My Pen collection

[flyingpalm]

Just thought the original Pen F is sexy but end up like this:

Cameras: Pen F+meter, Silver Pen FT and a black Pen FT
Lenses: 25/4, 38/1.8, 40/1.4, 42/1.2, 70/2 and 100/3.5

Try to find 38/2.8 pencake and 60/1.5 but I know it's a long shot:bang:

 

[flyingpalm]

The original Pen F...........soooooooo sexy🙄

 

[flyingpalm]

The white and black😎

 

[flip]

Nice pics. I finished my Pen collection after getting 20, 25/4, 38, pancake 38, 40, 60, 100, 50-90, and 250 for the FV. Given the shutter speed, I couldn't see the point of the longer lenses. I do sometimes crave a blackie though.

At this point, the pancake is almost glued on it.

 

[jeanba3000]

Pretty collection!

Here was mine at its peak, since I have sold most of the items I didn't use.
I kept a F, a black FT (both with brownish grey lizard covering from LeatherCamera), lenses f/2.8 25, f/2.8 38 pancake, f/1.4 40, f/1.5 60 (and still have a 150 and a 250 and a few accessories to sell).

(excuse the poor quality of the photo)

And among them, my favourite :

and my black FT with my E420

 

[Hibbs]

Love to see all of these. I have an FV with 25 2.8, 38 1.8, 40 1.4, 60 1.5, 100 3.5 and the 150 mm.

I'd like to get the 20 and the 38 macro...but prices are higher now.

Has anyone used the 50 mm 3.5 Macro for OM on a Pen?
I'd imagine it'd be a really sharp portrait from that.

 

[TheHub]

Good heavens 😱 😱

 

[Brian Levy]

Nice collection. Back in the '70s I had a complete collection (or at least everything on their list) including mint F, FTV and FTs in black and chrome. The collection was not intended but, back then I had a hanckering for 1/2 frame format and the lcal camera dealers were taking the cameras in trade left and right for next to nothing and calling me to come and get them, sometimes for nothing.

A local dealed called one day and asked if I could bring the F collection to the store as he had a possible buyer. It turned out to be the Olympus rep who was buying all the Fs and accessories he could lay his hands on and reselling them into the medical profession. He had tried to get Olympus to do a production run of the medical F (oh, I did not have 1, sorry) but they declined. Apparently the doctors, etc. were using them in the labs and loved them for personal use also.

This lead to my trading in of my entire collection of cameras in exchange for my Bronica system, a Minox LX and ML and my Rolleiflex T. I still have the Rolleiflex and Bronica systems.

Sadly, and belatedly, I realized just how nice a collection I had of the F series and really missed it as I used part of the collection back as a daily shooter and carried it where ever I went. The only saving grace was the Minox LX and ML that tooks it place for such duty but not as happily. The Pen cameras I found had some of the best lenses of all the Asian lenses regardless of manufacturer as they learned, like Minox, that for small format lens quality had to be so much better to be competitive and when I decided to opt for a dslr, this helped me decide on an Olympus and I've found they seem to have not lost their capability at least for making extremely good standard kit lenses.

 

[shadowfox]

jeanba, you win, that is some serious collection 😀

I am happy to own just one Pen-FT and three lenses.

 

[BillBingham2]

Picture really points out what I wish the new Digi-Pen would have been. More like the original, glass too. The new glass is HUGE sitting next to the original.

B2 (;->

 

[unixrevolution]

Picture really points out what I wish the new Digi-Pen would have been. More like the original, glass too. The new glass is HUGE sitting next to the original.

B2 (;->

I'd have been content with just a viewfinder of some sort. I'm just glad at least one of the mainstream camera makers remembers their roots.

The Pen F is high on my list, along with a Rollei 35, Tessina and Kodak Ektra. The list is "cameras I want but could probably never justify buying."

 

[jeanba3000]

Hehe Will

When I bought my E420, the new Digital Pen didn't exist, maybe I would have made the same choice as your did. ;-)

UnixRevolution, the Rollei 35 S is a very nice camera too, great quality, and it goes cheaper nowadays than when I bought mine years ago.

 

[jmkelly]

My first film camera was an OM-1 purchased new int he mid-70s and I have loved Olympus gear ever since. At one point I had five Pen bodies, four with the 38mm lens and one 40/1.4. I built two GREAT bodies from the five but lost the fire after my favorite was stolen. Sure I'd love the 42/1.2 and the 60/1.5, but I can make some pretty great pics with the OM-mount 50/1.2 on the Pen adapter. The 40/1.4 is fine for most days.

 

[Brian Levy]

I still do not care for any camera wthout a builtin optical viewfinder. Holding a camera out to view a screen just allows too much movement. I'll stick with my E520. Yes, I know theree is an accessory veiwfinder but I'm not into going to an original Barnack Leica arrangement.

 

[crawdiddy]

I just bought a Pen F (Gothic). It's in beautiful condition-- no dents, no dings, no scratches-- just a few brightlines.

Surprising feature of the Pen F-- the shutter sounds like a bear trap! Not exactly stealthy. Oh well, maybe that indicates robustness.

Now I need a lens. I notice from the photos above that lots of lenses come with the Gothic F lens cap. I've found the lenses to be sort of high priced, so I'll be looking for a bargain.

Anyone out there want to unload a lens?