INTRODUCTION
It is rare to find manual SLR camera users in the market now, especially when we are in the advance photographic era with sophisticated Autofocus SLR and Digital Cameras. On top of that, it is even rare to find manual Olympus SLR camera users.
I have dozens of photography friends and associates, both within my photography clubs and around the country and other countries. To be honest, I only managed to find one, just one photographer, who is also a Olympus camera collectors, who continues to use Olympus SLR cameras for his works.
He has all the series of Olympus camera in his collection, and needless to say, the Olympus OM4Ti is his main body for his work. He is a nature and portrait photographer, therefore the fast AF to him is not needed. All he need is a reliable and rugged camera that he can trust during the whole duration of his assignments.
This friend of mine, name John, is a full time professional photographer. He own a studio, and because of the frequent courses conducted by him to the member of the club, I got rather close to him and managed to use and appreciate most of his Olympus collection.
BUILD
The build of the Olympus OM4Ti is terrific. The titanium body made it rather light at just 510g, but the lightweight of the body does not mean a lousy build. Titanium is know for its strong physical properties, and with that, you can be assured that the Olympus OM4Ti is one of the most rugged camera available around the market. It is comparable to the legendary Nikon F2T and Nikon F3T which cost nearly twice as much.
I would say that it will be able to sustain day to day hard usage, and average impact without effects on its functions. I have used it a few times with John, and I am pretty confidence it will last a few more decades without problem.
FOCUSING
The only focusing method for the Olympus OM4Ti is by manual focusing. Focusing is done easily by turning the focusing ring on the lens.
EXPOSURE
The Olympus OM4Ti offers 2 main exposure metering mode, which is
1) Centre Weighted Average Light Metering
2) Spot Metering
And also the Spot Metering mode can be selectable to 3 differentiated mode, which is
1) Multi Spot
2) Highlight Based
3) Shadow Based
Three exposure control modes are provided by the Nikon FG, which is
1) Aperture Priority
2) Manual
LENS
The Olympus OM4Ti employed the Olympus OM Mount, meaning it will only accept the Olympus Zuiko lenses. There is no known 3rd party lens maker that make lenses for Olympus SLR, so the option is limited.
The great news for such limitation is that the Olympus OM4Ti can only use the great Olympus Zuiko lenses. The Olympus Zuiko lenses are of the highest quality and will not disappoint the users. I have read, heard and use numerous Zuiko lenses, and frankly, I was surprise by the quality of pictures taken with the lenses.
QUALITY TEST
Before we use any camera, especially a new brand, the most popular question is “Is it easy to use?”. Well, I am a seasoned photographer, and I must admit the Olympus OM4Ti is not a easy camera to understand and use without any real help from the manual or someone who know about it.
I spend sometime going through the manual, which John always carries around in his bag. After going one round through the manual, everything seems to be put in place, especially some of the features.
I tested the Olympus OM4Ti in a outdoor shooting section with John and his customer. He is actually doing a assignment for a magazine with models, and I am lucky to be able to tag along with him on that day. He used his Mamiya 645AF medium format camera for the session, as the picture needs to be blown up to poster size. A 35mm SLR camera will not be able to produce images of such high quality.
The film loaded for the session was a roll of Kodak Portra 160VC, which is ideal for portrait.
As describe earlier, the build of the Olympus OM4Ti is terrific. Although John bought the camera new, and he has been using it for 2 years, and it really look like an unit went through some war. It looks like my used Nikon F3 which has been used for 15 years. But even so, there is no sign of mechanism failure. It works just as fine and accurate.
Focusing is rather easy with the split-image micro prism. I am used to such focusing technique, so I have no trouble with it. For beginner, it might need some guidance, but with practice, it will proved to be no major issue. The viewfinder comes with dioptric correction from +1 to –3. And offers interchangeable focusing screens.
Using both Aperture Priority and Manual mode is easy and accurate with the Olympus OM4Ti. I employed them together with both center weighted metering as well as the 3 spot metering system, and without surprise the exposure reading is close to the Minolta hand held meter.
Photos taken on the day is all very well exposed with the Olympus OM4Ti. There is no sign of exposure error with reference to the photos taken on the day. The quality of the Zuiko lens is also proven on the day to be one of the best available.
SUMMARY
The Olympus OM4Ti is simply one of the best camera around. I am not sure that if you would classify it as a professional grade camera, but in my opinions, it is comparable to the great Nikon F2 and F3, so it is a professional grade manual SLR camera.
With price over USD1000 for the body of the Olympus OM4Ti alone, it is a rather high investment, especially if you only got the Olympus Zuiko lens to use.
But in my opinion, if you are afford a Olympus OM4Ti and a few standard lenses, the whole setup will last you for a few decades, and I am sure the setup will not disappoint you at all.