Translated by Wiliam Wagenaar from Camera magazine 4/'89 Postbus 2117, 3700 CC Zeist, The Netherlands Camera Magazine Pro test Olympus OM4Ti-Black Is the Olympus OM4Ti-black resistant to professional abuse? Our last CM-PRO-test with the Leica R6 has raised a good deal of dust. In Germany they call it "The camera magazine crash test", which is, all things considered, a better name for our spectacular test. Our last guinea pig, the Leica R6, received 88 points. This time, we tested the new Olympus OM4Ti-black. Our expectations were high for the "poor man's Nikon" as Olympus is called in the USA. The OM4Ti came straight off the shelves of the importer to our shutter speed testing bench. Here we found a deviation of 15% to fast for the slow speeds (1/15 sec and slower). Not a huge deviation, but still a flaw since the meter of the OM4Ti can be influenced in increments of 1/3 stop. We shot a roll of Ektachrome 64 slide film with is and it looked well exposed. The auto exposure works well but as a brand new OM4Ti user you have to get used to the spot meter. The measuring area of the spot meter is so small that it is easy to measure a to high value (with slides) which leaves the rest of the frame slightly underexposed. Of course it is nice to have a spot meter in the camera. In cooperation with the spot meter two other exposure settings come in to play: Highlight and Shadow. It works like this: Spot meter your subject and afterwards press the Highlight button when you measure a very bright subject (e.g. a white wall) or on the shadow button when measuring a very dark subject (e.g. person on black couch). The camera automatically compensates to over- or under-expose by two stops, assuming you really need those two stops! This system is terribly beautiful and in most cases it is satisfying as long as you spot meter the correct areas and really need the two stops. By the way, the meter can make a combination of a large number of spot readings and automatically calculates the average for a correct exposure. Olympus is also famous for its off the frame metering. Following is a description of how it works. The shutter- curtain contains a complex, computer-calculated field of white dots. This field stands for an average exposure value for your subject. The field is measured by the meter of the camera the moment the mirror flips up, just before the shutter opens. By means of this, the camera meter can adjust to a change in lighting of your subject in the very last instant and thus expose correctly. With this system it is also possible to measure and control flash light from the film plane. Another advantage of the OM4Ti is that you can use the Olympus F280 "Full Synchro Flash" on all shutter speeds from B up to 1/2000 second. Of course this is ideal for fill-in flash in daytime when shooting against the light or flash of fast moving objects. There also is the Super FP flash mode in which the flash exposes the subject longer (1/25 sec.) than would normally be the case. With this you can accentuate movement when using flash, which is impossible with conventional flashes due to their short flash duration. The Olympus OM4Ti can be set completely manual and can be corrected in 1/3 stop increments, with a warning in the viewfinder. The camera has the shutter-speed ring mounted around the bayonet mount, which takes some getting used to if you are used to other cameras. Also this shutter speed ring cannot be set well when a motor-drive is attached. Assuming you mostly use the excellent aperture priority auto exposure instead of the manual setting, this is not a big problem. As for the rest, nothing but praise for the the compactness of this advanced reflex, but sometimes we had to fumble to adjust the camera. Of course the camera has an AE-lock, with which an exposure value can be kept in memory for a series of exposures, up to one hour. The camera is completely made of titanium, the indestructible pro material. The shutter however is made of rubber-cloth, which has the advantage of being easily replaceable when damaged. For those who don't know our testing methods, we will repeat what's on the program for the Camera Magazine Pro test: 1. The OM4Ti is stored in the freezer overnight at -20C for 8 hours. 2. The OM4Ti goes into the oven for one hour at a temperature of 75C (Only 50C allowed according to the manual) 3. The OM4Ti is hung in the grid of the air outlet of a sand blasting company for 2 hours, so that dust, dirt and sand can intrude deep into the mechanics. 4. The OM4Ti goes into a steaming hot shower cabin for on hour. 5. The OM4Ti goes into the shaking machine for a certain time. 6. The shutter is operated about 15.000 times while the aperture is set at f8. After each of the point stated above a complete shutter speed test was conducted. Deviations up to 1/3 stop were tolerated by us. After the test the OM4Ti was disassembled completely by the Olympus Technical Department and the internal condition established. A quality judgement was given for this too. In the following paragraphs we present you the results. What do you think, will the OM4Ti pass this test? Under a thick layer of ice and with the 1.8/50mm Zuiko completely dimmed and frozen we take the guinea-pig out of the freezer. The Motor drive only says "bwzzzstt". With a different lens attached we check the shutter speeds and advance manually. At once the motor drive comes to life again, but a bit slowly. The shutter speeds are OK, only the fast times are a bit slow, but after a few exposures return to normal. Yet there are situations when a pro may need his camera at -50C. The biggest problem then is to keep the lenses without dim and to keep the film in one piece. In our case we also found condensation in the lens, so we cannot make photographs. After one hour the condensation is gone and we can shoot our first pictures. The oven temperature is set at 75. The OM4Ti stays simmering in the oven for one hour with its back opened. The OM4Ti is filled to the top with electronics, circuit boards, and plastic seals. Will these hold? The camera