Olympus Pen Fs ?

R

ruben

Guest
Hi,
In my twisted search for a conspicuous and silent camera, fitting my twisted mind and stretched wallet, Dante Stella's site sent me to explore the Pen Fs land. I would be ready to sacrifice negative film length if some preconditions could be met, that I am plainly and straightforwardly ignorant about them.

a) How silent is their non-mirror shutter ?

b) How good have this breed of cameras passed the test of time-materials degradation, let's say if we compare them to a Contax IIa ? The Contaxes are going to last as shooters, are the Pen's?

c) Is there any adptor enabling the use of OM lenses with Pen bodies ?

d) Discarding the collector value, how much would you pay for a Pen body in shooting condition ?

e) Am I entering a kind of mess ?

Thanks,
Ruben
 
The Pen F is an SLR -- so there is a mirror and that mirror slap sound. Other Pen cameras which resemble small point and shoots, have lens shutters that are very very quiet.

I do not know of a Pen camera with rangefinder focusing.

There are adaptor rings that work with the Pen F and Pen FT that takes OM lenses, Nikon F lenses, some others.

Not a mess, Ruben. A lot of fun.
 
I agree that the Pen F system is a good system. I sometimes used to place a Pentax 85mm/1.8 lens on a Pen F with an adapter to get a telephoto lens shooting through the center of the lens for extra sharp images. While half-frame cameras took a dip for many years, I feel that scanning has improved and these days half-frame scans can be made for such photography.
 
saxshooter said:
The Pen F is an SLR -- so there is a mirror and that mirror slap sound. ..Not a mess, Ruben. A lot of fun.
Click to expand...

Oh, sorry, I assumed somehow that the mirrors were fixed and not slapping. But could you give me an idea about the noise ?

Thank you in advance,
Ruben
 
ruben said:
Oh, sorry, I assumed somehow that the mirrors were fixed and not slapping. But could you give me an idea about the noise ?

Thank you in advance,
Ruben
Click to expand...

Hmmm. Since the mirror is half the size of a 35mm mirror, perhaps half the noise? 😀

It's a mechanical camera, so not so different from the slap of a Nikon FM2, less of a bounce sound and tighter.
 
I have Pen Fs. They are not silent due to the mirror/shutter slap. They are as loud as a regular sized 35mm SLR. For more silent operation try the Pen EE-S, EE=S2, etc. They are as quiet as a Leica. Only caveat is they are fixed lens cameras. Lenses are quite sharp however.
 
kbg32 said:
I have Pen Fs. They are not silent due to the mirror/shutter slap. They are as loud as a regular sized 35mm SLR.
Click to expand...

OK, I want to die.
 
I beg to differ about the noise.

I have a Pen FT. It makes less noise than a very FP shutter standard SLR with an instant return mirror. The sound is pitched a little higher, possibly because of the metal rotary sector shutter. I rank it as quieter than an Nikon F or Nikkormat FTn but very slightly louder than a Contaflex I.

The Pens S and D3 ( I have both) are quieter than my Leica M2.

-Paul
 
ddunn said:
To my ear, the sound level of the Pen F is about the same as my Bessa R2.
Click to expand...

Hi Dennis,
As I don't own any Bessa, could you compare it to your Kiev 4am ?
Thanks,
Ruben
 
dkirchge said:
Every time I think I'm over camera lust, somebody has to go and talk about the Pen cameras...
Click to expand...

i rather think you get what you want
 
a) answered already

b) I'm not an Olympus expert, but I think the Pen SLRs have held up similarly to other 1960s SLRs. In some ways, SLRs are more complicated than RFs (mirror, etc.), but in other ways simpler (no complex RF mechanism). Properly maintained, the Pens should last a long time. You might want to ask someone like John Hermanson (http://www.zuiko.com).

c) From what I understand, yes (also adapters for other SLR & RF mounts, as the Pens are pretty thin bodies).

d) You can get a good, working Pen F or FT (the model w/a meter) w/38/1.8 normal lens for about $250-350. I prefer the F as the viewfinder is brighter.

e) Yes in that they're addictive little cameras.

ruben said:
Hi,
In my twisted search for a conspicuous and silent camera, fitting my twisted mind and stretched wallet, Dante Stella's site sent me to explore the Pen Fs land. I would be ready to sacrifice negative film length if some preconditions could be met, that I am plainly and straightforwardly ignorant about them.

a) How silent is their non-mirror shutter ?

b) How good have this breed of cameras passed the test of time-materials degradation, let's say if we compare them to a Contax IIa ? The Contaxes are going to last as shooters, are the Pen's?

c) Is there any adptor enabling the use of OM lenses with Pen bodies ?

d) Discarding the collector value, how much would you pay for a Pen body in shooting condition ?

e) Am I entering a kind of mess ?

Thanks,
Ruben
Click to expand...
 
ruben said:
Hi Dennis,
As I don't own any Bessa, could you compare it to your Kiev 4am ?
Thanks,
Ruben
Click to expand...

I had a Kiev 4AM. The Kiev is quieter, IMO. The *sound* of the shutter noise of the Pen is different and has less of the typical mirror-slap sound of an SLR.

Thanks, Lynn! 🙂


🙂
 
My Kiev-4am as well as my other Kiev-4 derivatives are quieter than my Pen FT.

-Paul
 
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