Olympus OM-2 camera
My first ‘serious’ camera was an Olympus OM-2 SLR, and I loved it so much I ended up getting two — one in silver and one in black. One of the things that I loved about the camera was the arrangement and design of the controls on the top-plate. You see I was obviously a bit of a UI design geek from a very early age…!
Part of the OM system, first released in 1975 and designed by Yoshihisa Maitani, the OM-2 had the world’s first TTL direct metering system, which measures light reflected off the surface of the film. This allowed exposure control during shooting, and automatic TTL strobe adjustment using a specially designed strobe (doesn’t sound much of a big deal now but it was a big deal back then!).
OM system cameras were notable for their relatively small size with the OM-1 and OM-2 just a little bigger than the Leica M4 rangefinder camera and through a system of internal shock absorbers, whilst not quite as quiet as the M4, a lot less noisy than most other SLRs at that time. But what I loved most of all about these cameras and still do now, is the pared back, sleek functional elegance of the design.
mmmm.. I love it!