Olympus AF-1, Kwai Chai Hong

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Olympus AF-1

#AnalogDiary - Film photography favorites, five frames with an Olympus AF-1 (Infinity), on the quest for an alternative to the Olympus Mju II.

The Olympus AF-1 (Infinity in the US), 1985, the first of Olympus AF series cameras, was also the world’s first weatherproof fully automatic autofocus 35mm compact camera, a product of extensive research and development by the Japanese giant.

Due to its ability to be used in all weather conditions, the camera was nicknamed 'Nurepika' (wet flash) in Japan. Boxy, durable, and all with a slightly offbeat option of an auto-on flash, the camera requires a quite hard-to-get CR-P2 Lithium to power its operation.

The AF-1 is fitted with a Zuiko 35mm F2.8 4-elements in 4-group lens with a minimum focusing distance of 0.75 meters, auto-exposure with an exposure range of 1/30 second at F2.8 to 1/750 second at F13.5, auto-flash with no flash override control, film autoload and rewind, and self-timer.

The autofocus system is supported by a 'focus lock' button which is a bit jiffy to use - press and hold the lock button with the left thumb, aim at the target with the central box and press the shutter release button down, recompose the view, then release the lock button to release the shutter.

For the outing, which I took the AF-1 for a street walk down Kwai Chai Hong, and the newly opened Pandan Republic, I had the flash unit blocked with a piece of duct tape (see image above) as a test of how well the camera captures images in low shutter speed situation.

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