Shipman OM books - any notable errors or omissions?

I just found a couple of copies of Carl Shipman's "How to select & use

Olympus SLR cameras" at a used book store. I don't normally buy books

like this but what the heck.

 

What's the reputation for these guide books? Are they considered

generally accurate and complete? Any significant errors or omissions?

 

Yeh, eventually I'll find out for myself as I page through 'em but I'm

disinclined to read such books cover to cover in proofreading mode.

Mostly I'm curious to hear the opinions of others who've read these books.

 

(BTW, this isn't a sneaky for sale ad either. I won't sell either

copy 'til I've read and compared 'em - they're different editions -

and that may take weeks or months. It's just as likely I'll simply

give away a copy to an aquaintance who uses the OM system. If I do

decide to sell I don't want to pass off an inaccurate piece of fluff

to an innocent but eager budding OMer and Zuikoholic.)

His Nikon book had a lot of nice details on lenses and gear in the N8008s/F4 era, including a great table of lens lengths, weights, f/stops, hoods, filter sizes etc. Haven't found any mistakes in that one.

 

The text is a little disorganized and some of the color photos are out of register, but it's certainly worth having. More believable! than Moose! Think Shipman did books on Pentax and Minolta as well.

Thanks, Josef. Little by little I'm wading through these books. One covers the OM-1 through OM-2N, the other drops the OM-1 and covers the OM-10 Quartz, etc; that sort of difference.

 

Oddly, these two books have the same number of total pages but they don't match page for page. I'm guessing that either the publisher decided on an arbitrary page limit or they used tables and charts to make up for any differences.

I have the 1979 (208 pp) and 1989 (175 pp) edition of Shipman's book. The first covers the OM-1/1n, ON-2/2n and OM-10, the second is less specific to the various camera models of that time but the principles of the different lines seem to be clearly outlined. Chapters 14 and 15 at the end specifically focus on the OM-4/4T, OM-PC, OM-77/88, and somehow unrelated to the Infinity Superzoom 300. Notably the OM-3 is not covered.

 

Though I haven't re-read them regarding errors and omissions in proofreading mode, I do find the 1979 edition quite complete with many hard to find details correctly given (e.g. change of pattern on curtain shutter of OM-2 in 1978). I do like the intermixing of general photographic technical details (EV numbers, reciprocity errors; how film, lenses, filters etc. work) which he certainly has used in his books on the other cameras, but all is specifically related to the OM cameras. Especially with respect to the macro capabilities of the OM system, I like his rather detailed approach including the basic equations for calculating effective aperture, exposure factor, extension ratios etc.

 

From the about 15 books related to the OM system which I know, I find the 1979 Shipman book to be one of the best for a general introduction to photography with the OM system (sharing place with R. Huenecke's 'Olympus Fotoschule', in german; Mannheim's "OM-Way" is in my ranking in the lower half).

Thanks, Konrad. I was also impressed with the clear photos demonstrating the differences between the two shutter curtain metering patterns, a common source for confusion among OMers.

 

I, too, noticed that the books tend to switch gears between OM-specific information and generalized photography information. I suppose a hardcore OMer or Zuikophile might prefer the entire book was reserved solely to OM-specific information. But the occasional digressions aren't so frequent as to be annoying and might have been suited toward the audience targeted by the publisher at that time.

 

And dig those feathered hairdos. No mistaking the era of these two books, late 1970s-early '80s.

Carl Shipman capitalized on being able to recycle his text among his "How to Select and Use" books. The general text can be found repeated in the Nikon, Pentax, Minolta, Olympus and Canon books of the same copyright date.

 

Probably the worst Olympus book was London's. She recycled her text, too. But it was 98% generalized text in her books covering the major manual focus camera system manufacturers.

Thanks, Gary - I suspected there might be some boilerplate text in these books.

I also note that Shipman neglected to pay tribute to that mostly highly prized of all Zuiko lens characteristics in his discussion of those lenses: Not a single mention of the "B" word.

 

Obviously he was not a true Olymphile or Zuikoholic. ;>

If I recall correctly, Shipman OM books have brought some irrationally high prices on the auction site.

 

I've had mine for 10 years or so...

 

Rick in DC

I've seen folks asking some prices on ebay for the Shipman books but I don't see 'em attracting bids.