last viewed blogs
-
Exploring old railway lines, Sudbury - Clare, Suffolk, Olympus Pen FT, Ilford Delta 100
4
Olympus Pen FT, in my opinion one of the best looking cameras I’ve seen. It was also my first go at using a half frame camera. I bulk load most of my film to cut expense down, but do go one step further and make those rolls last twice as long was too good economically to ignore. Being a half frame camera this means it fits two images on a single slide of standard 35mm, with the viewfinder positioned in a portrait orientation. Thus, making a 36 exp roll of film last for 72 images. This is a huge bonus as it meant I could pick this camera up when leaving the house and rely on it having shots left in it and I was, of course, using less film. However, it does take so long to use up a roll of film if this camera is not your main companion. I use cameras on regular rotation, so it took nearly 8 months to shoot 4 rolls of film using this camera. As I develop film in batches of 4 it did make me lose some connection to the images I took, but also added to the anticipation of which images would come out on the roll. It was also another way of shooting. So switching between this and an RB67 then to an Xpan really fcks with how you start to think about your shot. Which is a fun way to push new ways of shooting. Also the juxtapositioning of images in this dual format is also quite pleasing. If you care enough, I’m sure you could make it so there’s a correlation between shots, but I approached it with a more happy go lucky technique, as I do with all film photography.
Along with the iconic and beautiful design of this camera, the build quality is also excellent. Despite being a very compact size and very portable nature, this camera is built like a brick. (Apart from the flimsy af self timer lever. With every other element of this camera being so sturdy and well built, I have. no idea why. this part is such an anomaly. It may just be my camera, but I have heard other users experience the self timer breaking the mechanics of the shutter altogether.
Another issue, which is more of a small gripe than a deal breaker, is I need to wind the film lever fully and then once again just a touch to reset the shutter properly. I’m also using a double stroke Leica M3 at the moment so it was a similar action, and without a shutter lock, maybe a blessing ins disguise? Either way, this issue is common with the Pen FT, but I haven’t missed a shot because of it, so almost not worth mentioning.
The images produced surprised me with their sharpness with the lens I was using with was the 1.8, 38mm, which may be the equivalent to 50mm in a full frame camera, I may also be talking b/s. The lens was wonderfully sharp and created some pleasant bokeh and seemed to handle a number of lighting situations. Although, I was using a mixture of sunny 16 and a phone metre, as initially I didn’t have the correct batteries until I found a supplier of Wein batteries. Also the metering is strange. The meter measures from numbers 1-8 and corresponds to numbers on the aperture ring of the lens, that. are actually separate to the aperture values themselves. I assume this was to make metering easier for a consumer market, but when you’re using a lens without these numbers (which I was to begin with) the meter is pretty much useless. I have since tried it with. a lens with these numbers on, but am yet to process the results.
Conclusion, an absolutely stunning camera, with excellent build quality. Some small issues and annoying quirks, but these are made null and void with the results and amount you can get out of one roll of film.
0
Olympus Pen FT, in my opinion one of the best looking cameras I’ve seen. It was also my first go at using a half frame camera. I bulk load most of my film to cut expense down, but do go one step further and make those rolls last twice as long was too good economically to ignore. Being a half frame camera this means it fits two images on a single slide of standard 35mm, with the viewfinder positioned in a portrait orientation. Thus, making a 36 exp roll of film last for 72 images. This is a huge bonus as it meant I could pick this camera up when leaving the house and rely on it having shots left in it and I was, of course, using less film. However, it does take so long to use up a roll of film if this camera is not your main companion. I use cameras on regular rotation, so it took nearly 8 months to shoot 4 rolls of film using this camera. As I develop film in batches of 4 it did make me lose some connection to the images I took, but also added to the anticipation of which images would come out on the roll. It was also another way of shooting. So switching between this and an RB67 then to an Xpan really fcks with how you start to think about your shot. Which is a fun way to push new ways of shooting. Also the juxtapositioning of images in this dual format is also quite pleasing. If you care enough, I’m sure you could make it so there’s a correlation between shots, but I approached it with a more happy go lucky technique, as I do with all film photography.
Along with the iconic and beautiful design of this camera, the build quality is also excellent. Despite being a very compact size and very portable nature, this camera is built like a brick. (Apart from the flimsy af self timer lever. With every other element of this camera being so sturdy and well built, I have. no idea why. this part is such an anomaly. It may just be my camera, but I have heard other users experience the self timer breaking the mechanics of the shutter altogether.
Another issue, which is more of a small gripe than a deal breaker, is I need to wind the film lever fully and then once again just a touch to reset the shutter properly. I’m also using a double stroke Leica M3 at the moment so it was a similar action, and without a shutter lock, maybe a blessing ins disguise? Either way, this issue is common with the Pen FT, but I haven’t missed a shot because of it, so almost not worth mentioning.
The images produced surprised me with their sharpness with the lens I was using with was the 1.8, 38mm, which may be the equivalent to 50mm in a full frame camera, I may also be talking b/s. The lens was wonderfully sharp and created some pleasant bokeh and seemed to handle a number of lighting situations. Although, I was using a mixture of sunny 16 and a phone metre, as initially I didn’t have the correct batteries until I found a supplier of Wein batteries. Also the metering is strange. The meter measures from numbers 1-8 and corresponds to numbers on the aperture ring of the lens, that. are actually separate to the aperture values themselves. I assume this was to make metering easier for a consumer market, but when you’re using a lens without these numbers (which I was to begin with) the meter is pretty much useless. I have since tried it with. a lens with these numbers on, but am yet to process the results.
Conclusion, an absolutely stunning camera, with excellent build quality. Some small issues and annoying quirks, but these are made null and void with the results and amount you can get out of one roll of film.
0
命に関わる事件が多かったり、読んだ小説やエッセイのテーマが子供をもつことだったり、友人が出産したりなどして、いろいろ考えてしまう今日この頃。
生きづらい世の中で、夏は暑く、災害も多く、いつか地球は滅亡するのに、わたしが子供が欲しいと思ったら、わたしの一存で産まれてくるであろう子供には選択権がないことが気がかり。
仕事があって、不自由はそれほどなくて、それなりに元気で、好きな人がいて、愛されていて、友達もいるし、楽しいこともあるのに、もしもまだ受精卵になる前に「あなた、産まれたいですか?」って聞かれたら、わたしはたぶん「産まれたくないです」って答えてしまうんじゃないだろうか。
だって世界は喜怒哀楽でまぶしすぎる。
定期的にこんなことを考えて気が滅入る。でも数日すれば笑ったり、怒ったり、泣いたりもする。少しの刺激でこんなことを繰り返す。考え過ぎだと笑われるたびにこんな繊細さはいらないなと思うのに、考えないこともできないらしい。小学生の頃に初めて芽生えた「どうして産まれてくる時には選択肢がなかったのか」という問いについてずっと思い悩む成長のなさ、諦めの悪さ、そろそろうんざりだ。
164
