“Street” Review : The Olympus OM-10 and Zuiko 50 mm 1.8

Olympus OM-10 is probably one of the first serious analog camera i bought.

I was searching something cheap, easy to use and capable of high quality photos.

This camera satisfied all of those points.

THE HISTORY

In those days, lots of people are talking about the new Olympus OM-D, a micro 4/3 camera, but probably not all of them knows that the design and concept is derived from the analogue “H”Oly OM cameras.

Those cameras were designed by Maitani, the genius that also designed the XA and the half-format Pen.

With the OM1 (originally called M1…but this was changed due to Leica copyright on the name “M”) he created the smallest SLR body of the time, with easy to access shutter speed and a high choose of lenses and accessories.

The OM1 was all mechanic; then  it came the OM2 with aperture priority automatism and so on, they produced a lot of variations.

The OM10 was one of those.

It was intended to be an entry-level, easy to use and cheap model for who wanted to join the OM system.

Actually, it has a very large viewfinder (bigger than every rangefinder camera) and it is a aperture priority mode only camera, with selectors only for ISO sensitivity and exposure compensation.

No, you can’t choose the shutter speed unless you don’t buy the external “Manual Adapter”.

I didn’t.

This is not a big issue to me; reading this article you will understand why .

THE SHOOTING EXPERIENCE

When using this camera, you just set the aperture you want and the camera selects the correct time.

So simple, so perfect, so liberating.

You just have to relax, find the subject, focus, wait for the correct moment then shoot and smile.

Shutter is not metallic, it’s a curtain.

This is capable of a very pleasing, non-distracting “sound”; i can say it is similar (probably quieter) to a Leica M analog camera.

No one will turn to look at you after you take a photo.

Another great thing about the curtain is that is capable of relatively long time of exposure without blurring your photos.

This is possible because this shutter generates less vibrations than the classic metal shutter of a SLR.

I can clearly remember that i shot this one at 1/8 of second, handheld, wide open with Zuiko 50 mm 1,8 and i am really pleased with the result.

Who needs fuc**ng expensive digital stabilization system? 🙂

Manual focusing is really fast with that large viewfinder that is also really bright when used with the 50 1,8 lens; you won’t have any problem even at night.

I think it’s actually faster than focusing with a good rangefinder camera.

Camera feels solid, well constructed, and fit perfectly my big hands.

It’s not too heavy, you can carry it comfortably around the neck for all the day!

Shooting the street with this camera you won’t get much attention from people, you won’t be considered as a “serious” photographer.

This is a good advantage in street\reportage shooting.

Being “stealthy” helps you to approach situations in a better way.

Instead, lot of people will tell you that they have the same camera somewhere in their house!

The lens i use is a Zuiko 50mm 1,8.

This lens is actually a very good lens, very sharp even wide open and with a pleasing out of focus.

It can focus quite close for a 50mm, about 0,50 m.

It’s even quite small! It has a solid focusing knob and a ring that sets the aperture.

CONCLUSIONS

I shot a lot with this camera and i always been pleased from it.

I also owned an OM1 but i sold it since it was slower to shoot since it’s an all manual camera.

I can only recommend the OM10 to you, it’s an amazing tool for street portraits when used with the Zuiko 50mm 1.8 lens.

I hope you liked this informal, non technical review. It’s intended to be a sum of the experiences i had with this camera.

Thanks for reading, and excuse me if there are any errors!

Any questions?Doubts?Use the comments!

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Giorgio