One has to go. I cannot decide though. The legendary New F-1 looks and works awesomely, the OM-4Ti looks also nice and it is small and lightweight compared to the tank, the F-1.
Also, from these and just these two 28mm lenses which one is a keeper? The Zuiko Auto-W MC looks better than the FDn, but I had no time to make a comparison.
Help please!
Canon New F-1, no contest.
New FD lenses are mostly as light as Olympus OM lenses (if comparing the same FL and aperture).
The New F-1 is more rugged than any olympus OM-system camera -titanium or not- and the New F-1 has an almost perfect reliability record. The F-1 (all models) just keep going and going, "bombproof" certainly applies.
New F-1 has an amazing viewfinder, bright and sharp, in fact, when I factor the image quality plus the amount of display inside, it is the best viewfinder of any camera i've tried*, this includes the praised Leicaflex SL viewfinder and the (IMO overrated) OM-1 and OM-2 viewfinders. I've not tried a Pentax LX, though.
The viewfinder shows you at the same time three things:
- the selected shutter speed
- the selected aperture
- the meter's recommended aperture
as well, the typical AE Finder FN will tell you the following while on "A" (aperture priority mode):
- selected aperture
- camera's chosen shutter speed.
Moreover, the manual versus "aperture priority" modes switch completely the layout of the viewfinder! So you clearly, always know in which mode you are! This has to be seen to be experienced!
On the F-1 you "customize" your camera as you like. If you like centerweighted metering, you install a screen that gives you that metering pattern. There are also screens for spot metering and for 'partial' metering which is a typical Canon pattern which is wider than spot, and IMHO my preferred pattern. Quicker to use than spot, much more precise and predictable than centerweighted.
The New F-1 also gives you shutter priority if you fit any motor drive to it.
Battery life is excellent on the New F-1, but if the battery dies, just remove it (removing the battery is extremely quick, by the way), and the New F-1 will operate mechanically with the following speeds:
1/2000
1/1000
1/500
1/250
1/125
1/90 (flash)
B
The feel of the shutter button changes in this mode, so you always know you are in "emergency" batteryless mode.
Stop-down lever is easy to use and well placed; the shutter speed dial is also well placed and in the traditional place, compared to the Olympus. Mirror and shutter action is very smooth, on a camera test (by Keppler?) it was measured to be well below average.
The Canon New F-1 is probably the best Canon manual focus camera ever made and perhaps the best manual focus camera i've owned or used, although i'd share that award with the Nikon F2 and the original Canon F-1.
Cons
#1 no indication of "AE compensation enabled" in the viewfinder
#2 No memory lock; it seems Canon thought that you would use the manual mode in strange lighting.
#3 No mirror lock-up, although the F-1 mirror is well damped. However this might matter to you if you do photomicrography or use extreme telephotos.
Compared to the Olympus
The Olympus gives you automatically calculated multi-spot reading, however i'd argue that this is easy to do with the F-1 on manual mode and the spot metering screen. It is intuitive to do, with the needle display. And frankly, the "partial" metering pattern nails you the exposure everytime quickly, on any lighting conditions, if you know how to use it.
The Olympus is smaller and lighter. The New F-1 is a heavy camera although of course not as heavy as a Nikon F5 or such monster.
Alternative
However, if you really need compactness and lightness, my personal opinion is that
Pentax has the better compact system, better than the Olympus OM system. If you have the budget for an Olympus OM-4Ti, then you have the budget for a Pentax LX which must be as good as the Canon New F-1 or perhaps better. Also you have the option of the Pentax MX and ME Super, as well.
The Pentax-M lenses are as compact and light as the OM lenses, perhaps lighter in some cases (they were made to directly compete against the OM lenses). Asahi Pentax makes
excellent lenses. And then you also have Pentax-K, Pentax-KA lenses to use there. Plus M42 lenses with the original adapter.
* Tried: Leicaflex, Leicaflex SL, R4, Nikon's EL, FE, FE2, F, F2, F3, Nikkormat FT/FT2, FG, FM, EM, almost all Canons, Minolta X-570, XE-5, SRT-101, Pentax Spotmatic, Spotmatic II, ES, K1000, KX, P30. Other cameras as well, too inferior to mention. I have not tried a Pentax LX.