Olympus OM-2
Encyclopedia
System camera
A system camera is a camera with interchangeable components that constitutes the core of a system. Early representatives include Leica I Schraubgewinde , Exakta and the Nikon F...
produced by Olympus of Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
.
Main Features
The Olympus OM-2 was an aperture priorityAperture priority
Aperture priority, often abbreviated A or Av on a camera mode dial, is a setting on some cameras that allows the user to choose a specific aperture value while the camera selects a shutter speed to match. The camera will ensure proper exposure...
automatic camera (with full manual operation selected via switch), based on the earlier, successful Olympus OM-1
Olympus OM-1
The Olympus OM-1 is a manually operated 35mm single-lens reflex camera, part of the Olympus OM system.-History:The very first model was presented at the Photokina of Köln in 1972 and was called the Olympus M-1...
body. The OM-2 was introduced in 1975 , and combined the light, sturdy camera body style of the manual-only OM-1 with a new automatic exposure system.
One of the main selling points of the OM-2 was that all of the OM-1 accessories and lenses would fit without modification, offering a complete photographic system
System camera
A system camera is a camera with interchangeable components that constitutes the core of a system. Early representatives include Leica I Schraubgewinde , Exakta and the Nikon F...
which could be carried easily, and allowing OM-1 owners an easy upgrade path. Although the camera was touted in various trade publications and magazines as technically superior, Olympus as a company did not have the same brand recognition as Nikon
Nikon
, also known as just Nikon, is a multinational corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, specializing in optics and imaging. Its products include cameras, binoculars, microscopes, measurement instruments, and the steppers used in the photolithography steps of semiconductor fabrication, of which...
or Canon and, as a result, some professionals considered the lenses inferior due to their lighter weight.
Technical details
Of the many features the OM-2 boasted in most promotional literature, the mostly commonly advertised feature is that it was the first camera to offer a TTL direct metering system for film . This OTF metering (off-the-film) was the first ever, (the Contax RTS was second). Another feature of the OM-2 was the integration of two available electronic flashFlash (photography)
A flash is a device used in photography producing a flash of artificial light at a color temperature of about 5500 K to help illuminate a scene. A major purpose of a flash is to illuminate a dark scene. Other uses are capturing quickly moving objects or changing the quality of light...
guns into the system. The camera set the duration and intensity of the flash during exposure using its inbuilt sensors by measuring the amount of light reaching the film. This ensured excellent results under difficult conditions. Exposure
Exposure (photography)
In photography, exposure is the total amount of light allowed to fall on the photographic medium during the process of taking a photograph. Exposure is measured in lux seconds, and can be computed from exposure value and scene luminance over a specified area.In photographic jargon, an exposure...
calculation was unique thanks to the twin "blue cell" sensors which measured light reflected off a paint splatter-patterned surface on the lens side of the shutter for shutter speeds above 1/60 sec. while exposure was calculated from light reflected off the film surface during the actual exposure for shutter speeds below 1/60 sec. The camera also offered a manual light-meter mode, as with the OM-1.
The OM-2 has electronic shutter control but is still mechanical enough to expose without a battery at one speed, 1/60th of a secondhttp://photo.net/olympus-camera-forum/00ENzN.
Physical Appearance
The cameras came in chrome or black. The later OM-2N was a slightly improved version. The OM-2SP added a spot meterMetering mode
In photography, the metering mode refers to the way in which a camera determines the exposure.- Examples of metering modes :Cameras generally allow the user to select between spot, center-weighted average, or multi-zone metering modes....
, Program mode and a new meter display with a through-lit LCD bar graph
Bar chart
A bar chart or bar graph is a chart with rectangular bars with lengths proportional to the values that they represent. The bars can be plotted vertically or horizontally....
display instead of the "old fashioned" needle.