In Memoriam: My Olympus OM-1

Though I'm always after my wife for saving too much stuff, in fact I have the same problem. One thing that's been particularly hard for me to get rid of is my first good camera, a compact SLR called an Olympus OM-1. My attachment to the Olympus, a device which has long since outlived its usefulness, has to do not just with the many events it has helped me capture over the years, but to its own adventures while not under my control.

I can date the camera by the first photos I took with it—I...