The Olympus Zuiko 40mm f2 is the smallest lens for the OM system, measuring just less than 1" long. It is also one of the rarest and most desirable Olympus lenses ever made, with fewer than 10,000 copies produced between 1984-1994. Designed as part of a special personal project by the legendary Olympus engineer Yoshihisa Maitani, the Zuiko 40mm f2 manages to squeeze an impressive 6-element, 6-group optical formula into its compact "pancake" shape. One quirk of the lens introduced by its diminutive size is that the aperture ring is at the very front of the lens -- filters screw directly into it, and actually make it easier to adjust. 

Here, an Olympus OM-4 makes a period-appropriate pairing with the Zuiko 40mm f2. The OM-4's advanced multi-spot metering system ensures accurate exposure with this uncommon optic. 

Being a swanky 35mm SLR, we figured the Olympus OM-4 camera was a pretty perfect camera to pair up with Kodak's ultra-nice Portra 160 film for our July 10th Film Friday feature.  If you are not familiar with our Film Friday concept, we encourage you to read up on it over on our Codex site.  It is a pretty awesome mini-event we started back in October of 2019 and have been running every Friday since.

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The Olympus OM-4T.

Suave, elegant, sophisticated... titanium.   It is certainly a difficult camera to resist.

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We like to feature the odd mirror lens, now and then, as they fly under a lot of radars, but they are interesting lenses.  Basically, a mirror lens uses a set of mirrors, instead of glass optics, to achieve its purpose.  This results in lenses that have long focal lengths such as 300mm, 500mm or longer and are physically very small and very light.  They are generally pretty inexpensive, as well. 

As with any lens, quality can vary.   Some mirror lenses are pretty cheaply made and are not as sharp, while other mirror lenses, like the solid catadioptric 800mm made by Vivitar, carry pretty great reputations.  If you are looking for a compact and cheap telephoto, a mirror lens might be worth serious consideration. 

A couple other quirks to these lenses are that almost all of them lacked variable apertures. They will usually be a fixed f/5.6, f/8 or f/11, depending on the lens design. That means a bit less flexibility in balancing exposure.  Also, mirror lenses have a very distinct look with out-of-focus highlights and bokeh.  They get donut shaped patterns to their highlights that you will either love or hate.  Personally, we think it looks cool and have seen some interesting photos made with mirror lenses that intentionally make use of this characteristic.⠀ ⠀

We'll also make a quick nod to the Olympus OM-4T making a cameo appearance here.

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If you have a weakness for high-end, manual 35mm film cameras, we apologize in advance because the Olympus OM-4T is going to haunt your dreams.⠀ ⠀

The whole OM series is an exceptional line of cameras and, in many ways, the OM-4 represented the pinnacle of it.  The OM-4Ts were introduced in 1986 which was, unfortunately, one year after Minolta kicked off the autofocus revolution with the Maxxum 7000, so the OM-4T ended up a bit below the radar.⠀ ⠀

The OM-4 did a couple of remarkable things.  It was the first SLR with a built-in, multi-spot meter.   You could have the camera spot meter up to eight points and then average them out for you.  The 4T version included titanium top and bottom plates and had even better weather sealing than the straight OM-4.  The 4T could also be coupled with the Olympus F280 flash to enable flash-exposed shutter speeds all the way up to the camera's top speed of 1/2000.  Clever stuff.⠀ ⠀

As noted, the 4T debuted in a time when many photographers' attention was revolving around auto-focus, an innovation that Olympus never seemed to handle too well within their own camera systems.  The OM-4 (and 4T) became kind of cult cameras known and passionately loved by a small body of photographers.

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