Travelling with one historic and one up-to-date camera: I have learned that this can be great fun. After the experiment with a more than 50-year-old Rollei 35 and a new Ricoh GR IIIx, I now took to OM System / Olympus, old and new: through Italy with an Olympus OM-4 and an OM-5 by OM System. My companions in Italy were an OM-4 from the 1980s and the recent digital OM-5. Read here how it went with this combo.
Compare the incomparable – this went so surprisingly well with my trip to South Italy in 2022. So, returning to this part of the world, I wanted to repeat the experiment. And once more, a camera with a high emotional value was the gear of choice. After my mother’s Rollei 35 from the late 1960s, I took my late father’s Olympus OM-4 Ti to such interesting places as Naples, Pompeii, Capri, and Florence. The modern counterpart had to be, of course, the OM-5 Micro Four Thirds mirrorless system camera, which now has OM System as its brand after Olympus’ exit from the photography market.
The OM-4 Ti wasn’t my father’s first camera. He used a Zeiss Ikonta 6×6 rangefinder camera first, which is still with me; I rarely use it, but you can see an image of the camera and one taken with it in this Macfilos article. He then bought an OM-2 in the 1970s and upgraded to the OM-4 Ti many years later. And I am glad I also kept this one after his death some eight years ago, other than David Smith in his wonderful and touching Macfilos story “Searching for my Cameraman”. And speaking of it: My dad’s slides are all digitalised as described here in the article “A Life in Colour Slides”.
OM System back then…
Old school versus modern was the idea. The OM-4 with the Zuiko 50/1.8 was complemented by the Zuikos 24/2.8 and 135/2.8 – a handy setup that has accompanied me in this or a similar form on many trips in the 1990s. You have basically all you need – a real wide-angle lens, a fast standard lens and a compact telephoto lens. And having the Zuikos from the 80s in my hands again, I was amazed at the build quality of these lenses. Almost Leica-like. And a beautiful exterior design as well. I wrote on the aesthetic qualities of the classic Olympus cameras and lenses earlier here on Macfilos. OM System, by the way, was the name of the Olympus SLR range even back then.
…and OM System here and now
The modern counterpart was the OM-5. In exterior measurements, the camera has about the same size as the OM-4, but the sensor has, of course, only one quarter the surface area of the “full frame” analogue camera. Nevertheless, the OM-5 is definitely a compact camera for what it has to offer.
The same goes for the 12-100 (24-200 full frame equivalent) zoom lens. It has a fixed f/4 aperture, built-in image stabilisation (enhances very effectively the in-body image stabilisation) a smart auto/manual focus switch via a clutch on the distance ring. It is part of OM System’s Pro line, and rightfully so. You should not mistake the 12-100 for a cheap mega-zoom lens for the less discerning.
OM System gear well stowed away
And so we set off on our journey, my mother and me, once again. I had all my photo equipment in the bottom compartment of the Mindshift Gear Panorama 22L backpack. This provides the advantage that there is still plenty of room in the upper compartment for everything else you need on a full day out (at least as long as you’re not going up into the high mountains). I have had this backpack for many years, and I am still enthusiastic about it. It has been modified and is now sold under the label Think Tank with a new name.
Given the destination of our trip – we spent a week in the heart of Naples – it was important to me to store my equipment in an inconspicuous piece of luggage. Additionally, the actual photo compartment of this backpack can be pulled in front of your body when needed, and is otherwise stored in a kind of garage. I can’t imagine better protection against pickpockets. So far, everything was fine.



Click, click, click on Ektachrome: one Euro per image
As a small tribute to my father (he was a great slide photographer, I already mentioned how I digitised his photographic estate), I decided on Ektachrome. Unfortunately, slide photography has become prohibitively expensive, both in cost of the film itself and in developing. And good slide mounts were either bought in stock a few years ago… or never. So I took five rolls of film with me and knew that it would cost one euro to make a click every time. And it was the beginning of a goodbye every time – the slide era is also over for me, I can no longer deny that.
In practical photography, it often came down to my photographing the same subject twice. I knew that I would get a colour image either way, one on the computer screen and the other projected onto the screen using the Leica Pradovit. But I also realised that, so to speak, I had a modern, convenient and fast camera in one hand and an old, challenging and not quite as fast a camera in the other.
OM System OM-5 – almost irresistible
And if you don’t primarily go on a trip to take pictures – I was travelling with my admirably fit, but almost 80-year-old mother to show her some places in Italy she had always wanted to see – then convenience often wins out. The OM-5 was almost irresistible in this respect: ISO sensitivity as desired or required, stabilisation, autofocus, zoom and immediate control of the image results in the viewfinder (read here on DPReview a good test of the camera).





