Leica M and Olympus OM

[comte de Mazan]

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Yoshihisa Maitani, the great inventor of the OM caméras was very inspired by the Leica M. 

In a interview for the Japanese book "All about Olympus" he said, 

"The size of the OM bodies is very close to that of a Leica. Almost the same size of a Barnack type Leica, and its volume is very close to that of an M Leica.  Is this because Maitani loved his Leica since he was a child?
"We didn't simply copy the Leica at the design stage. I think I should say, it had to be that size."

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[Ko.Fe.]

duplicate.

Edited May 20, 2021 by Ko.Fe.

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[Ko.Fe.]

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1.5 lens on Leica, 1.8 lens on one of the smallest OM film SLR.

Sounds good in writing, on practice protruding VF and lens mount on OM is no different from any SLR bulk.

Oh, on getting inspired.  They say Leica digital CL was inspired by  Digital Pen and SL looks like A7.  .

[cboy]

Thanks OP for the insight. Ive had fond memories with my OM.The OM series was beautifully stylised and arguably the quintessential slr. The viewfinder was the closest thing to being immersed into a scene being captured. Have yet to experience the same thing since... 

Edited May 21, 2021 by cboy

[250swb]

I know them well, my MP and OM4 Ti are in adjoining camera bags. It's an obvious combination.

Edited May 21, 2021 by 250swb

[Ouroboros]

It was probably the OM1 that set the trend for smaller slrs in the 70's.  I remember when a friend of mine bought an OM1 around the time it was launched and I was impressed with it, but always remained loyal to Nikon.  Olympus did a good job with their marketing at the time, using Formula 1 racing, David Bailey and Peter Sellers to build the image of buying into the system

I've had this FE for so long, I can't remember what year I bought it but I still use it regularly and have a nice set of half a dozen ai-s lenses from 24mm-135mm that I've also kept.  

The 45mm lens on the FE here is a much later lens, released with the FM3a.

 

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[Rupert Greenwell]

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The Om 1 was my first proper camera. Then when I could afford it I got a MP, then M4 ,M3 and M6  but have always kept using the OM's too, recently adding a OM 3ti which is a rather wonderful camera.

[oldwino]

I found my OM-1 too small to easily use. Viewfinder was pretty nice, though.

Leica M has better ergonomics for me. 

[spydrxx]

I periodically used an OM2n, which was a delight with a bright viewfinder, but really preferred my M4 in most cases.

[RayD28]

My first camera was an OM2 and I still have it.  The "kit" lens was a 50mm 1.4 which I still have along with an Olympus 28mm 3.5 and flash.  I loved the size then and it's one reason I became interested in Leica Ms.  

The viewfinder prism needs work because there was some sort of sealant that disintegrates over time.  The last I checked there is repairman that specializes in OMs and he quoted about $150 to CLA but it's not a priority for me right now.  

[andrew01]

The OM4Ti is a beautiful camera.  I picked one up in nice condition last week, but have yet to put a film through. The implementation of the multi spot meter is superb, they really got the ergonomics right.  

Olympus certainly blazed the trail with compact dimensions for an SLR, but it wasn’t long before all the competitors had cameras with pretty much identical dimensions and weight.  I also have Pentax MX, Minolta XD7 and Nikon FM2 and they are all about the same size and weight as the OM cameras give or take a few 10s of grams.  

A lot of people bang on about Olympus viewfinders being amazing but I don’t think they are anything particularly special in the high magnification, low eye relief class.  I think the XD7 is the best in that class, and Pentax MX also very good.  I generally prefer slightly lower magnification and higher eye relief like Leica R6 and Pentax LX.

A weak point for the OM4ti was that they used butter as a priming layer before applying the paint.  The paint flakes off just by sneezing in the direction of the camera.  Another thing I don’t particularly like is the film advance.  Mine has a distinct two stage feel, with an initial stage with little resistance and then the final stage which almost feels crunchy.  The Leica R6 is in a completely different league of smoothness.

 

 

Edited May 21, 2021 by andrew01

[comte de Mazan]

Hello andrew01, 

I totally  agree what you said  about the OM4 TI, "The paint flakes off just by sneezing in the direction of the camera.  Another thing I don’t particularly like is the film advance.  Mine has a distinct two stage feel, with an initial stage with little resistance and then the final stage which almost feels crunchy. " My camera have the same defect. Strangely, the OM2 does not have this, the film advance is smooth.
I also noticed a small secondary metallic noise during the triggering, like a small bell, and that also on the OM3 TI ...
In fact I keep this camera, but if I have to use an SLR I use a Nikon FM2, which is for me a fantastic mechanical camera, very reliable, simple, ergonomic and efficient.

 

 

[StS]

The OM series even has a cloth shutter, making it rather silent for an SLR.

I have almost the same setup with the difference being that my OM is pre-Ti and the Zuiko is an 1.8. I like the advanced exposure meter of the OM4. The pre-Ti eats batteries even when off, though, I take them out when I store it.

Stefan

[ianman]

7 hours ago, comte de Mazan said:

In fact I keep this camera, but if I have to use an SLR I use a Nikon FM2, which is for me a fantastic mechanical camera, very reliable, simple, ergonomic and efficient.

Couldn't have put it better myself

 

[andrew01]

I am going through a phase of buying all of the high end SLRs from the 80’s to 2000’s while prices are low and there are still people that can service them.  It is good fun to try them all, which never would of been possible in their time because each one was so expensive.

I have always liked the styling of the FM2N, but its build quality and reliability are commonly overstated in my opinion.  I don’t think it was any better than any of the other mid range cameras of the era.  Mine was from the end of the production run and had hardly been used.  The film transport was rough as guts.  The ergonomics of the viewfinder are terrible with almost no eye relief and information scattered around three sides of the viewfinder.  I sent the camera for a strip down and rebuild of the film transport mechanism, and it is much better now, but this service would never be needed on an F3 in similar cosmetic condition.  I still love the camera and will keep it in my rotation.

 

If I only had to pick one 35mm SLR it would be the R6.2.

Edited May 22, 2021 by andrew01

[Danner]

I'd like to see a Contax Aria and M6 side-by-side.  The Aria is a really fine little film camera.

[adan]

The OM-1 was originally introduced as the Olympus M-1. But Leitz stomped on that as a trademark infringement, since they already owned the M series, and even their own M1 (an M2 with the rangefinder focusing deleted, and fixed 35/50 framelines). So it became the OM-1(2,3,4).

The OM system then faced the problem that, in 1972, it was a decade late to the 24x36 SLR party, where Nikon (F, 1959) by then had a huge established user base among pros (especially in news organizations) and wannabees (yours truly). And Asahi Pentax (1957, Spotmatic version 1964) had the lead in compact, simple, but very competent SLRs for advanced enthusiasts, and some pros who did not need the immense Nikon modular system (e.g. Sam Haskins: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Haskins ). As well as many other brands playing here and there in the market structure, but Nikon and Pentax were the "big dogs," until Canon struck back with the F-1 system at roughly the same moment the OM system arrived.

Paul Simon did not sing "I got'an Olympus camera, I love to take a photograph!" (1973)

Nevertheless, Olympus found enough of a market, especially at home. And certainly applied strong pressure on Nikon (FM), Canon (AE-1), Minolta (X-370/700), and even Pentax (ME) to create smaller and smaller SLRs approaching the end of the 1970s.