Soon the Nikon F5 will be released. This report is being written on 31 October and Thunder's reserved Nikon F5 should be in the shop by now. Saying thisI really want to go and pick it up, but unfortunately I have to write this.I'll go and pick it up tomorrow. My colleague Fuchida who reserved one at the same time as myself has probably already gone and picked it up, and also another photographer nicknamed 'monoji' is sure to pick it up today. Thunderwill go and pick it up with his girlfriend Momochan, so I just have to waitpatiently. However, it's hard so I'll ring up Fuchida.
Trrrr trrrr trrrr trrrrr....
"Hello, did you buy the F5"
"I'm just attaching the strap right now"
Fuchida has just come back from Ikebukuro's Sakuraya
"well how is it?"
Irritated Thunder starts to ask loads of questions. Working at his job meansthat Thunder knew how to use the camera way before release, but it seems that he will not be satisfied until he takes that step of actually purchasing it.
"I haven't put the batteries in it yet!"
If it was Thunder, he would have put in the batteries, attached the lens andput in the film the minute he left the shop! However, Fuchida left it in it's box until he reached home, treating it very carefully. While I was speaking to him, the Kacha kacha noise started.
"That's the F5 sound!"
"Shit"
Before I knew it Fuchida's F5 started operation.
On purpose, he made the rhythmical monitor noise sound. There are not manytimes when Thunder has to use fast consecutive shooting, so I wasn't that interested in the High Speed Motordrive. However, when using the F5, even forexample shooting singularly, the sense of winding on in an instant can not compare to anything else. I think it is more important to have the sense of trying to use it rather than the speculation of it's appearance.
"well that's fine, but for me, I'm going to buy mine tomorrow."
Thunder Hirayama has bought many cameras but for some reason, the single reflex camera which will be the best this century is making him a little nervous. Especially after the new product has been released. It's a different kind of nervousness from buying the secondhand Leica. With the Leica, you havethe choice of many and you say to yourself "it's like old and cheap so I'llbuy it for later" or "shall I buy a little nicer one". But you are forcefully made to buy a camera that you have to place a order for. Because if you don't buy the Nikon F5 when your order has come in, you never know when you'llbe able to buy it again. At the most, you'd probably have to wait about oneyear.

The mechanics of the recent electronic cameras have become so complicated and there's no way of knowing when they will completely modify them, so it's probably not such a good idea to buy them straight after release. With the standard mechanical cameras of the past, there were only a few parts which adjusted so, they were well completed before release.

This is not limited to Nikon F5, this is the danger of every camera of thisgeneration. However the F5 is a well thought out release so, it would be very strange to see a fault.

Well, the main theme for this time is the worth of the Olympus which meets the Nikon F5 era. Let's think about this.

Why has the Olympus been released at this time? It has a lot to do with theNikon F5. The high qualtity cameras of the past had a motor drive that couldbe taken out and put back in so when you wanted to use it like a compact, you could leave the motor at home. With the Nikon F5, being so big the batterypack is now not able to be exchanged, so depending on the photography the choices have been eliminated.

A major problem is the era of not being able to exchange the battery pack. With the Canon EOS-1N, because of the booster system there is a system for changing the speed of the winding on but, the worst thing is there are many faults for the mechanics maker and a degree of nusiance when they put the booster on the outside making more stress.

However increasing the proficiency of the high speed motor drive, AF, lightmetering system and upping the durability of the F5 as a superior camera fulfilling its terms, makes one think that the battery issue is just too bad.When you take a look at the Olympus, the body as well as the lense and system are all so compact. Of course this was known more than 20 years ago, but it's the case of taking another look at the Nikon F5 just after its release.

When the Olympus OM-1 was released, everyone was surprised by it's small size but, now looking at the top Nikon machine of that time - the Nikon F-2, itis well compact enough. The functions and performance of the Nikon F5 were abig factor of its attractiveness and if you use the main machine, you wouldthink it was the F5 but, it was the time when you wanted a small and top performance camera. Of course this differs in the photography purpose and method so there probably are people who only need a small camera but saying thatthere are also sure to be people who would only need to use the F5.

Thunder is one of those people that think using only one camera is not interesting so I use many and I think I would like to use more kinds of cameras.When the value of the camera goes down, on the asumption that I only use 1camera, it is strange to think of determining the value of one camera. TheNikon F5 is big and heavy so don't be lead to believe it's no good. It's because of this size it is possible to realize the F5's performance. If you have fun with it's versatile and easy to use performance the size and weight will have to be taken care of with your personal strength. But we also have to think of the elderly people too, however there are loads of energetic elderly folk walking around carrying middle sized and large sized cameras. So saying that the F5 is big, there would be hardly any difference in size to the middle sized cameras.

Saying that I also would like a small and good camera. So that's why Thunderis recently striving for an Olympus system. On the point of its durability,it has more weaknesses than Nikon but within the present goods, the only real compact system is the Olympus. The Olympus's that Thunder has had up to today is an OM-1 body, a 50mm F1.4 lens, a 100mm F2.8 lens and 3 135mm F3.5 lenses. Also some bellows and an expanding photographic macro lens. This expanding macro lens was given to me by a friend (a highschool friend?) It wasn't a case of wanting it so much and him giving it to me, but more of him giving it to me without any choice, and actually I haven't used it once. I actually tested the expanding macro out before I got it but there is really no place to act in Thunder's photographic boundaries. Both the 135mm and also theexpanding macro are things which I got given so the only things I bought myself is the 50mm and 100mm lenses. The truth is I actually had a F3.5 beforebut, I lent it to a friend and I never got it back. Recently I've learnt that you don't get anything back that you lend, so I basically never lend out a nything now.

