like basically everything else about the Olympus that I had just sold. I instantly started feeling buyers regret and if I had made the right decision. Finally the shear size of the thing compared to the OM was really starting to bother me. Especially when I started to look at lenses. A good example is both cameras 35-70 zoom lens... the 35-70 on the Nikon is as you would expect, a pretty big lens (at least long) because it's a zoom. But on the olympus it looks like a small prime. It's really crazy. I think it was the size discrepancy in both the body and lenses that ultimately did it. I just couldn't see myself (if I owned both at once) wanting to take the Nikon out shooting over the Olympus. That 4000th shutter speed on the Nikon is pretty bad ass though. I ended up returning the Nikon. And in the process of getting another OM-2n
Same here. The Nikon has a better spec on paper, but the Olympus is do wonderful to use. So ergonomic, and the viewfinder is big and bright 😀