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Why MicroFourThird (Olympus, Panasonic etc.) at all?

> Hi Richard, > > Thanks for the reply. I use genuine fractals and end up with a 70mb file from 14mb tiff original. There is no loss in quality and if you have to crop an original image there should still be enough say for a front cover for magazine use if using GF.

Regards

David
 
> [David, You have done me a great service. I did not know of GF and now > I do. I shall get a copy.]
 
Greetings to All Olympus Users
I started using Olympus back in 1972 and was on their VIP program until 1988. I love my OM1's, OM2's OM3's and all my OM lenses, flashes,and drives and did a lot of great work with them, they never let me down, but when Minolta came out with their AF system and they offered me a very nice deal I made the switch and stayed until about a year ago. Great people I'll miss them. About a year ago I went digital and give the E1 a spin, so I'm back and Minotla is now out of business. Olympus offer me a very good deal and to this day have been very good to me. I still have my OM1, my 24 f2.8 and my 50 f1.4 from 1972. I guess I'm back where I belong and this is a good place to end my career. It's been a great and wonderful ride, a lot of great people I wouldn't trade it for anything....WOW it's been fun.

Why Olympus.......the M1 and OM system was the Leica of the 35mm slr's. It was the best. I'm sorry they didn't keep up when it came to the AF, but their back so let see what they can do. I wish they had made the new system using the OM mount.
The E1 is as smooth as my OM1 and just feels right. The glass is also very good and give great results.
It's been a long road, it's good to be home.
Have fun
Roger }}}
 
Why did I choose Olympus?

Well, I once did alot of field work (archaeology) in exotic locations (South America). I needed a camera to record my work and travels. When I was in Grad School, my mom passed me an old Oly OMG to use. It took great photos. A few years ago, I decided to get more into photography. Naturally, I stayed with Olympus and I picked up a couple of OM-1 bodies and some prime lenses. I like the OM-1 because it is light, compact, durable, and mechanical, which translates into easy to repair. I also shoot rangefinders and, believe me, this camera is as close as an SLR comes to a leica M (Leica R's are huge). The OM's handle great, accept wonderful lenses, and should last a lifetime or two. If I buy another body, I may try an OM4.
 
I originally chose Olympus because my photography tutor did. He shot Leica M for rangefinder, and had purchased a Rolleiflex SL35 system for SLR use. That camera was very disappointing to him; the original bodies were not reliable, so the Zeiss glass was pretty much wasted.

He then purchased an OM-1 and was quite pleased. At the time, I was working with only a Konica C35V, which was a good camera but too limiting for my growth. I bought an OM-1 with 50mm f.18 (the first "silver nose" version", but really wished I could afford a Leica. David, my tutor, assured me that the OM was a great system with great glass. Coming from a working photographer that I greatly respected, I was quite pleased, and have never regretted the choice.

Today I am going on a wine tour, and will take an Olympus 35 SP (rangefinder -- G.Zuiko 42mm/f1.7) and an OM-1 with Zuiko 21mm/f2. It's a perfect pair. And as you say, the OM is as close to RF as you can get.

Earl
Waiting on Maitani
 
> If you look at used plain OM-4s do this simple test to see if it has one of the low battery drain circuit boards. Turn on the battery check and leave it on. Battery check will turn off automatically if a low drain board is installed. If check stays on, you have an original board which can mean considerably shorter battery life. John, CPS, Inc. www.zuiko.com
 
> Sorry, I should have said that if you have the new style circuit, the battery check will stop beeping automatically (and LED will turn off) after about 30 seconds. John, CPS. Inc. www.zuiko.com
 
I originally bought a Minoilta and Rokkor lenses back in 1979. Great lenses, but relied too much on plastic parts so I traded it all in and purchased 2 Nikon FMs and Nikkor lenses. Great cameras, great lenses but then I discoverd Olympus OM - small and light-weight - it was perfect for me. Nikon was moving towards auto everything and Olympus was doing brilliant things like the spot metering and highlight/shadow metering.

When digital came along I was quite angry at Olympus for not supporting their lenses in the new 4/3s system so I put my efforts into learing about Nikon and Canon digital. While still using film, I checked out everything about Canon and Nikon digtal systems and guess what - I opted for Olympus for two simple reasons: (1) I could buy two zooms and have every focal length from 28mm to 400mm at f/2.8-3.5; (2) the E-1 was a weather-sealed workhorse built much better than the similarly-priced Canon & Nikon offerings.

I have never looked back and despite all that has been written about Canon and Nikon, their features, system, lenses and cost - the E-1 performs as well as anything else out there with the same 2 lenses I bought 3 years ago. It took Canikon 2 years to put out similar wideangles and they still haven't come out with a telephoto zoom that is as good in quality as the 50-200 at the same price.

Let's face it, Olympus will never be as popular as Nikon and Canon. I don't htink they spend 1/10th the amount on advertising as Canikon. Most people respond to popular things and feel they need to own the big brand name. Fair enough. No doubt, Canikon make excellent equipment and if they were the only choices around I would be perfectly happy with them. But there is something about a niche-marketing company like Olympus that is attractive. They are doing things not to pander to the masses, necessarily, but to do things well. Sure I, too, would like to have Image Stabilisation and tracking auto-focus, but I have worked in photography for almost 30 years without it and my shots haven't suffered. I'm Olympus will have both of these one day (maybe sooner than later) - I'm willing to wait because the system I have now is doing what I want it to, beautifully.

--Terry McDonald
www.luxborealis.com
 
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