During a recent, impromptu visit to a local antique mall, a 35mm film camera caught my eye, as well as its $32 price: an mid-1950s Ansco Super Memar rangefinder camera. While a little scuffed, the shutter seemed to be operating well and the lens and viewfinders were fairly clean. This find gave me the perfect reason to dust off another film camera sitting in my closet, an Olympus OM-2n from the early 1980s passed down to me by my uncle a few years ago. I was ready for a head to head Olympus vs Ansco battle.
The Ansco Memars were made by Agfa in Germany and came with a variety of lenses and features during its production lifetime. My Ansco Super Memar has a f /2.8 45mm Color Apotar lens, is fully mechanical with no light meter. It's fastest shutter speeds is 1/300th of a second, and the lens has a minimum focusing distance of 3.5 ft and a minimum aperture stop of f/22.
For the Olympus OM-2n, I am using an Olympus 50mm Zuiko Auto-S f/1.4 lens for a similar focal length as the Ansco. The OM-2n has shutter speeds up to 1/1000th of a second and includes a through the lens light metering system with aperture priority automatic settings if you decide not to use manual settings. While the Olympus lens is 2 stops faster than the Ansco Apotar, it only stops down to f/16. On the plus side, its minimum focusing distance is 1.5 ft.
I loaded both cameras with brand new rolls of FujiColor 200 film, taking similar shots to see how they compare. Note that I did not use a tripod, so these comparisons are not exact. Initially, I used the Olympus light meter to help determine f-stop and shutter values for the unmetered Ansco. I later utilized the light meter app on my iPhone for a second opinion. Both rolls were developed by The Darkroom and scanned without any color correction or other digital manipulation. I cropped the jpg files when needed for leveling as well as to match the field of perspective between the different focal lengths.
In cloudy conditions, both cameras gave good representation of the colors.
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| Ansco |
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| Olympus |
As the sun brightened to pretty harsh conditions, the Olympus was quicker to wash out certain colors.
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| Ansco |
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| Olympus |
I noticed that the light from the lens in the Ansco doesn't quite cover the full 35mm frame as you'll notice the rounded corners of the lens barrel in each corner. There is also slight vignetting as you approach each corner; a nice effect, but not always wanted. You won't see this difference on all photos due to cropping.
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| Ansco |
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| Olympus |
The lens of the Olympus was sharper, or at least easier to focus. The rangefinder viewer on the Ansco was difficult to manage with eyeglasses. Olympus wins for handling details.
With its faster lens and shorter minimum focusing distance, some shots were only possible with the OM-2 without a tripod.
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| Olympus |
So, which will I use? Both, of course. The Olympus is certainly the more versatile and easier to use, but there is a charm in using a 70+ year-old, purely mechanical camera. The Ansco may be better in harsher sunny-16 conditions with less chance of a wash-out. Both provide a slower, calmer experience than digital. Capturing light without later adjusting white balance, temperature, or applying artificial filters is satisfying in its own right.
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