Body group       OM-40 Program (US: OM-PC)

The OM-40 Program is not a further extension of the OM-30. There are no In-Focus indicators and there is no dedicated support for an AF lens. Instead, based on the OM-20, it adds other things that are probably of more interest for most photographers. The two most important new features are TTL flash control (a function already available in the OM-2, but that was stripped from the OM-10) and ESP metering. ESP stands for Electro-Selective Pattern and is an early form of matrix metering that works with two zones. The centre and the edges of the picture are measured independently, and when big differences in EVs are found, the exposure is corrected. This can protect the photographer from notorious traps like dark dressed, not frame-filling persons standing in front of white walls. Other features that were new compared to the OM-20 is an extended ASA range (up to 3200 instead of 1600), Program exposure (the same as on the OM-2SP) and overridable DX-decoding that reads the film speed from the cassettes.
When you activate all new features and remember to stop down the lens well enough in order for the Program mode to select small apertures when needed, all the photographer has to do is frame, focus and shoot, and in most cases the picture will be properly exposed. There's nothing wrong with this approach. Many, if not most pictures don't really depend on a delicated and carefully selected combination of shutter speed and aperture. As long as the combination makes a "proper" exposure in most cases correct focusing and framing are more important and in some cases also the moment of exposure, "the decisive moment". It must be said however that Program mode certainly is not the most recommended mode for TTL flash exposure. The Program will always select the same aperture: three stops from maximum aperture, and for very short or very long distances this probably will be wrong.
The OM-40 was only available in black.

Main specifications