Olympus OM 707 m/35-70 mm
The Olympus OM-707 was released by Olympus as part of its successful OM system in 1986, and was their first attempt to make a fully autofocus SLR body.
In 1985 the Minolta 7000 had been a usable AF SLR, after various unsuccessful attempts like the Pentax ME-F, the Olympus OM-30, the Canon T-80 and the more serious Nikon F3AF. It led to rival models including the Nikon F-501, the Canon EOS 650, the Olympus OM-707 and the Pentax SFX being released. The OM-707 was the least successful of all. It maintained the OM bayonet mount and could mount all the Olympus OM lenses, but the new OM AF lenses specially designed for the autofocus did not have any manual focusing ring. This was unpopular because the first autofocus systems weren't very accurate or sensitive and there were many cases when manual override was necessary. Olympus' solution to this was to include a 'Power Focus' feature whereby a sliding 'shift knob' on the rear of the camera controls the focus. This is relatively accurate, though does not offer the same precision or speed as a manually-focused lens offers. This feature actually outlived Olympus' OM autofocus to reappear on the OM-101 which was Power Focus only. The OM-707 generally lacked all the features of a top range camera, and was aimed at the middle range market, like the OM-10.
The OM-707 also dropped compatibility with nearly all the accessories that made so much for the success of the OM system. There was one OM system accessory released specifically for this camera however: its partner the F280 Full-Synchro stroboscopic flash, syncing with this up to 1/2000 of a second. This flash/camera combination was reportedly the first in the world to offer such high speed syncing. The F280 also features a high-power AF illuminator lamp to aid low light focussing.
The Power Flash Grip 300 is powered by 4x AAA batteries and features a built-in pop-up flash;
In 1985 the Minolta 7000 had been a usable AF SLR, after various unsuccessful attempts like the Pentax ME-F, the Olympus OM-30, the Canon T-80 and the more serious Nikon F3AF. It led to rival models including the Nikon F-501, the Canon EOS 650, the Olympus OM-707 and the Pentax SFX being released. The OM-707 was the least successful of all. It maintained the OM bayonet mount and could mount all the Olympus OM lenses, but the new OM AF lenses specially designed for the autofocus did not have any manual focusing ring. This was unpopular because the first autofocus systems weren't very accurate or sensitive and there were many cases when manual override was necessary. Olympus' solution to this was to include a 'Power Focus' feature whereby a sliding 'shift knob' on the rear of the camera controls the focus. This is relatively accurate, though does not offer the same precision or speed as a manually-focused lens offers. This feature actually outlived Olympus' OM autofocus to reappear on the OM-101 which was Power Focus only. The OM-707 generally lacked all the features of a top range camera, and was aimed at the middle range market, like the OM-10.
The OM-707 also dropped compatibility with nearly all the accessories that made so much for the success of the OM system. There was one OM system accessory released specifically for this camera however: its partner the F280 Full-Synchro stroboscopic flash, syncing with this up to 1/2000 of a second. This flash/camera combination was reportedly the first in the world to offer such high speed syncing. The F280 also features a high-power AF illuminator lamp to aid low light focussing.
The Power Flash Grip 300 is powered by 4x AAA batteries and features a built-in pop-up flash;