I'm often told to give away things that I don't use, but Thunder thinks younever know when they might come in handy so, a few years ago I decided to never lend anything or sell anything.

When I look at the size of the F5, It makes Thunder really want a simple Olympus. But first I was a little puzzled with its body. The OM-4Ti which canuse the AE. It's to be expected that you would choose this. But really you can't forget about the few remaining mechanics. The compact titanium outer shell, the side running mechanical shutter. I really can't help but pay attention to the completely opposite line of cameras to the F5. The OM-3 or 4, what should I do?

Saying that I don't know what to buy,..it really is a case of basically amusement, so It's not a big deal really. Deciding which is best between the Meca OM-3Ti's attractiveness and the ease of using the spot light meter of theOM-4Ti is the last point I'd like to discuss. Both the 3 and 4 have the samefundamental spot light metering system but if you only press the spot buttonof the OM-4Ti's AE function, there is the same effect of changing to the manual from the AE. But with the OM-3Ti, operating the spot button and depending on the occasion, the high light button and the cachard button, you need to adjust the aperture and the shutter speed so, it does take a little more time than the OM-4Ti.

Eventually I decided to choose the much less reputated 4 than the OM-Ti3. The ease of using the spot light metering which is the specialty of the Olympus, is found in the OM-4Ti. When I go home, I'll enjoy looking for the big differences in comparing the trial Nikon F5 and the OM-4Ti.The thing which Thunder feels a little reluctant about is according to the circumstances, theimportant functions are changing dramatically before you know it. When I seriously take pictures of my sister I need both the Nikon F5 and the Canon EOS-1N. When I'm fooling around with photos, an Olympus is adequate.

However I only increased the body and the lens become not good enough, so Iwasn't able to use it, so I decided to look out for a lens. The most important is the 85mm F2. I already have the 100mm so there is no need to buy a 85mm. But, the 85mm is Thunder's standard lens so I have to have it!

Another thing I don't have and I need is a wide angled lens. Not even one,so from a second hand corner in a camera shop, I found a 35mm F2. Apparently this can be used for various things. As a basic I want a good wide angledlens so, I'll look out in a few second hand stores. It's interesting to note that most popular shops do not stock second hand Olympus cameras. In Takanawa's Matsuzakaya on that day there was not one Olympus. This made me frustrated so I tried Shimbashi. When I took a look on the Olympus shelf in Utsuki Camera, there was a 18mm F3.5, for 6,8000‰~. The Olympus 18mm F3.5 is usually a product that orders are received for, so seeing one in a second handshop is quite rare. Actually it was my first time to see the actual thing. Ihave never personally tested it out and this era has become all AF, so I don't really have many chances to use the Olympus at my work. The small lens and the filter adaptor weren't available so I thought it would probably be easy to get your fingers in the picture when snapping for fun. However I do like the focal distance of the 18mm so I decided to buy it.I'm normally puzzled with the winders when places have many lenses. For Thunder who is mainly a portrait man, I'm at the stage where I want the motor drive or otherwise the winder. But looking at the F5's size, Thunder started to look at the Olympus's and he ended up attaching a winder and started worrying about how big it got.Especially with the OM-4Ti, when attaching a winder, one becomes a little vexed as the spot light metering becomes hard to operate. Originally I boughtthe Olympus for the reason of being able to easily use it, however when I bought it, I felt like photographing my sister. People just can't be satisfied can they!

Also I really wanted the 90mmF2 which I had my eye on for ages, so when it came down to it, the winder really was necessary. The Olympus 90mm macro is quite fat so, when you put it on a tripod, the body is too big for it, makingit difficult to use. A winder is necessary."Wow, I've come this far, I may as well buy it!"When Thunder buys a camera, he has a bad habit of not being satisfied if hedoesn't use the system properly. These people know very well what I'm talking about so, they didn't touch the Hassel, the Leica single reflexes and theOlympus. However the Olympus has suddenly become a real camera to put your hands on. When you go to Sanpore Camera, there will certainly be a new OM-3Ti. There are two types of second hand winders so it is possible to buy themin a set. Attaching the winder on to the OM-3Ti, experimenting with taking various photos. It's fun photographing for pleasure when the spot light meteris measuring the exposure. However, when you attach the winder you do have trouble reaching the spot light meter button.

This is a special skill for Thunder who can adapt to anything so, using it for one day would eliminate most worries. However in the special selection of using the Olympus, there is another thing not to be consented. When I gothome, I decided to attach the winder to the OM-1 and use the it as a subsystem. Using the OM-3Ti and 4 as a pair, and grouped it as a carry around relative set. Making a main system and a sub system from each maker is a bad habit of Thunder's. There are 2 sides to this argument but it's not just a caseof using them to your advantage, but I think there's problems with various cameras so it just ends up like this.

Going back to the problem of the F5, even regarding the value of the biggerF5, It is probably necessary to have a high quality compact camera with functions close to those of the F5. Thunder is thinking about this.

Basically the F3 is pretty good but, I really want the F6 which will be equipped with the strobe marche lighting system and the RGB light meter. I thinkit's important that the era will start when the camera is produced from these kind of reasons. It's important to stop thinking that there is only one type of high quality camera.One more thing I'll throw in is that in the same way as the Leica is calledthe M3 and the M4, will the Olympus be known as the OM-3Ti and OM-4Ti?? However if people want these, I hope that that the user has a good idea how touse them.