I purchased an Olympus OM2000 Spot Metering SLR body from Used Photo Pro in Indianapolis sold in an “as-is” condition. I haven’t used this camera model previously, so I was interested in giving it a try. This copy looked very clean. The camera didn’t have a battery to check the light meter but as in the past even “as-is” condition cameras are typically in reasonable / good working condition. Even if the light meter didn’t work the camera will still operate without a battery. The price was approximately $25.
The OM2000, built by Cosina, is an all-manual camera (excluding the light meter) that has spot meter option for the light meter. Focus, aperture and speed settings are all manual.
I mounted a Tamron 28mm f/2.5 lens. The Tamron does not have an Olympus OM mount so I used an Adaptall 2 adapter from my inventory.
The features of the OM2000 Spot Metering are:
- Lens: Olympus OM bayonet mount,
- Shutter type: Vertical-travel metal focal-plane shutter,
- Shutter speeds: 1 to 1/2000 second + bulb,
- Flash sync speed: 1/125 second,
- Exposure modes:
- Manual exposure only
- Center-weighted metering with “match-LED” display in viewfinder
- Metering system:
- TTL center-weighted metering
- Ability to switch to spot metering
- Manual exposure match-LED indicator
- ISO range from 25 to 3200 (no DX code reading),
- Battery: 2 x LE44,
- Hot shoe (no built-in flash),
- Manual film advance lever,
- Small switch on the film advance lever that can be used for double exposures.
The OM2000 was clearly an entry-level manual SLR camera. Lots of plastic and small in your hand.
I wanted to see how the camera would perform with street photography.
I ran 2 rolls through the camera recently and here is what I thought about it:
- A very loud shutter slap. Not stealthy at all
- The light meter consists of a + o – LED indicator on the left side of the viewfinder. It’s activated when you half push the shutter release. You adjust speed / aperture (or both) so the green o illuminates. I found it hard to get it settings adjusted accurately for the proper exposure. On most shots I was getting + o or o – (slightly over or under exposed). In most situations I ended up simply using “sunny 16”. Not sure if this is the sensitivity of the light meter or the meter on this camera was beyond it’s used by date. Either way, I prefer a camera with a light meter vs not having one. On the OM2000 you are in full control of the settings.
- Another “feature” is a small “stop” attached to the film advance lever that sits under the shutter release button when the lever is fully closed. This prevents the shutter from accidentally firing while in a camera bag or if you bump the shutter release. To take a photo you advance the film advance lever slightly to a stop. You can now release the shutter. There were several times when I forgot to do this and when I tried to release the shutter I couldn’t. Just a learning curve issue, but potentially frustrating if you were timing a shot.
- The wide shutter speed range gives you complete flexibility of using almost all film ISOs in most light conditions.
Bottomline, not my first choice for street photography, but it’s a solid general-purpose, basic manual camera.
Some photos:
