jeff@tesla.UUCP (Jeff Frey) (09/30/83)
For the basic question, color slides outdoors or people indoors (e.g., candids at weddings, etc.) the question of SLR vs. rangefinder didn't get discussed. Actually although I have an olympus OM2 with various lenses my own best color slides AND people slides (or B&W negs) seem to get taken with an RF camera, either a Leica M2 or a CL. I also have a CLE (automatic exposure) but it does seem rather complicated; I have to work it out more. For the OM2 I have 21, 28, 35-70, 75-150, and 400mm lenses, all Olympus except for the 400, the classic slow Spiratone (thank goodness color films are getting faster!) Haven't used, or even owned, a 50mm lens for years; the best all-around combination seems (for me) to be the 28 and 75-150 for the SLR, and a 28 and 90 for the RF. I like to travel light, too. Now that Olympus has a small 40/2 I might try that instead of the 28--it's smaller. Pentax makes a 45/2.8 for the ME line that's extremely compact and light and is a good all-round lens but it seems to be rare in this country. Incidentally I've used the ME and would find it a good subsitute for the OM, although not as robust and elegant (or expensive). Once again, they seem to have overdone it with the ME Super. I got the 35-70 f3.8 because it seemed reasonable as a fill-in between the 28 and 75-150 but it's too big and heavy for my taste. It's practically new and I'll accept offers for it at 607-256-4075. Incidentally, one definite recommendation is to buy good lenses; you really can tell. My Leitz lens photos seem perceptibly sharper than those I take with other makes on the RF; the Olympus fixed lenses are perceptibly sharper than the zooms. There's more to it than just how well-made (or finished) the mounts are. Jeff
sb@cvl.UUCP (Babu Srinivasan) (03/26/84)
After doing an incredible amount of research into cameras
being offered by all the leading camera manufacturers, I narrowed
the field down to three Cameras
1) Nikon FE-2
2) Pentax Super Program
and of course
3) Canon A-1
I rejected Pentax LX only because it was too expensive.
Same goes for Nikon F3.(Of coarse I never even dreamt of
Hasselblads, Leicas, and Contax !)
I rejected Nikon FA for two reasons
1) I want to know how the meter calculates the aperture
and shutter values and FA hides a helluva lot from
the user in the AMP mode.
2) It is too expensive.
In my opinion FA is only for rich Amateurs.
It is for people who are more interested in the final
printed photograph than for people like me who are
also interested in the picture taking process.
I finally selected NIkon FE-2 without any
problem whatsoever.
Canon A-1 ,though a remarkable camera was
introduced in 1978. 6 Years have passed and lot of things
have changed.
A-1 doesn't have TTL flash metering, consumes
too much power ( This is era of LCD displays not LED),
poor viewfinder info in the manual mode, has cloth focal
plane shuttter, Highest Shutter speed of only 1 msec. ,
the shutter release button has to be pressed always to see
viewfinder info, doesn't warn you that Exposure compensation
is being used.
Pentax Super Program has a lot of very useful
features. But the absence of three features that I consider
important and a minor irritation made me reject it.
Minor Irritation: The aperture lcd window goes blank during
Aperture Priority mode and TTL Flash mode.
1) There is no Memory Lock.
2) The Exposure compensation increments
available are 2X, 4X, .5X, .25X
I want them in 1/3 stop increments.
3) No provision for Multiple Exposures.
Ofcourse if you are a Manual Mode fan and use no other mode I
would reccommend the Nikon FM-2. Nikon has recently improved
it.
All of this is my sincere opinion. It is my
choice. So other Camera owners should see this in proper
light.