Glass Bodies a variant-level encyclopedia of vintage lenses and cameras by iwillpat

Olympus OM-2 Spot/Program

Olympus · Olympus OM mount · 24×36mm on 35mm film, hinged back · 1984

single source, unconfirmed

Also known as: OM-2SP · OM-2 SP · OM2SP · OM-2S · OM-2S Program · OM-2 Spot Program · OM-2 Spot/Program · オリンパスOM-2SP · オリンパス OM-2 SP

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
OM-2 Spot/Program (OM-2S Program in the US) Olympus OM 1984–1988 — —
  1. The 1985 Olympus brochure data, transcribed by the eSIF site, is the specification source here: 136×84×50mm, 540g, 0.86× finder at 97%, ASA 12–3200, 3.5 fps, two SR44. The Noisy Shutter weighed a body at 545g. Olympus's museum page gives the date and price and no specification.
  2. The eSIF transcription gives the automatic range as about 60 seconds to 1/1000 and the finder LCD a 2-minute limiter; Wikipedia gives a 90-second power-saving cut-off for the LCD and 16 seconds for the illuminator, where the brochure says 10. The brochure figures are used in the fields and the disagreement noted here.
  3. The red-LED circuit revision that cured the flash battery drain rests on ImagingPixel alone and carries the single-source flag on this page. The drain itself is reported by ImagingPixel and by Julian Higgs at 35mmc independently.
  4. The eSIF site reads the camera as a link between the OM-2n and the OM-4, or a cheaper OM-4 for the serious amateur: it gives up the 1/2000, the 4-minute automatic exposure and the multi-spot memory, and its spot meter works only in manual mode. Wikipedia adds that it was built on the OM-4 castings and given a basic level of weather sealing that no earlier OM-2 was advertised with.
  5. No production figure has been published.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • An OM-4 shell in black with OM-2 markings and a 1/1000 top speed on the ring
  • Finder magnification 0.86× against 0.92× on the OM-1 and OM-2, a visibly smaller image
  • Motor Drive 1 or 2 runs at 3.5 frames a second on this body against 5 on the OM-2

OM-2 Spot/Program (OM-2S Program in the US):

  • Black only; OM-2 SPOT/PROGRAM or OM-2S PROGRAM on the front plate
  • Fixed hot shoe on the prism instead of the removable Shoes 2, 3 and 4 of the OM-2
  • Program / Auto / Manual selector lever on the top plate and an LCD bar in the finder in place of the needle
  • TTL flash socket on the front left of the body for the TTL Auto Cord
  • Electronic self-timer switch where the OM-2 has a mechanical lever; press-button finder illuminator on the right of the mount

Serial-range notes

red flash-ready LED
ImagingPixel reports that later bodies with a red flash-ready LED in the finder, in place of the original green one, carry a revised circuit that cured the battery drain with a dedicated flash mounted. One source, and no serial number for the change.

Specifications

Format
24×36mm on 35mm film, hinged back
Finder
Fixed eye-level pentaprism, interchangeable focusing screens changed through the mount; LCD bar of shutter speeds on the left, program and over-exposure indicators, compensation marker, flash LED, illuminator button with a 10-second limiter. · 0.86× magnification · 97% coverage · no rangefinder image
Shutter
horizontal-travel cloth focal plane, electronically timed, the OM-4 mechanism without its 1/2000; B and 1/60 work mechanically with no battery · Auto and program: about 60s to 1/1000, stepless. Manual: B, 1s – 1/1000 on the ring around the mount · flash sync X at the fixed hot shoe and PC socket; TTL off-the-film flash through the shoe contacts and the front socket for TTL Auto Cord T · self-timer
Film advance
single-stroke lever, 150° throw, or several short strokes
Back
hinged, removable; takes Recordata Backs 1–4 and the 250 Film Back 2
Meter
One silicon cell at the base of the mirror box for everything, fed for the pre-exposure reading by a secondary mirror behind the semi-silvered main mirror as on the OM-3 and OM-4. Auto and program: TTL off-the-film, centre-weighted, EV -6.5 to 18 at ASA 100 with an f/1.2. Manual: spot only, about 2% of the frame inside the central microprism collar, EV 1.5–17, read against the LCD bar; no centre-weighted reading in manual. ASA 12–3200, compensation ±2 EV. Two 1.5V silver-oxide SR44 (EPX76) cells.
Motor drive
Motor Drive 1, Motor Drive 2, Winder 1, Winder 2 — 3.5 frames a second with Motor Drive 1 or 2 at 1/500 and above; Motor Drive 2 will advance to the first frame after loading but will not power-rewind on this body.
Weight
540 g
Dimensions
136 × 84 × 50 (W × H × D), body only, from the 1985 Olympus brochure data mm
Country
Japan
Original price
72,000 yen body only, October 1984 (Olympus's own museum page for the OM-2SP) (today ¥95,000)
Accessories
Motor Drive 1 and 2 · Winder 1 and 2 · T32 and T20 flashes on the fixed Shoe 4 · TTL Auto Cord T · Recordata Backs 1–4 · 250 Film Back 2

