Some months ago I decided to get back into black and white shooting after spending about a year shooting colour on a p&s. It’s always refreshing to have bit of a change, and whilst I don’t make a conscious effort to exclusively shoot on one medium or another, I’ve found that I’ll naturally stick with one or two cameras or types of film unless I make a conscious effort to mix things up a little. Whichever way I “mix things up”, I inevitably find myself returning to the OM series, or one of my rangefinders. I’ve tried other SLR systems over the last few years but they don’t feel as natural as the OM system to me (if you couldn’t already tell by the number of OM’s I have and use).
Anyway, I got this OM-4 for free after the previous owner told me it had electrical problems. It sat on my shelf until earlier in the year when I decided to find out once and for all if it was working. First step was to try and give it bit of a clean – the camera had come from someone who originally lived in the Northern Territory, so it was covered in that distinctive N.T red dirt/dust. I couldn’t see any obvious problems so after sourcing a battery cover from a generous member at RFF, I put a test roll through it and to my surprise everything worked perfectly.
After a few days I was looking at my Bessa R3A and noticed how similar in size it is to the OM SLR’s. From this I eventually discovered that the Bessa grips fits on the OM4 (and others) with ease. The grip is actually a little bit big for the OM-4 (as the Bessa is larger), but it does the job pretty well. The ergonomics of the camera have improved somewhat and it doesn’t stand out visually too much or add any noticeable weight. It’s a bit ghetto I know, but I’m thinking it’ll give me more street cred now haha… Anyway, it was an experiment that worked well. I figured I’d try it after hearing people ask if it’s possible. Yes it is, albeit not perfect, however it does the job!