Olympus M1 with M.zuiko 50mm F1.4 lens boxed. Rare to find in makers box.

Olympus M-1.

The Olympus M-1 was launched on the Photokina in Koln in 1972.

The name M-1 was called after the designer Mr. Maitani , chief designer of Olympus in this period. After all the camera makers have installed there stands on the Photokina , the people of Leitz where looking around and saw the Olympus M-1, they made a large problem about the name M-1 because Leitz already had a camera model named Leica M-1. They threatened to sue Olympus if they did not changed the name.  Olympus staff on the Photokina had to change the name in one night because the show was opening the next morning and they had invested a large amount in the new system. On all the lenses the M of the M-system  the M was made black with paint and all the body where made with stickers on the M-system logo. The name was changed from M-system to OM-system. But a number of cameras where already sold and by costumers and users. These cameras and lenses are rare and hard to find in nice condition. The camera has a few features witch the later model did not have. From brochures from the M-system you can see that a lot of lenses and accessories’ where all ready designed and made.

1. The finder glass is very shallow , the later models are deeper.
2. Inside the camera bayonet there is a small wheel visible , later model don’t have this.
3. There is no motor drive connection in the bottom plate.
4. The screws in the bayonet are straight and not Phillips like the later OM.
5. The wind-on lever is straighter than the later models.
6. Inside the backdoor the pressure plate is smaller than the later models.

It is a hard to find model because Olympus changed the most cameras that were made on the early production runs to OM-system. Certainly  a boxed camera with 1.4  50mm is not easy to find.

Olympus M1 128428 with Olympus M-System 50mm 1.4  100839.

With rare box