Milsurp After Hours

It's a bridge camera. What that means is back at the end of the 1980's Olympus had the bright idea of trying to nudge the point and shoot shooters in the direction of the SLR with an all in one camera with a modest zoom and all the bells and whistles of the top point and shoots and some of the features of the SLR deluxe models. It kind of looks like a a tele lens with a hand grip. It does more tricks than a high dollar whore.

What I got is an Olympus IS-1. It was the first and most complicated version. There were others in the series after it that were simplified and less feature filled. But... it was not a long lasting series. However, there are digital cameras that have borrowed from the general look with much more zoom and many selectable features.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1990 ... ot-olympus

The camera cost $5 plus $11.65 shipping. It takes two CR123A batteries that cost about $10 a pair. But... I already had some batteries that I used in another old camera. Camera seems to function fine with batteries in place.

Maybe Duncan and I should race to see who can take some photos and develope the film and post.

I might get some done tomorrow coz it's going to be a crap day weather wise........

Tried it out today. It's clunky and funky. The double exposure mode works pretty well as long as you don't use flash. The normal flash photos come out alright....if you can get the autofocus lens to lock into focus and recognize it is in focus long enough to let the shutter fire in less than bright light. The macro button is for wide Macro and tele macro. Can't really tell much difference because you can't get very close to what you want a closeup shot of. There is an aperture priority and a full Manual mode....as long as you don't mind the autofocus lens that wanders a bit in low light. It has a zoom photo feature that should record wide to telephoto on the same shot....like an action shot coming toward you or away might do in an ordinary mode with a slow shutter. But.. this is supposed to be done in "night" auto mode with a finger on the W or T switch at 2" or longer exposure. Couldn't get this to work...but maybe I wasn't holding my mouth right.

It can record a decent photo now and again. I have worse cameras. But.....I can see why many upscale compact cameras beat it with better and more user friendly auto features and more portability. The "manual" feature is clunky at best and limited to what the camera is programmed to let you do. It was a bridge camera that wasn't as "special" as it needed to be more attractive than either camera choice it bridged.

But... for $5... it takes some decent photos now and again. Just got to remember to turn off the print the date feature.

That's a good $5 worth of camera Robert.