Sweet Sight

eBay photo by John Titterington

I have to say, I am just delighted to be able to focus manual cameras again. I can even focus this old beastie, which came out the year I graduated from high school. (This model is popular with young film-camera fans, I hear.)

The way it went was something like this—first I strangely began to drift toward rangefinder cameras, blaming SLR focusing screens for my subtly increasing troubles detecting focus, before becoming aware that the problem was with my eye. Then, having to hunt down diopters of increasing strength, or buy only cameras that had built-in diopter correction—I ended up needing a little more than –2, call it –2 1/4. I had to give up my beautiful Agfa Super Isolette because I was unwilling to desecrate it by gluing a –2 diopter lens over the viewfinder. Finally, switching to left-eyed focusing and viewing on cameras, which is one big reason I liked the Panasonic GX8 so much—there are not many better cameras for the left-eyed out there. 

Then, my partial cornea replacement and lens implant last June 4th. And now—drumroll!—I can focus old manual-everything cameras easily again with no correction on either my eye or the finder!

Bliss. Blessing. The best! And lucky. I never imagined this would happen. So pleased.

That is all. Just couldn't resist sharing.

Mike
(Thanks to JT)

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Earl Dunbar: "This makes me very happy."

RP Sagner: "Congrats! I've gotten bored with digital photography over the last couple years and have gone back to the OM-2 for a lot of my shooting. It's really rewarding."

Len Metcalf: "These stunning Olympus cameras is where I learnt. Not my first camera but the ones I cut my teeth on, so as to speak. I had the same one and two OM-1’s. And some gorgeous lenses to match. I so loved them. It’s nostalgia that leads me to still love the brand and stick with them and their digital counterparts. I loved the focusing screen that came standard. I dislike the split image type that is popular in their contemporaries. Am sitting here with some pangs of jealousy. Enjoy."

Comments

[Henning Wulff]

Congratulations and may your vision keep on being a joy to you!

That's a great tool with an excellent viewfinder to apply your vision to.

[Mike Ferron]

I have a slip on Nikon -2 made for the D200 that fits the Olympus OM's perfectly. I believe that the big NY camera stores still sell them.

[Michael Potter]

Very happy for you, Mike. Just imagine how it will feel once both eyes are corrected!

[Hélcio J. Tagliolatto]

The pleasure of grab a small body all metal 35mm camera, with manual film advance, manual focus, loaded with B&W film and go to the streets is unforgettable.

[PDLanum]

My high school friend shot with a OM-1 and a OM-2. We spent a week road trip in Jackson Hole/Yellowstone/Thermopolis, WY with a cooler full of slide film. After culling, he ended up with about 350 slides, I ended up with 230 or so.

I used my Fujica ST-901, ST-901 and AZ-1. A mix of manual and aperture priority bodies. Used every Fujica EBC lens I owned. I shot a mix of Kodachrome, Ektachrome, Fujichrome and Ektachrome IR (later known as Aerochrome).

We were a sight, pulling up in his Orange Vega and walking down the boardwalks with two or three cameras hung around each of our necks. We spent a good deal of our time looking at all the tourista girls (we were 18-19 after all). I still have those slides sitting in a plastic Kodak Slide box over on the floor.

[Kirk W]

Chicken or the egg? The advent of autofocus allowed camera manufacturers to produce cheaper, hard to see prisms and viewfinders or the advent of plasticy cheap cameras with crummy viewfinders led to complete reliance on autofocus?

I rarely shoot film but I pick up my LX or ME Super or MX once in a while just to look through a quality viewfinder and to focus with a precision feeling, nicely damped, dense hunk of metal and glass. I do way more cursing of modern autofocus shooting today than I ever felt that I missed on with manual focus back in the MF days. Of course I wasn’t magnifying to 10,000% looking at cat whiskers back then either! Yikes, I’m officially in the 50+ club.

A relative recently sent me a pristine OM-1 with 50/1.8 that they were going to toss. Maybe it’s time to join you, Mike and try out the 20-roll program!

[Noons]

Had a similar problem.
Glad you got yours fixed!
Mine is partially fixed but good enough to play around with my FM2 and FE2!

[Dave Jenkins]

Love, love, love that OM2n. The best of the Olys and my all-time favorite camera.

[Giovanni Maggiora]

Delighted to know that your cornea procedure was so successful, Mike.
We DO live in amazingly good times, on the medical front. It's not just about allowing us to live longer per se, but to have a longer time to live life FULLY.
(Won't enter the discussion about the cost of it all in the US vs Europe...)

[John Robison]

Just yesterday at my annual eye check I was somewhat stunned when they told me it was time to have my cataracts taken care of. I’m 70 and though it would be a few more years yet.
When the loss of vision is slow and steady it becomes hard to remember what it was like 40 years ago.

[David Brown]

I have had to move to left eye for viewfinders (regardless of the type). Left eye requires no distance correction, while right eye has enough of a cataract to make using it in a viewfinder very difficult. Bad enough for that, but not "bad enough" to fix yet. Some day ...

[Sroyon]

I have a friend in her twenties just starting out with film photography. She asked for my advice on which camera to buy and I lobbied hard for a Minolta X-series, but she eventually got an Olympus OM-2n. She said the store happened to have one, and it was too pretty to resist (hard to argue with that!) Makes me think, articles about the analogue resurgence often talk about millennials wanting to slow down, deferred gratification and so on, but the Lure of the Camera as Object – especially pre-autofocus cameras – is relatively underappreciated.

[Dave]

Well now Mike, you can use that Pentax SL (with the dented pentaprism housing) and peruse KEH and others for screw-mount or K-mount lenses.

[Send the SL to Eric H. in Tennessee for a low-cost repair by a former Pentax technician. https://pentaxs.com/]

Have fun with film again!

[Kevin Mayo]

My favorite camera of all time, they are an absolute joy to use. May your twenty rolls be fun and fulfilling.

[Khürt Louis Williams]

Congratulations.

[Paul in AZ]

A friend leaving film gave me his silver OM2n. I liked it enough that I scooped a bargain priced OM2n in black to go with it. Wonderful ergonomics and outstanding glass.

Preferred using these to my Leica M3 so I sold the Leica for much more than it cost me 30-odd years ago and never looked back.

[Doug Plummer]

I actually shot with Olympus OM-2 cameras when I started my professional career in the 1980s. Had used them since I was a teenager, and I felt utterly comfortable with them. They couldn't handle the hard use I was giving them however--I always 4 bodies at at the ready, and one or two were always in the repair shop. Ended up in the Canon fold. So wish I had kept all that glass.

[El Inglés]

Hi Mike,

Does this mean you've chosen the OM-2 as your weapon of choice for the 35mm part of your challenge? Quite independently, I too am venturing back into 35mm film photography, having found myself in a creative rut and wanting to use a more classical camera again. I do have an OM-2, which I picked up dirt cheap to use with a fire sale (but well-regarded) Zuiko 35-80/2.8. Nevertheless, I think I'll try the experiment with a Nikon FA (still my favourite 35mm manual focus) and an FM3a, one loaded with Portra 400, the other with whichever b&w film I can track down. I'm a SLOOOOOOWWWW shooter, so a 20 roll challenge would probably take me a year, but looking forward to seeing your progress. Stephen