Olympus AF-1 Super test roll

[Dr. Strangelove]

I posted something about this camera to the Olympus Stylus Epic thread. The short story is that the AF-1 Super is pretty much the direct predecessor of the Stylus Epic / µ-II. I got a test roll back recently, but I did not manage to get any good shots and most of the pictures were social shots from my friends in any case. Classic P&S usage 😀

However, here are some examples from the roll in any case. The film was Superia 200. The images are nothing special even for snapshots, but they function as examples. I learned that the coating used by Olympus on this lens is not good enough for backlight pictures...

 

[btgc]

yeah, I have looked towards AF-1, though battery here costs about 2 times more than lithium cell for Electro, which costs about two times more than cr123 for Epic. Also missing control over flash was decision factor. Oh, wait - maybe AF-1 Super is superior to plain AF-1 in this aspect ?

I like Superia200, it seems way better than Superia100. Did you expose at box speed or used knife'n'tape ISO trick ?

 

[payasam]

"...the coating used by Olympus on this lens is not good enough for backlight pictures..."

If you mean the middle picture, any lens can behave thus.

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

yeah, I have looked towards AF-1, though battery here costs about 2 times more than lithium cell for Electro, which costs about two times more than cr123 for Epic. Also missing control over flash was decision factor. Oh, wait - maybe AF-1 Super is superior to plain AF-1 in this aspect ?

I like Superia200, it seems way better than Superia100. Did you expose at box speed or used knife'n'tape ISO trick ?

At box speed, I am too lazy to do the DX code changing trick with cameras that don't provide exposure compensation or manual ISO/ASA setting.

The AF-1 Super does have the standard flash controls: flash off, fill flash and pre-flash for redeye reduction in addition to the auto mode. No slow speed synchro, but since the slowest shutter speed is only 1/15 sec. even in flash off mode, it does not really matter.

Other problems: no exposure lock, only AF lock. The AF system does not detect misfocusing, so you can happily focus it at 20 cm and the green focus LED illuminates normally. In the macro mode flash is always on, which leads me to believe that the macro mode is in fact just the smallest possible aperture combined with flash, which will increase the depth of field sufficiently to call it a macro mode... But I might be wrong, it's just a theory.

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

"...the coating used by Olympus on this lens is not good enough for backlight pictures..."

If you mean the middle picture, any lens can behave thus.

Yes, but that is not the even worst example. Considering that the lens is a fairly simple four element Tessar type one, the flaring is quite strong for a camera made less than 20 years ago. With T*, Pentax SMC or even later Nikon and Konica multicoatings flaring would be much less pronounced. I don't own Leica or Canon glass in any form and my experiences with Minolta/Sony glass is very limited, so I don't know about them.

Lens coatings are in fact more important for compact cameras than for interchangeable lens cameras. It is often very difficult to use lens shades with compacts made after the early 1980s, because they don't have filter threads or even a round lens barrel.