30 January 1982
THIS week’s cover pic by sports legend Tony Duffy was probably intended to draw attention to AP’s test of 3M’s new ‘superfast’ 640-T tungsten balanced slide film, though it wasn’t shot on that film. But we’ll skate over that for now. The big group test compared three magnificent 35mm SLRs – the Nikon FE, Contax 139 Quartz and Olympus OM-2N – all of which are still much loved and highly sought after today. The first two could be bought, with a 50mm lens, for a penny under £200 (£785 in today’s money) while the OM-2N, the geriatric of the trio, was a slightly cheaper £170. Keith Nelson found little to criticise with any of them but the Contax edged it thanks to its LED display and quartz crystal, which gave it the most accurate shutter speeds. A highlight of this week’s issue was Dante’s Death Dive, in which amateur Stephen Huntley captured, on his Canon A-1, a world record leap from an 80ft tower onto an 8x6ft sponge surrounded by spears. Performed at Essex County Showground by a daredevil called ‘Daring Dante’ (aka John Crease from Wimborne, Dorset) the only thing more challenging than his stunt was Huntley’s attempt to sell the pictures. ‘My first mistake was waiting till the show ended,’ he discovered. ‘My second mistake was using XP1 film for newspaper work. Most of the nationals were interested till I told them it was XP1. They said they didn’t have the facilities to process it.’ A third outlet rejected them because they weren’t shot in colour. At least AP came to the rescue in the end!