Back to the future - with the Olympus OM-1
For my money, it's one of the best film SLRs ever made - here's why...
I’m known for having more than a few analogue cameras, SLRs, rangefinders and medium format machines dating back to the late 1950s. I love them all but if you had to ask me which one I would never sell, it would have to be the Olympus OM-1.
It’s a design classic of the 1970s. With it’s sleek, compact, all-metal construction, it redefined the Single Lens Reflex camera and made rivals from Canon and Nikon look like the monstrous lumps they often were.
The camera made its first appearance at the PhotoKino exhibition in Cologne in 1972. It was conceived by the great Japanese engineer Yoshihisa Maitani, the man behind the Pen, Pen-F and the futuristic XA series of compact cameras. Originally, it was called the Olympus M-1, after its creator’s surname, but Leica took exception so it was rechristened the OM-1.
It weighs about half a kilo and is only an inch deep. Compare that to a Nikon F of the same period. They weighed in at over a kilo and were nearly 4 inches deep. Yet the OM-1 can do everything the Nikon can. Imagine the intricacies of the Swiss watch and you can imagine what the inside of an OM-1 looks like. No wonder they cost the equivalent of about £2000 when launched.
This futuristic camera feels immensely well built, with a solid, all-metal construction that lasts forever. My own OM1-MD is nearly 50 years old now and looks like it just came off the assembly line. It’s a fully manual camera. It does have an internal lightmeter that requires a tiny battery but you can use the camera perfectly well without it. It was equal to and in many ways surpassed its SLR rivals at the time and was the chosen camera system for many professionals and travel photographers.
Olympus really thought about the controls. They located the shutter dial on the lens ring with the aperture controls immediately in front of it on the lens, something no other SLR then or now, I believe, has done.
The Zuiko lenses are as good if not better than any you can buy today in terms of optical quality.
Compare this to my old Canon 350d DSLR from 2006 with an 8mp sensor which was state-of-the-art when I got it but today is obsolete. Or compare it to the awkward plastic and metal brick that is my Canon 5D Mk III. It is a very capable digital camera but nowhere near as neat, stylish and functional as my OM1.
You can pick this amazing machine up for between £130 and £300 depending on condition, lens and accessories supplied. In my view, it’s still a bargain.
Check out what’s available on eBay if you’re interested.