While waiting for a new screwdriver to arrive for the 85/2, I've come up with a devious plan to not only get my Sony a7 back, but also getting my girlfriend to start shooting film.
Now she mentioned that she likes manual focus, since she stole my a7 with the Zuiko 50/3.5 macro with her to Germany, I think she does. Luckily I have plenty of manual focus OM lenses!
She's always in auto mode, so handing her my OM1 doesn't seem like the best idea. A OM2 would be great, but the prices have been on the rise for years now; enter
OM 707!
The OM 707 apparently was a commercial disaster, the auto focus is slower than a pothead stuck in the mud, the body is 300% plastic and there are no manual controls. Well, there's manual aperture if you don't use the AF lenses (which you won't after trying the AF).
As an AE camera with MF lenses though, it's pretty good actually. The shutter is really quite quiet, and doesn't shake much, the meter is spot on. The finder is very much Olympus OM - big, bright and snappy!
At 130:- (€14) including shipping and a Sigma 75-200 AF, it fell well within budget. After trying it out this morning, all functions seems to be working. Of course the battery cover is loose, but a bit of duct tape will fix this, and add some personality to the piece!
I also want to show you guys the flash, I really like the design, even though it seriously hampers usage:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4N57_M6hPQBeHF2ZDFoNUlVVkE/view?usp=sharing
All in all I think it's going to be a perfect first film camera for her, and maybe one day, she'll find herself broke on the curb with a BP OM3Ti and a 50/1.2...
The first hit is always free!
I thought for a while that it'd be better to get her an all manual control camera, but after thinking a bit more, this seemed like a better idea; letting her focus on what's really important: content and composition!
From what I've seen so far, she's really good at capturing people, and I can admit to being slightly jealous!
😱