Replacing my Olympus Stylus Epic

You will almost always find an Olympus Stylus Epic on or near my person. The unassuming little Stylus Epic is in my opinion the best compact film camera for carrying everywhere. It easily fits in my pocket, is weather resistant, has a very nice f/2.8 lens, a spot meter, and goes from pocket to photo about 25 times faster than my iPhone.

I've been carrying an Epic for about 10 years now, and the second one I've owned finally stopped working consistently. Occasionally it just doesn't fire, and there's a hairline crack somewhere which affects the top center of every frame. Not ideal, so I began looking to replace it.

Today on Craigslist, this showed up...

Olympus Stylus Epic Deluxe

A nifty, like-new condition Stylus Epic Deluxe. In the box with all original paperwork, case, strap, etc. It's not black, but the champagne color is pretty nice.

I paid $10. How great is that! This is undoubtedly the best ten dollars I've ever spent on photography gear.

The Online Photographer: I Had Better 'Fess Up →

It seems fair to conclude from the evidence that I'm the victim of some persistent delusions when it comes to my own photography. For instance, every time I buy a new camera, I truly believe that I'm going to use it for the rest of my life and will never have to re-sell it. This flies in the face of all of a huge body of evidence to the contrary

That's Mike over at The Online Photographer admitting the same problem I suffer from. I too buy each new camera with the intention of it being my one-and-only for the rest of my life. That almost never happens. I'm glad it's not just me.

Leica IIIf

I've always wanted a "Barnack" Leica, if for no reason other than the nostalgia of using a piece of photographic history dating back to the mid-1930s. I'm not a (deliberate) collector, so condition and rarity weren't important to me. I ended up with a "user" IIIf.

1946 Leica IIIc (converted to IIIf) with Voigtlander 28mm Color Skopar

The camera is not really a IIIf but rather a IIIc built in 1946 then later converted by Leica into a IIIf. It came with a lovely chrome Canon 50mm 1.8 LTM lens, which was a nice bonus, since prices on the Canon LTM lenses keep going up. When this photo was taken, I was trying the 28mm Voigtlander Color-Skopar and 28mm accessory viewfinder. The Leica IIIs were made with a 50mm lens in mind, so I'll probably keep the Canon on it most of the time. I'm also looking for a nice post-war 50mm collapsible Summicron, since that would be a great fit.

After two or three rolls of film I can say that it's a delight to use. By "delight" I don't mean that it's easy or convenient. It's neither of those.

To visualize the photo, you look through the left viewfinder for focusing, then you need to switch to the right window for framing. Both are quite tiny and not nearly as bright as the later M cameras that I'm used to. The film is advanced by turning a knob and it is rewound using another knob. No sir,  none of those newfangled levers on this camera. None of this can be done quickly.

Loading the film is even more awkward. The leader must first be trimmed manually with scissors so that it doesn't get jammed between the shutter curtain and plate. The trimmed leader is then connected to a separate take-up spool. The final assembly is then carefully pushed up into the bottom of the camera, making sure the sprockets on the take-up spool are engaged with the film leader. (I missed that last part with the first roll and ended up shooting the entire roll without the film advancing. Not good.)

There's of course no meter, so exposure must be set manually. I don't mind that, since I shoot other meterless cameras.

All of this sounds rather cumbersome, and it is - a little. But the camera feels wonderful in my hand. It's a precision-engineered mechanical marvel capable of making fantastic images. It just won't do it quickly. I read somewhere that each camera took 40 man hours to build. A little patience is a good thing. 

Below are a few images from the first practice roll.

Leica M7

I had a long talk with myself after somehow acquiring no fewer than 4 Leica M bodies. That's beyond what even I can rationalize. During the talk, I asked myself, "What if you could keep two of them?" The answer was that I would need to buy an M7 in order to keep just two. See how that works? I can explain. 

The M3 I bought recently is perfect. I love it. It's beautiful, legendary, and built better than any camera I've ever seen. It has an amazing viewfinder and is generally awesome. Put a 50mm lens on it and I'm good to go. Good to go until I'm feeling lazy, that is. Sometimes, using a completely manual camera with no built-in meter is discouraging. It doesn't happen often, but when it does I start thinking about digital, and I don't like when I start thinking about digital.

How might I solve the lazy problem? I solved it by buying an M7. The M7 has aperture-priority auto exposure, quicker loading, and a built-in meter. It makes everything easy.

So, I've put the "extra" M3, the M4, and the M6 up for sale, and picked up a beautiful M7 to compliment the remaining M3. You've heard it before, but if I'm right, this should take care of the camera problem for quite some time.

Leica M3

A funny thing happened while I was waiting for my new M3 to ship from Japan. A nice user sample with a recent CLA showed up on the local Craigslist. No harm taking a look, right? I couldn't resist, and bought it at a fair price.

My fear with the M3 was that the viewfinder's frame lines would be difficult to see while wearing glasses. Lots of people claim to have trouble with the .91 magnification of the M3's viewfinder and 50mm frame lines. I'm happy to report that I can see them just fine. I do have to sort of press the camera into my face a bit, but it works. 

The viewfinder is as amazing as they say. Bright, clear, wonderful focus patch. It's perfect for 50mm lenses, which I use 90% of the time. The film advance is like butter and the shutter makes a fantastic, very quiet, "snick" sound. 

I'll have to get used to loading it. Getting film onto a separate take-up spool and lowering the whole assembly into the bottom of the camera is a little tricky. And it takes forever to rewind the film after exposing the roll. I'm usually not in a hurry, so this doesn't bother me.

Just LOOK at it! I've never seen a better looking camera. It's a work of art. I hope so, because I'm about to have 2 of them. This is a dangerous hobby.