OM-4: The pinnacle of the old OM System
But I also enjoyed the OM-4. I used this camera model for many years, and it was an experience akin to that when you get back on a bike after decades. Everything just worked right away. The viewfinder image is bright and clear, and the exposure display on the blue band below is intuitively understandable (on the OM-5, this can be emulated in the EVF, which is a charming feature).





And when the films came back developed, I also remembered something. The multi-spot exposure metering with up to nine points on the OM-4 is second to none. It’s a shame that OM System has not yet incorporated this into the current digital cameras. It would be technically straightforward to do so. Nonetheless, this feature would need some experience on the part of the user.
ISO 100? More flexible than you imagine
The limitations of ISO 100 film and fixed focal lengths were less dramatic than I had thought. Basically, I could take almost all the pictures that were important to me with the good old OM-4. Only in the dark interiors of churches did I reach my limits. Almost all the slides were actually keepers, which proves once again that analogue photography has a disciplining effect. On the other hand, you could be more generous with a slide than with a digital image, which you instantly check at 100% and see every little lack of sharpness right away.


And something else became clear to me again: digital images are almost always edited afterwards, slides never. I optimised the exposure of all the pictures from the OM-5 that I kept. Occasionally, I also cropped them, and often I did further tweaks. It’s useful and tempting – and the opposite of slide photography. The slide is on the light box as it came from the lab, and basically nothing more can be done to it. Everything has to be right straight away.
I then scanned the slides with my homemade device and actually did a little post-processing on the digital versions. Nevertheless, I consciously avoided making them look as similar as possible to the often flawless digital photos. In the juxtapositions here, I deliberately wanted to show the differences, even in the subtle pictorial effect. I hope that comes across to some extent.



Conclusion: OM System past then and now — too close?
After the wonderful experience – and the good outcome – of the Italy trip two years before, the sequel was relatively disappointing. As it is frequent with sequels. Just leave it at the original, would be the obvious answer. A grown-up and experienced photographer would have known this.
But it is worthwhile to look at it more closely. I think the main problem is that the two cameras are too similar. Or better, that the setup produced pretty similar results. The projected analogue slides do look nicer, sure. But the printed images in the photo book I produced for my mother as a memory are so much better from the digital source. It would have all been different had I loaded a black and white film into dad’s old Olympus. And then processed it as a positive (not for the faint-hearted, but possible even at home).
And it was all good in the end…
So remains a slightly bitter note. The travel was great, I had a wonderful time with my mother, but I partly messed up the photography part. And this with the high expectations from two years ago. No chance to correct it, this trip is not repeatable. But there’s no grief, either. I undertook this journey not for photography, but for my mother and me. And so, it is hardly more than ironic that three of the shots I like most are not even made with a proper OM System camera but with my iPhone.
One last thought. What’s next? No idea, to be honest. The only thing I know for sure that I will take only one camera on my next trip. I want to have more time for taking photos instead of fiddling around with gear. And I am certainly in no urgent need of yet another a new project…
Read more from Jörg-Peter Rau
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“only half the surface of the “full frame” analogue camera” is incorrect; it’s one-quarter of the surface. Half the width and half the height, therefore one-quarter of the surface area.
Thanks, Stephen, for this feedback. You are right of course, I will change that! JP
“One last thought. What’s next? No idea, to be honest.” Why not use your excellent photographic skills in producing stunning images from the route the mystery couple took during the 1950 “Swiss Roll” motoring holiday? Now there’s a project you might enjoy. What camera would you take?
Chris
Dear Chris, the Swiss Roll project sounds brilliant. I am afraid I won’t have the time for it any soon, despite the fact that Zürich, Bad Ragaz and Julierpass are not far from where I live. But if I did, I would definitely take some old Leica rangefinder camera, maybe an early M3 or even a late screw mount model. But that‘s purely hypothetical at this moment. Best wishes, JP
Interesting to read and as always nice pictures. I had over years the combo M6 and M9 as my trip set-up. Resulting in a lot of dublicate pictures and at the end 90% done with the M9. So I came to the conclusion to go with film or digital to enjoy the trip and not being always in a conundrum!
Dear Ulrich Häuser,
you learned the lesson earlier… Duplicate picture are boring, and they cause unnecessary work. On my first trip with the Tri-X in the Rollei 35 and the tiny Ricoh GRIIIx, it worked well because it was clear from the start that I would take different pictures. This time, things were different.
But never mind, I had a wonderful trip, and there was no obligation to complete any photographic task. My fond memories of this journey are far more important than the photos!
All the best, Jörg-Peter
An excellent read, as usual – thank you.
You‘re welcome, Richard. Glad you enjoyed it.