Olympus introduced the 35 SP in 1969 and it ran in production until 1976, the 35 SP was built as the flag ship of the Olympus range of rangefinders and featured some amazing developments.
The camera was one of the first and the only rangefinders to operate a dual metering system, capable of metering both with an average and a spot metering pattern. To this day, it is only one of a handful of rangefinders capable of spot metering, and the only rangefinder to offer this and an auto exposure option.
The meter was not the only special part of this camera, the 42mm f1.7 Zuiko lens is of amazing quality, and is constructed using 7 elements, again practically unheard of build quality in a fixed lens camera.
The olympus SP was capable of automatic flash exposure when using an appropriate flash unit, in this instance it is pictured with the original Olympus PS 100 G flash which was the unit Olympus built and recommended for use with the SP.
This camera was the corner stone of the compact rangefinder market, technically and optically one of the best cameras in its class, it immediately became a hit with professional users and can match the results of far more expensive cameras whilst retaining an almost stealth like quality due to its compact frame.
Several professional photographers and artists of the 70's used this camera to great effect and and despite its high price and small production runs it became a instant classic.
We have many images in our galleries taken with this camera and on black and white or colour film it delivers high quality results, even by modern standards.
If you would like to know more about the history and technical spec of this great camera, more information can be found via it's page on cameraquest.