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Olympus OM2000, Zuiko 50mm f1.8, Ilford HP5+

This is not how you should park your bike.

Olympus OM2000, Zuiko 50mm f1.8 MiJ
Souped the first role from the OM2000, I’m quite pleasantly surprised by that little 50.

Yashica FX-3 Super 2000, Contax Planar 50mm f1.4 T* MM

The Plastic Fantastic is a simple pair of SLR’s made by Cosina in a number of variations for a number of different companies since the early 1980’s. The first version was the Yashica FX-3/FX-7 (Same camera, two colours), a plastic body over die-cast metal frame mechanical SLR with minimal features but quite nice handling overall. The Ricoh KR-5 was also a version of this camera and the original version would also be sold as a Vivitar. It would later be updated to add a 1/2000 shutter speed and it’s Aperture-Priority twin and later a variation with ergonomic grip and even some cosmetic tweaking. Build quality would steadily improve from the rather flimsy FX-3 body to the quite well build penultimate variant, the Olympus OM2000. Nikon would sell the mechanical version as the FM10 (which remains in production) and the aperture priority version as the short-lived FE10, while the earlier EM, FG and FG-20 were likely related predecessors from Cosina to Nikon designs. Canon would sell the mechanical version as the T60, the last of the FD cameras and it would also crop up as the Voigtlander V3000 in K mount (complete with updated cosmetics and ergonomics) and the Bessaflex TM, the last ever production M42 camera, with two different sets of retro styling (A pseudo-Topcon silver version and a traditional pointy-prism black version) and improved build quality, the Bessaflex TM would be the sole variant with metal top-plate, bottom-plate and back. It would also be the only version to support a winder (the Bessa trigger-winder for the Bessa Rangefinders). The basic platform would also be used for the Voigtander Bessa rangefinders, the Rollei 35S rangefinder and further developed and upgraded into the Zeiss Ikon rangefinder and Zeiss Ikon SW cameras.

The basic design uses a vertical-travel metal shutter, typically with a 1/125 sync and 1/1000 max shutter on older versions and newer version get 1/2000 max shutter. ISO range is typically ISO 20-3200 with a EV2-19 metering range, there is a self-timer and usually no extra features. The mechanical version has LED metering and is otherwise battery independent. The aperture priority version gets match-needle metering and is entirely battery dependent. The viewfinder is a either a 95% or 92% coverage, 0.84x magnification pentaprism and a fixed focusing screen, usually a matte screen with a split-prism and an additional ring of microprisms around the split-prism. Late versions with the large shutter release also usually have a shutter lock via a tab on the rewind lever (when it’s pushed in, the shutter is locked, pull it out to the stand-off position and the shutter is unlocked). The Nikon versions get a DoF preview lever, the Bessaflex TM gets a stop-down switch a la the Spotmatic, the only other version with DoF preview is the OM2000 which gets DoF preview due to it being implemented on the lens rather than the body in the OM mount spec. Metering is standard 60/40 centre-weighted and the OM2000 gets a selectable spot meter as well, of which it’s one of only two mechanical SLR’s with that feature (the OM3(T) being the other). The flash shoe is a standard ISO shoe with a centre contact. No TTL flash or indeed any flash integration and no PC Sync. All versions use 2 S76 or SR44 batteries or one CR1/3 Lithium battery.

The bodies are surprisingly reliable and tough given the light build of the shell. There’s really only 3 weak points of the design. The first is shutter jamming, which can be fixed easily by removing the bottom cap and unjamming the mechanism, but this problem is rare on the SLR, it’s actually more common on the Bessa R and R2 rangefinders. The second issue is the weak wind-lever, although this is more of a problem on early versions of the body (and all FX-3’s as they never got the shutter release/wind-lever upgrades). and the last problem is the weak plastic meter coupling rings/tabs. This is mostly an issue with Nikon or K mount versions as they have a tab which sticks up and can be broken if you aren’t careful in mounting the lens. The meter coupling on OM and Yashica versions isn’t susceptible to this problem although the coupling system remains fragile.

These cameras were typically bundled with a mediocre at best 35-70 f3.5-4.8 zoom and often also with an equally poor 70-210 f4.5-5.6 zoom in a two-lens kit. Both lenses are not worth bothering with. Toss them and get some good glass instead.

I’ve owned 3 of these cameras over the years. The first was the Ricoh KR-5sv, my first K-mount SLR (and still one of my favourites, although K mount is not oversupplied with bodies I like). The KR-5sv was the fifth and last version of the long-lived KR-5 line, Ricoh’s basic mechanical SLR line, with pretty much all the options included except DoF preview. It was a great handling little camera and I quite enjoyed using it until it expired from a carelessly mounted M42 lens on a K mount adapter, snapping the meter coupling tab and rendering the camera mostly useless. The second was a Yashica FX-3 Super 2000, which was enjoyed more than the other Contax or Yashica bodies I had but it got sold as I found it less satisfying to use than the Ricoh, mostly due to it lacking some of the later updates that other versions got like the large shutter release with a shutter lock, the improved wind lever and the higher-quality top/bottom covers. The third one is a recently acquired OM2000 which is probably the most capable version of this camera ever made, as it offers all of the upgrades that were done to the rebranded versions (Upgraded shutter release, ergonomic grips, upgraded wind lever, multi-exposure lever, high-quality plastic top/bottom caps) and then adds selectable spot metering to the mix, an nearly-unique feature in a mechanical SLR.

I’d long found certain aspects of the OM system interesting, particularly the small, relatively inexpensive and relatively fast lenses which are known for usually superb optics. However I’d avoided the system as I found the OM-1 and OM-2 to be on the small side for my tastes and their finders were somewhat oversupplied with magnification and undersupplied with eye relief. Like the Pentax LX, they really need a bolt-on grip to handle well. So finding an OM2000 for a good price, along with a late-production 50/1.8 made it a must-have, especially since I had a lens which I was considering selling due to lack of use (it had been loaned out and not much missed for about 6 months. The Nikkor 105/2.5 is a superb lens but a little too long, I’m not really comfortable with lenses longer than about 85mm and even 85’s a little long for my tastes). So I snagged it on a trade (along with some film, I’ve got 3 rolls of the new Kentmere 400 to try).

So expect to see some stuff from the OM in the near future. And maybe some Nikon or Pentax stuff for sale if the system grows on me.

Voigtlander Bessa R, Nikkor-S.C 5cm f1.4 LTM, Delta 400

I’ve created a companion Flickr account for Filmic, for much the same reasons. The new Filmic Flickr will also be a focused stream, with only film street & cityscape stuff along with the occasional night long-exposure digital cityscape being uploaded over there. The intention here is to use my Mawz Flickr as a general account without giving up the advantages of having a more focused collection of work available.