While Olympus is most widely celebrated for designing the professional single-digit line (the fully mechanical OM-1 and the pioneering off-the-film metering OM-2), the double-digit line brought that compact, lightweight design ethos to the broader consumer market.

The OM-30 (marketed as the OM-F in North America), arriving in 1983, occupies a truly fascinating place as a transitional "oddball." It was their very first step into the autofocus era. While it remained a manual-focus camera for standard Zuiko glass, it featured an innovative electronic "Focus Assist" system with finder LEDs to tell you when a subject was sharp. Most famously, if you paired it with the highly specialized, motorized Zuiko Auto Zoom 35-70mm f/4 AF lens (which carried its own onboard battery compartment), it transformed the OM30 into a true, functioning autofocus SLR long before the industry fully shifted to AF in the late 1980s.

This example is in excellent condition. The light meter is not working in the viewfinder, but that doesn't seem to affect the light meter that reads off the film surface and controls the shutter speed - the camera takes accurately exposed images.

Purchased from eBay in 2026 for £41 with Lenses / Manual Adaptor / Accessories / Flash and Manuals.