International Camera Museum : Blue Moon Camera and Machine

Shop
Equipment
Film and Supplies
Sale Items
Typewriters
- Portable
- Desktop
Sundries & Accessories
eBay
- eBay Outlet
Photo Lab
Culture
Sell Your Gear

- Log In / Sign Up

Shop

Back Shop Home

Equipment

Back 35mm Cameras Point & Shoot 35mm Cameras Medium Format Cameras Large Format Cameras Lenses Tripods Light Meters Bags & Cases All Darkroom Equipment Darkroom Enlargers

Film & Supplies

Back Film Paper Chemistry Batteries Storage & Archiving Cleaning Accessories

Typewriters

Back Portable Desktop Other

Sundries & Accessories

Back Apparel & Swag Books & Magazines Camera Straps Gift Certificates Large Format Accessories Lens Adapters Lens and Body Caps Lens Filters

Sale Items eBay Store

Photo Lab

Back Send Us Your Film Photo Lab Services Pricing Services FAQ Mailing Your Film FAQ Printable Order Form Printable Services Pricelist Digital Printing Image Analyzer

Sell Your Gear

Back Sell Your Gear Consignments: How it Works Consignment FAQ

Culture

Back Museum Codex Meet the Staff Customer Shows Social Landing Page Press Links Manifesto E-Mail Newsletter Signup

Support

Back Consignment FAQ Shipping FAQ Privacy Policy Return Policy

Account

Back Log In/Register

Get Social

Back Instagram Facebook X / Twitter Discord

Return to Museum Home

Olympus OM-F / OM-30

The Olympus OM-F, also known as the OM-30, is a consumer-level, manual focus, 35mm SLR manufactured by Olympus in the mid-1980s. The camera was part of the OM-10, 20, 30, 40 series of cameras, which were less expensive SLRs meant as alternative options to the OM-1, 2, 3, 4 series. The OM-F is essentially an updated version of the OM-G (OM-20), that could be used with a special autofocus 35-70mm lens. The camera was an early attempt by Olympus to get into the auto-focus market; unfortunately, the auto-focus is often inaccurate, slow, and dependent on that one, particular zoom lens. The camera does use other manual focus Olympus lenses and has an electronic focus confirmation capability to aid in manual focus. The OM-F can also be set up to pre-focus at a certain distance and fire when a subject comes into that plane of focus. The camera's exposure modes include aperture-priority and full manual.

za/sd

Olympus OM-F

This is an odd bird of a camera. In the early to mid-1980s, Olympus launched a quartet of cameras known as the OM-10, 20, 30 and 40 to most of the world. Here in North America, they were marketed as the OM10, OMG, OMF and OMPC, respectively. While we are used to seeing the OM-10, OMG and OMPC, we don't often come across the OMF/OM-30. ⁠

⁠

The OMF was Olympus' first foray into an auto-focus SLR. Like early efforts by other SLR manufacturers, the OMF stayed compatible with Olympus' OM line of lenses, and introduced a new lens that was motorized. They only introduced one lens that could auto-focus with this camera, a 35-70mm zoom. In other words, this was still, in a sense, a manual focus camera; but with this special lens, it was also capable of auto-focusing. Olympus AF system was not really up to par with their typical design brilliance or that of their competition, for that matter. The AF was slow, inaccurate, and limited to one short zoom lens. ⁠

⁠

One nice offshoot of this innovation was that the OMF had electronic focus confirmation that could be used with manual focus lenses. A series of LEDs in the viewfinder would let you know if you were focused too close, too far, or just right. Olympus also built a feature into this camera where you could set your focus, and the camera would fire on its own, once the subject entered focus.⁠

⁠

Rounding out the camera's other features were the usual assortment. Unlike the early OM-10, the OMF was capable of full manual exposure control, in addition to aperture priority. Strangely, this camera lacked a PC flash sync socket, so you had to work through the hot shoe alone. It also required five 1.5V SR/LR44 batteries. Add to that the three AAA batteries you needed if you were using the AF lens and... wow, that's a bit much.⁠

⁠

za/sd

Shop

Photo Lab

Sell Your Gear

Culture

Blue Moon Camera and Machine llc

sales@bluemooncamera.com
(503) 978-0333
(503) 978-0370
8417 North Lombard Street
Portland, OR 97203