is taken out of the oven with kitchen gloves and we try the shutter speed tests. The tester does not function because of the high temperature. After cooling down for a few minutes the tester functions again and we ascertain that heat has no effect at all on the camera. All shutter speeds stay within their tolerances. The sandblaster asks us if this is another expensive one and hangs it by its straps in the air outlet of the blasting room, where it stays for two hours. At Olympus TD they say that the Dutch are sloppy with their cameras. Many impact and water damages are reported, more than in other countries: "In Japan they are always surprised by the number of camera housings and top covers we need. The number seems to be a lot higher than in any other country." We deliberately abused our 4Ti with dust to check if the camera is sealed well against dust and water. It is, because after the sand, dust, and dirt test the OM4Ti still functions well. There is only a little bit of dust in the helicoid of the lens, which is not noticeable after turning the focusing ring a few times! The lens is clean inside, which is striking after the visible condensation in the freezing test. Also the viewfinder is completely clean, quite an achievement. After opening the back absolutely no dust seems to have penetrated. Only on the mirror and between the body and the lens there is a little bit of dust. This is a sign that there is still some room between the bayonet and the lens, which is remarkable. The shutter mechanism is mounted in the bottom plate of the camera and there too, we find no dust or sand worth mentioning. The camera had a advance lever which did not operate smoothly. First you have to overcome some sort of barrier before the lever operates smoothly. Later it appeared that a blocking-cam, which keeps the shutter curtain shut after releasing, operates stiffly. After a little drop of oil at the TD the problem seems to be resolved but after about fifty advances it comes back slowly. Probably an isolated symptom, because we did not find this with other 4Ti's. That's what the warranty is for! We also have no problem with the moisture test on this electronic camera. Dripping wet with moisture, which was also present under the shutter release button and between the knob of the ocular correction, we place the OM4Ti in front of the tester and here too: no problems. Striking however is that the slow speeds are a little bit longer now, the combination of sand and moisture seems to slow down the shutter. We drop the OM4Ti firmly after it is completely dried up, just as we did with the Leica set. The damage done is of course dependant completely on how the camera falls, but we do it neatly, assuming a camera drops straight down, as if someone drops it out of their hands. The motor drive takes the biggest bashing and starts to advance at 4 frames per second. That was not supposed to happen! After a little fiddling with the control buttons the thing stops and afterwards works as it should. The shaking machine does not bring any difficulties. Then the shutter test. With fully charged battery pack you can make about 2760 film advances and exposures at 1/60 sec. (without film). We did this 5 times, plus the vast amount of times the shutter was released for the shutter speed test, which totals to about 15,000 exposures. Mind you: Including all moisture, sand, dirt and other mess the camera had been in contact with, in the mechanism. Before the shutter speed tester the fast times are still fine, but the slow times are still about 15% slow. At the Olympus TD the Ti was completely disassembled. A fine haze of (non harmful) dust was found to be attached to the inner parts of the camera. There was no trace however of moisture or bigger sand particles, which means that Olympus has made this camera very tightly sealed. The camera is built pretty, it is a sign of good symbiosis between electronics and pure mechanical technique. The spot meter showed a slight error but the auto exposure system was accurate almost up to one hundredth, nice! Also the electronic self timer does not yield. Top and bottom plate are made of tough titanium and no plastics are used at all for the assembly. The advance lever which runs on balls is fitted nice and firmly and with the motor attached the OM4Ti-black is an instrument which will serve you as a lover for many years. The Olympus Zuiko lens assortment offers enough possibilities for the creative photographer, with which we have to say that the Zuiko's with wide apertures are a bit expensive in comparison to the rest. The creative possibilities this camera offers and the quality supplied by Olympus (just proven) make the OM4Ti one of the last (regretfully) big ones among the smallest of the mechanical cameras. Shutter speed error: + 15% for the long times from 1/15 Meter error: None (< 0.1 EV) Spot meter: deviation of 0.5 EV Defects during test: None, except jerky manual film advance Battery use of camera and drive: Normal. Positive Points: Very efficient flash system which can be used at all shutter speeds, handles well, Very completely equipped, large choice of lenses and accessories, robust camera, fast motor drive with second shutter release button and lit LCD, neat viewfinder, very reliable automatic exposure, diopter correction in viewfinder, good price/quality balance. Negative Points: jerky manual film advance (only on this one?), shutter speed dial difficult to adjust when motor is attached, aperture not visible in viewfinder, bright lenses very expensive. Maximum points for each item : 10. A total of 70 points gives the qualification of "CAMERA MAGAZINE PRO-CAMERA" Item: Points: 1. cold test 7 2. heat test 10 3. dust test 9 4. moist test 10 5. shock test 10 6. internals 8 7. price quality 9 8. ease of use 8 9. design 8 10. equipment 8 Total : 87 Olympus OM4Ti: "CAMERA MAGAZINE PRO-CAMERA" ---------------------------------------------------------------- Wiliam Wagenaar, EDS KSG Account, Vlissingen the Netherlands ----------------------------------------------------------------