Olympus FTL

The Olympus FTL is a single lens reflex camera. It was produced by Olympus between 1971 and 1972.

The Olympus FTL features exchangeable lenses. The camera can be used with M42 lens mount lenses. In most cases the camera comes with the G.Zuiko Auto-S 1:1,4 f = 50 mm. The camera does not provide an autofocus function. The focus is set manually.

The M42 thread is standardized and manufacturer-independent, so a large number of lenses have been manufactured for this lens mount. The first M42 lens was invented by Zeiss. Major manufacturers of M42 interchangeable lenses included Pentax, Pentacon, Zenit/KMZ and Zeiss.

For photographing, the Olympus FTL an exposure meter. It can be used for films in an ISO range of 25 to 1600. The correct exposure is measured through the lens of the SLR camera. The aperture and shutter speed can be freely set by the photographer.

The Olympus FTL has a bulb mode, for example for long exposures. In this mode, the shutter will open as long as the shutter release button is pressed. An external flash can be used with the 35mm camera via hot shoe.

Films for the Olympus FTL

Films of this format are still easy to get today and are still being developed. Possible films for the Olympus FTL are the Agfaphoto Vista 200* for color pictures and the Ilford Delta 100* for black and white photos.

The color film is a negative film and is processed in the C-41 development process. This is offered by almost every photo lab. The negatives of Olympus FTL have a size of 24 mm x 36 mm. With a normal 35mm film (135-36) usually 36 photos are possible at this size.

The dimensions of the 35mm camera are 14 x 9,1 x 9,4 cm. The weight of the Olympus FTL is 900 g. The power supply comes from one Mallory PX625 battery.

The production of the Olympus FTL was ended. Nowadays the camera can only be found used. The condition of the camera and whether it still works is today the main factor on the value of a used copy of the camera.