Olympus OM-2n review: The best value film SLR in 2025?

Fairground ride, Henham Steam Rally, Olympus OM-2n + Zuiko 50mm f/1.8

I didn’t need another film camera (or any camera for that matter) but last month my GAS (gear acquisition syndrome) got the better of me again and I bought an Olympus OM-2n. On Reddit, YouTube and various other forums, I’ve regularly seen the OM-2n described as people’s all-time favourite SLR, so when I saw an example in very good condition for sale at a reputable dealer for a mere £80, I couldn’t help myself.

I’d bought an OM-10 a few months earlier, but returned it because the camera had an unacceptable amount of corrosion. In any case, the OM2n appealed more, because of its superior build quality (predominantly metal construction vs polycarbonate) and its ability to shoot in manual mode without the addition of an adapter. It’s also a brilliant looking little camera.

Olympus OM-2n + Zuiko 50mm f/1.8

I’ve only owned one manual film SLR before, a Ricoh KR10 Super that I sold relatively recently in order to reduce the amount of camera kit I have at home (oh the irony). I had mixed results with the Ricoh – I shot some great frames with it but also inexplicably had a number of bad exposures from time to time – which made me a little nervous about buying an older, non-autofocus film SLR.

However, I needn’t have worried. After buying a 50mm f/1.8 Zuiko lens (the made in Japan variant) and loading a roll of Kodak Ultramax 400 into the camera, I forgot all my worries and thoroughly enjoyed shooting it over the course of a few weeks before sending the film off to Aperture Photographic in London to develop. Fearful I might not have captured a single good frame, I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered that, 46 years after the camera’s release, it still delivered superb results.

Ford Mustang, Henham Steam Rally, Olympus OM-2n and Zuiko 50mm f/1.8

I shot the whole roll in aperture priority (Auto) and more often than not used the exposure compensation dial to overexpose by ⅓ stop. I found it easy to use the metering needle to judge whether I was going to get a suitable exposure and found it handy having the aperture control on the front of the lens. How much of the reliable exposure was down to the camera’s Off-the-film (OTF) metering is hard to say, but I wasn’t shooting in especially challenging light conditions, so I suspect I’ve yet to see the benefits of this standout feature.

As for the manual focus, I was pleasantly surprised by how quickly I got a feel for the split screen/microprism focusing in good natural light – initially I would doubt whether I’d dialled it in, but sooner than later I started to better trust my instincts. There’s a small amount of damage to the focus screen, which I suspect is caused by the widely reported foam degradation problem that affects this and other early OM cameras. However, it doesn’t affect focusing in any way so I’m inclined to leave it alone for now.

Olympus OM-2n and Zuiko 50mm f/1.8

The camera itself is surprisingly small but weighty. With the 50mm lens on the front, it tips the scales at 700g. It feels robust and the film wind-on lever and dials all give satisfying feedback. The only worry I had was that there occasionally seemed to be a little slack on the film spool, which could be corrected by gently tightening the rewind lever. This didn’t seem to create any issues in that I had no double exposures or anything else peculiar.

All of this brings me to the question in the title of this piece: whether the Olympus OM2n is the best value film SLR in 2025? There are plenty of people much better qualified than me to judge this, but from my own point of view, I think I’d be hard pushed to find another camera with the feature set and superb build quality (and diminutive size) of the OM2n for a better price.

Ford tractor, Henham Steam Rally, Olympus OM-2n and Zuiko 50mm f/1.8

The Canon A1 is arguably one such camera. It has more exposure modes than the OM2n (Program and Shutter-priority), which is useful if you don’t favour aperture-priority. However, it’s both larger and heavier than the Olympus and also has an inferior viewfinder (0.83x magnification and 93.5% coverage vs 0.92x and 97% coverage). For me personally, there’s no doubt that these attributes make the OM2n the better choice, but depending on how you like to shoot, you might see it differently.

There are also modern, autofocus SLRs such as the Nikon F80 that give the Olympus a very good run for its money. If you want more advanced matrix metering, multi-point autofocus and the option to use a huge range of F-mount lenses, there’s a lot to be said for these cameras and they can be picked up ridiculously inexpensively. Just don’t expect to fall in love with its design in the way you might with an early OM Olympus camera.

Anyway, I’d love to know what you think. Do you own the Olympus OM2n or another similarly priced film SLR? What’s the best value film SLR you can buy today, in your opinion?

Donkey Rides, Henham Steam Rally, Olympus OM-2n and Zuiko 50mm f/1.8