What price a legacy Olympus M1 SLR

[Ian]

BenC moved to Japan last year, if I recall, and I love following his adventures in rural Japan.

He's just bought an, admittedly, tatty Olympus M1 SLR - the briefly-produced predecessor to the original film OM1. Leica objected to the M1 model name, hence the change to 'OM1' - though I think the cameras were identical.

How much do you think Ben paid for his M1 in a Japanese store specialising in old cameras?

Ian

[pdk42]

An M1 must be pretty rare, but to be collectible a camera needs to be in good condition. So, a tatty M1 - let's say £150?

[Ian]

That makes sense, but a well used camera with exposed brass has a charm all of its own, don't you think?😅

[blackfox]

£99.00 or the eqivelant in is it yen

[Ian]

Any more offers?

Ian

[jeremyc]

Must be mad, but £500?

[Simon Bee]

Prices in Japan can vary widely, and some of the rarer stuff can be a bit OTT, so I am going to pitch at around £400+

Incidentally when I was in Tokyo last I could have bought a 'mint in the box' Nikon F4 ... final run, less than 1k from the end for £250 yet a well used limited edition Contax was twice the UK price,

[Mark_R2]

A specialist store and a very rare camera. I'll say £2500

[biggles3]

I can tell you that there's a really nice looking M1 with a Zuiko 50 f1.4 lens on Yahoo Auctions in Japan and with 5 days to go; 25 bids have been placed and its currently standing at just over £163 (26,000 Yen). There's another, with the same lens, for auction with a few problems that has no bids at £107 and a body-only Buy It Now for £314. I've seen about one or two every month appearing on Japanese websites in the last year. There's one with that lovely Zuiko 50 f1.4 that has me tempted at £157 Buy It Now.

Leica were always very litigious - when Yashica introduced their third Minister rangefinder, they decided to call it the M3 to really differentiate it from the previous model. Leica's lawyers were quickly looking for blood and Yashica was obliged to revert to Minister III - but not before a little over 4000 cameras had been released; I couldn't resist grabbing a few as it's a nice camera of the period. Interestingly, Leica did not get their own way when Yashica introduced the Electro M5 in 1970 as it was deemed that the use of the Electro brand between Yashica and M5 meant that there could be no confusion with the Leica marque and 'passing off' could not be construed; it had also reached the market about a year before Leica introduced their own M5.

[Wreckdiver]

There are a few of them on Ebay with prices from around £125 to £625 which all seem to include a 50mm lens (mainly in Japan).

Adding: a rather nice 50mm f/1.4 lens 😃

[Ian]

Ben mentioned 9,000 Yen, which is about £55 - a bargain I think, even if only to find a nice spot on a shelf for display purposes!

Ian

[Phill D]

Yes if its a working copy then quite a bargain.
It's a shame he doesn't post his adventures on here.

[pdk42]

Yes if its a working copy then quite a bargain.
It's a shame he doesn't post his adventures on here.

Are they posted anywhere?

[Ian]

I persuaded Ben to join here as he does own some Oly MFT kit, but photography isn't perhaps as imoortant day to day as it is to many here. He's moved to Japan with Japanese wife to retire and is currently setting up his new home in rural Japan - he's quite busy. We keep in touch via Facebook. His posts aren't public there though.

I'll see if he might find some time to give us some feedback ☺️

Ian

[griffljg]

I went looking around and found this: https://www.vintagecamerareviews.com...s/olympus-m-1/

[pdk42]

I went looking around and found this: https://www.vintagecamerareviews.com...s/olympus-m-1/

I still have my (O)M1. Lovely bit of kit. My son ran a roll of film through it over Christmas but I wasted the entire film by developing it in out-of-date developer!