Kubrick quote mentions Olympus Pen-B

[lrochfort]

A Telegraph article online provides the following Kubrick quote:

"Both Peter Sellers and Stanley loved their gadgets and, in particular, their cameras. In response to Sellers making inquiries about tthe latest Olympus Pen-F which he "can't wait to handle, and understand there is quite a waiting list for", Kubrick almost shouts:

July 16, 1974
Do not, I repeat, do not buy the Pen-F camera. I tried one out and the mirror kick jars the exposure longer than a 1/20th of a second. I do recommend that you take a look at the Pen-B camera, which I have had for over a year and which is a marvellous thing to carry around in your glove compartment or briefcase."

I'm unaware of the Pen-B and my googling has failed to find any info.

Can anybody provide information and/or links?

Cheers,
Laurence

 

[xayraa33]

A Telegraph article online provides the following Kubrick quote:

"Both Peter Sellers and Stanley loved their gadgets and, in particular, their cameras. In response to Sellers making inquiries about tthe latest Olympus Pen-F which he "can't wait to handle, and understand there is quite a waiting list for", Kubrick almost shouts:

July 16, 1974
Do not, I repeat, do not buy the Pen-F camera. I tried one out and the mirror kick jars the exposure longer than a 1/20th of a second. I do recommend that you take a look at the Pen-B camera, which I have had for over a year and which is a marvellous thing to carry around in your glove compartment or briefcase."

I'm unaware of the Pen-B and my googling has failed to find any info.

Can anybody provide information and/or links?

Cheers,
Laurence

You would think that by 1974 they would be all goo goo gaga over the Oly OM 1.

 

[jsrockit]

Maybe Pen-D2 or D3?

 

[02Pilot]

I'd have to think PEN-D was what was intended.

 

[jesse1dog]

Exactly the issue I had with the Pen-F - that and the standard lens not focusing to infinity. It was lovely to handle but the results I got tailed off after the first couple of films. Now that early Pen-D ........ still have mine after all those years!

 

[mpaniagua]

Pen D isnt a slr camera but a rangefinder. It was made on 1962, using F. Zuiko 1,9 f 3.2 lens, with selenium ligth meter. The light meter was uncoupled. Similar profile and ergonomics to previouis Pen versions. I got that info from "Olympus the Classic 35mm Cameras" book from Claus Marin.

 

[Dwig]

Pen D... using F. Zuiko 1,9 f 3.2 lens,...

For clarity, and to use standard notation, either:

1:1.9 3.2cm -or- 1:1,9 3,2cm

or

f/1.9 32mm

 

[JoeV]

For clarity, and to use standard notation, either:

1:1.9 3.2cm -or- 1:1,9 3,2cm

or

f/1.9 32mm

Although some countries use the convention of commas in place of decimal points. So there's not one, universal (read: American-centric) convention for number notation.

 

[Dwig]

Although some countries use the convention of commas in place of decimal points. So there's not one, universal (read: American-centric) convention for number notation.

Correct, but no locale mixes the two and the focal length should always include the units (mm, cm, ", inches, furlongs, ...).

Also, the maximum aperture is always listed either in ratio notation (e.g. 1:1.9 or 1:1,9) or in f/stop notation (f/1.9 or f/1,9 with a lower case "f" followed by a slash "divide" symbol). The "f" never follows the aperture numbers and it should never be capitalized except when it is used as part of a word (e.g. f/stop) and then only when that word is the first word in a sentence or part of a formal title (e.g. book title, movie title, artwork title, ...).

 

[zuiko85]

Pen D isnt a slr camera but a rangefinder. ...

The Pen D is not a 'rangefinder' but a 'scale focusing viewfinder' type camera. It has no device to indicate the distance to subject, you just take your best guess and set that on the focus scale.

I have no problem with mirror slap on my Pen F and I like through the lens focusing. I do have a Pen D. I removed the top with viewfinder and meter and put the top and viewfinder from a Pen standard VF camera. I know the field of view of that viewfinder is too wide for the 32mm lens but the camera had a dead meter and it looks much nicer now.

 

[Sarcophilus Harrisii]

I confess I did not know Olympus made a rangefinder version of the Pen. I thought they were all either scale focus or SLR. So I have learned something. I have an example of the very first model but I will need to clean the shutter before it can be used.
Cheers
Brett

 

[Sarcophilus Harrisii]

The Pen D is not a 'rangefinder' but a 'scale focusing viewfinder' type camera. It has no device to indicate the distance to subject, you just take your best guess and set that on the focus scale.

We posted at about the same time. Thanks for clarifying the point.