Another Camera from the 1980s, Musings on the Olympus OM-2n.
Well ok, the first half of the 1980s.
The Olympus OM-2n is one of my workhorse cameras, they have been around city enivironments and on hikes along the Bruce Trail and up in the Northern Muskokas, and they haven't failed me yet.
As I wrote in an article on the Film Shooters Collective a few years ago:
The single digit OM series were the Saab 900 of 35mm SLRs with their different ergonomics compared to Nikon, Canon, Pentax and other SLR manufacturers. The bodies were well engineered and, while the majority of photojournalists shied away from the OM-system, the scientific community and adventurer/explorer/wildlife photographer market loved them. If weight was a factor for you the OM system won hands down when compared to a Nikon F2A or Canon F-1N with lenses. The really big draw with Olympus was their Zuiko optics, just as it is today with their mirrorless digital bodies.
A quick history lesson Olympus put a shot across the collective bow of the camera industry by releasing the OM-1 in 1972 followed up with another shot across the bow in 1975 with the OM-2. In some ways the OM-2 is even more revolutionary than the OM-1, with all the electronics packed into a compact camera body, The Nikkormat EL, Ashai Pentax ESII and later K2, Canon EF, and Minolta XE-7 were boat anchors compared to this camera.
Olympus a few short years later updated to the OM-2n, which included an upgraded film advance, better flash sync, new flash shoe, but kept the Off The Film Plane metering which is the big draw to the camera. The specs were pretty standard Bulb to 1/1000 of a second, ISO 25-1600 with exposure compensation.
What was interesting was the metering display, if you were shooting in manual mode, the meter read out from the OM-1 would be on display, switch to aperture priority, the meter read out for that would pop up. The OM-2n unlike it's mechanical stablemate took a pair of 1.5 volt Energizer 357 / SR44 batteries which you can get pretty much anywhere.
I owned an Olympus OM-4 for a bunch of years, on paper it was a very powerful camera body, with higher specs than the OM-2n, with added spot metering a built in flash shoe, and manual 1/60 and bulb for when the batteries die. Thing is I prefer the OM-2n as it is more intuitive to use. The OM-4 for all it's sophistication, you had to be on the ball if you were using the spot metering on the fly, and you have to re-orient yourself with the LCD meter read out. For me, I found the OM-2n a much easier camera to use.
As shown below I've used the camera just about everywhere from urban to rural landscaps along with a portrait of my friend Crystal using a Zuiko 75-150 F4 telephoto zoom lens at F4 at 1/60 of a second after the 2017 IABC Toronto AGM. Again Off the Plane metering for the win.
The allure of the OM-2n, and single digit OM bodies in general is they were inspired by Leica rangefinders with their compact size. There's enough dampening with the reflex mirror you can hand hold at 1/30 of a second easily at least from personal experience. The other big allure is the bright viewfinder which makes taking the photo that much more enjoyable.
One thing I would recommend is getting a CLA for these cameras, especially if you found on in the wild and been sitting for a while. It is well worth the money to get a solid workhorse.
Camera: Olympus OM-2n, Various Zuiko lenses.
Film Various film stocks.
The Olympus OM-2n is one of my workhorse cameras, they have been around city enivironments and on hikes along the Bruce Trail and up in the Northern Muskokas, and they haven't failed me yet.
As I wrote in an article on the Film Shooters Collective a few years ago:
The single digit OM series were the Saab 900 of 35mm SLRs with their different ergonomics compared to Nikon, Canon, Pentax and other SLR manufacturers. The bodies were well engineered and, while the majority of photojournalists shied away from the OM-system, the scientific community and adventurer/explorer/wildlife photographer market loved them. If weight was a factor for you the OM system won hands down when compared to a Nikon F2A or Canon F-1N with lenses. The really big draw with Olympus was their Zuiko optics, just as it is today with their mirrorless digital bodies.
A quick history lesson Olympus put a shot across the collective bow of the camera industry by releasing the OM-1 in 1972 followed up with another shot across the bow in 1975 with the OM-2. In some ways the OM-2 is even more revolutionary than the OM-1, with all the electronics packed into a compact camera body, The Nikkormat EL, Ashai Pentax ESII and later K2, Canon EF, and Minolta XE-7 were boat anchors compared to this camera.
Olympus a few short years later updated to the OM-2n, which included an upgraded film advance, better flash sync, new flash shoe, but kept the Off The Film Plane metering which is the big draw to the camera. The specs were pretty standard Bulb to 1/1000 of a second, ISO 25-1600 with exposure compensation.
What was interesting was the metering display, if you were shooting in manual mode, the meter read out from the OM-1 would be on display, switch to aperture priority, the meter read out for that would pop up. The OM-2n unlike it's mechanical stablemate took a pair of 1.5 volt Energizer 357 / SR44 batteries which you can get pretty much anywhere.
I owned an Olympus OM-4 for a bunch of years, on paper it was a very powerful camera body, with higher specs than the OM-2n, with added spot metering a built in flash shoe, and manual 1/60 and bulb for when the batteries die. Thing is I prefer the OM-2n as it is more intuitive to use. The OM-4 for all it's sophistication, you had to be on the ball if you were using the spot metering on the fly, and you have to re-orient yourself with the LCD meter read out. For me, I found the OM-2n a much easier camera to use.
As shown below I've used the camera just about everywhere from urban to rural landscaps along with a portrait of my friend Crystal using a Zuiko 75-150 F4 telephoto zoom lens at F4 at 1/60 of a second after the 2017 IABC Toronto AGM. Again Off the Plane metering for the win.
The allure of the OM-2n, and single digit OM bodies in general is they were inspired by Leica rangefinders with their compact size. There's enough dampening with the reflex mirror you can hand hold at 1/30 of a second easily at least from personal experience. The other big allure is the bright viewfinder which makes taking the photo that much more enjoyable.
One thing I would recommend is getting a CLA for these cameras, especially if you found on in the wild and been sitting for a while. It is well worth the money to get a solid workhorse.
Camera: Olympus OM-2n, Various Zuiko lenses.
Film Various film stocks.
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