ZombieCake
Well-known member
Once upon a time in a camera shop long. long ago I dreamed of the holy grail I couldn't afford. Until today that wasn't a possibility. Time goes by and dreams faded.
My first SLR camera was an Olympus OM10, which I still have and still works. I upgraded that with a manual adaptor ? Manual and Aperture Priority in one camera - the world is at my feet. Could have been Canon, or Nikon, or Minolta, or Pentax, turned out to be Olympus.
Always wanted a pro version. Picked up a rather bruised Olympus OM4 with a cracked pentaprism and a few lenses that lasted for a long while. It's now in need of a very good service, but with the adventures we've had I'm loathe to discard it. Kind of an old friend, even with the gaffer tape.
Bought an Olympus OM1 and that got completely trashed in a cave along with the 28mm lens, but salvaged piccies got into Descent.
Still no holy grail.
Biggest regret to date was selling my Yashica T4 compact when things went awry.
Then took a long break and my first digital camera was actually a Nikon that took AA batteries, OK and had a good flash for what it was.
Then went through more Olympus and Pentax digital offerings (Pentax DSLRs are brilliant).
Then got a Leica D-Lux 109 ? simply brilliant. Still switching between film and digital ? polaroid, Zorki, Fuji, and others continued. Olympus Pen-F digital was right up my street and, for me, ergonomically brilliant when it came out.
Still no holy grail.
Fast forward a bit. Well, a fair bit. Got a Panasonic Lumix S5 ? best digital camera ever, and totally awesome. Also previously had the Olympus TG-6, which you can dunk in the murky stuff.
But still no Holy Grail.
Until today.
It's been on the shelf for a while at the local camera shop, and I've wondered about it. I'd bought stuff there before, and after a bit of umming and erring the owner made me an offer I couldn't refuse.
I now have an Olympus OM4Ti, the Holy Grail film camera I couldn't afford decades ago, with the brilliant multi-spot metering system. Ran home (well, drove), got some film out of the fridge and wandered around.
Immediately I could feel blood pressure dropping, and a better awareness of what I was shooting. I have 36 shots, each of which costs money. Immediately more pleasant, and ergonomically awesome. Using digital the temptation is to just machine gun everything, and a bit of a bland experience, and maybe have got too used to that. Can't stand the people that say 'I'll sort it out in post.'
Maybe film pics some will come out, maybe some (OK a lot) won't as ever, but's that not necessarily the point. Let's face it most digital stuff ends up on a hard drive never to be seen. Anyway film isn't dead, at least you get real pics form developers. And I'll be using film to chill out and use digital for other stuff.
I guess my OM4Ti grail could be any other film camera that people have an affinity with.
Thoughts and comments welcome.
My first SLR camera was an Olympus OM10, which I still have and still works. I upgraded that with a manual adaptor ? Manual and Aperture Priority in one camera - the world is at my feet. Could have been Canon, or Nikon, or Minolta, or Pentax, turned out to be Olympus.
Always wanted a pro version. Picked up a rather bruised Olympus OM4 with a cracked pentaprism and a few lenses that lasted for a long while. It's now in need of a very good service, but with the adventures we've had I'm loathe to discard it. Kind of an old friend, even with the gaffer tape.
Bought an Olympus OM1 and that got completely trashed in a cave along with the 28mm lens, but salvaged piccies got into Descent.
Still no holy grail.
Biggest regret to date was selling my Yashica T4 compact when things went awry.
Then took a long break and my first digital camera was actually a Nikon that took AA batteries, OK and had a good flash for what it was.
Then went through more Olympus and Pentax digital offerings (Pentax DSLRs are brilliant).
Then got a Leica D-Lux 109 ? simply brilliant. Still switching between film and digital ? polaroid, Zorki, Fuji, and others continued. Olympus Pen-F digital was right up my street and, for me, ergonomically brilliant when it came out.
Still no holy grail.
Fast forward a bit. Well, a fair bit. Got a Panasonic Lumix S5 ? best digital camera ever, and totally awesome. Also previously had the Olympus TG-6, which you can dunk in the murky stuff.
But still no Holy Grail.
Until today.
It's been on the shelf for a while at the local camera shop, and I've wondered about it. I'd bought stuff there before, and after a bit of umming and erring the owner made me an offer I couldn't refuse.
I now have an Olympus OM4Ti, the Holy Grail film camera I couldn't afford decades ago, with the brilliant multi-spot metering system. Ran home (well, drove), got some film out of the fridge and wandered around.
Immediately I could feel blood pressure dropping, and a better awareness of what I was shooting. I have 36 shots, each of which costs money. Immediately more pleasant, and ergonomically awesome. Using digital the temptation is to just machine gun everything, and a bit of a bland experience, and maybe have got too used to that. Can't stand the people that say 'I'll sort it out in post.'
Maybe film pics some will come out, maybe some (OK a lot) won't as ever, but's that not necessarily the point. Let's face it most digital stuff ends up on a hard drive never to be seen. Anyway film isn't dead, at least you get real pics form developers. And I'll be using film to chill out and use digital for other stuff.
I guess my OM4Ti grail could be any other film camera that people have an affinity with.
Thoughts and comments welcome.