What reviewers say

History

The OM-2 Spot/Program is an OM-4 sold as an OM-2. By 1984 Olympus had the OM-3 and OM-4 in production on a new body casting with a single silicon cell in the floor of the mirror box, a secondary mirror to feed it, an LCD in the finder and a 1/2000 shutter, and the OM-2n of 1979 was the odd one out on the line. The Spot/Program put the OM-4’s mechanism and castings under OM-2 badges, took the top speed back to 1/1000, dropped the multi-spot memory in favour of a single spot reading available only in manual mode, and added the thing no single-digit OM had yet offered, a program mode in which the body sets both aperture and shutter speed. Olympus’s museum page dates it to October 1984 at 72,000 yen for the body, cheaper than the OM-2 had been nine years earlier. It was OM-2S Program in the United States, Spot/Program everywhere else, and black was the only finish.

What the buyer gets over an OM-2n is the mechanical 1/60 and B, which work with the cells flat; a fixed hot shoe and a front socket for the TTL cord in place of the removable shoes; film speeds to ASA 3200; an electronic self-timer that lifts the mirror early; a basic degree of sealing; and the illuminated LCD bar in place of the needle. What the buyer gives up is finder size, 0.86× against 0.92×, and motor drive speed, 3.5 frames a second against 5. The manual-mode meter is the trap. It reads about 2% of the frame inside the microprism collar and nothing else, there is no centre-weighted reading in manual at all, and anyone who meters a whole scene with it as if it were an OM-2 will get exposures that look random.

The camera’s reputation rests on its batteries. With a dedicated flash on the shoe the circuit draws on the camera’s two SR44 cells even at rest, and both reviewers read here have learnt to take the cells out between outings. ImagingPixel reports that later bodies, identifiable by a red flash-ready LED in the finder where the first ones had green, carry a revised circuit that cured it; that is one source and no serial number, and it is flagged as such. Julian Higgs also reports an advance lever that stiffens as a roll goes on and a body that has needed a repairer.

Checking one: the LCD should light and time out, the 1/60 and B settings should fire with the cells removed, the finder illuminator button on the right of the mount should work, and the flash LED colour is worth noting for the reason above. Olympus published no production figure, and the camera is the least common of the OM-2 family and, on ImagingPixel’s account, sells for about half the price of an OM-2 or OM-1.

Expand Collapse

This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.

Photographs

Olympus OM-2 Spot/Program
Olympus OM-2 SP — Martin Taylor, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.5)
Olympus OM-2 Spot/Program
Olympus OM-2 Spot/Program with the back open, showing the metering pattern on the first shutter curtain — Steve Martin, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Olympus OM-2 Spot/Program
Olympus OM-2SP with a finger grip — Swan481972, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $180 across 22 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-18 (middle half $130–$220). First day tracked.

Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.

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Listings updated 2026-09-18. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Related: Olympus OM-1 · Olympus OM-10 · Olympus OM-2 · Olympus OM-2000 · Olympus OM-3 · Olympus OM-4

Lenses for this body: Zuiko 100mm f/2 · Zuiko 35mm f/2 · Zuiko 50mm f/1.2 · Zuiko 50mm f/1.4 · Zuiko 50mm f/2 Macro · Zuiko 90mm f/2 Macro

Sources (8)

Every page here is assembled from public sources, and the gaps are real ones. If you own this camera, know a serial number I'm missing, or can see where I have it wrong, tell me — corrections, serials and sample photos are all worth having.