Tag: Olympus

Olympus OM-1 MD

ruminator
This is my recently returned Olympus OM-1 MD with a Zuiko 50mm f/1.4 lens affixed.

Sometime relatively long ago, an old motorcycle friend indicated that he was selling his Olympus 35mm film kit. So, I emailed and asked him what he had and what he wanted for it. His response seemed more than fair so I sent him a check.

This Olympus OM-1 MD was one of the two cameras in the lot. It actually had the motor drive cover in place. (Many of these cameras do not have the cover.) Frank took care of his equipment.

The second body was an OM-2s Program. It actually came with a box and paperwork. There were a few lenses that came with the kit as well.

Back when Steve had his shop in Sparks, my buddy Jimmy and I used to gather there for a visit. Steve took the OM-2s to his bench and checked the meter and shutter. He looked at me, a bit shocked, and said “The meter is right on and so is the shutter. This is scary good!”

We all had a good laugh over it. The OM-1 fared reasonably well, although the meter was off by a full stop. I do not recall if it was under- or over-exposing. It does not matter now.

I picked up the camera from the shelf a few months ago and found the winding mechanism jammed. It would need a repair. So, after a bit of searching, I found John Hermosa, who runs a Zuiko repair shop and sent him an email. The repair would not be cheap, but this is a fine old mechanical camera — about as simple as cameras come.

So, I sent it to him for assessment and responded a week later with a repair bill and asked for payment. I knew it would take a month or two for it to be returned.

It arrived in the mail a couple of weeks ago. I mounted a Zuiko 40mm f/2 pancake lens that I had in my inventory and loaded a roll of film for some testing. When in the field, I noticed that the viewfinder did not brighten up after releasing the shutter. Some investigation revealed that the aperture blades were slow to return to wide open. I saw no oil on the blades, so the mechanism must be fouled.

I emailed Steve, who moved his business to North Dakota a few years ago, but is a trusted technician. I sent the lens to him this morning for cleaning.

That meant my first test roll is probably trash. I have not decided if I will send it for development or not.

This morning I mounted a Zuiko 50mm f/1.4 silver nose on the OM-1 and took it with me on walkies. I shot two-thirds of the 24-exposure roll on my walk with The Girl and will finish it up tomorrow.

The walk was lovely! The temperature has moderated this week and it was 72ºF when we reached the staging area. She was antsy to get out and so was I. There was another vehicle there, so I was watchful. But I saw no dog so let her out.

And off she went!

I donned my pack, which was a little heavier with a few small hand tools I added to the loadout. We headed up the trail. The sun felt good, not oppressive as it has the last couple of months. She had a blast running about hunting chipmunks.

I ran the little camera, using the internal meter. (It is an old-school match needle meter, just like what I learned on.) I made some adjustments by intuition or shot an extra frame with an exposure adjustment.

I can see why a lot of professionals chose these little cameras for their work, especially field correspondents. They are small, handy, have a good viewfinder, and the lenses are good.

I am looking forward to the results of the test roll. The 40mm lens will be a welcome addition to the kit because that is a favorite focal length.

I plan to keep this little camera and a handful of lenses to support it.

it was a good day. Life is good.

A Bit of Fluff

ruminator
I came across this bit of fluff on morning walkies.

I have not written much lately. My time has been consumed by exercise (for me and The Girl), work, and playing a little World of Tanks (in the evenings after work and supper).

The energy used in working has not left much for writing of photography. Yet, I carry the camera along with me on walkies and sometimes find interesting things to capture. The pun title is a reflection of my recent thoughts as well as the disintegrating cattail The Girl and I found on recent walkies.

After experimenting with the Wollensak and Kern-Paillard 16mm movie camera lenses, I decided to retire the Panasonic Lumix G3 and replaced it with an Olympus OMD E-M10 I found on FleaBay. The Olympus was a surprising big upgrade in camera. The build quality is quite a bit better than the Panasonic. Both the rear screen and viewfinder are much better. The camera contains in-body image stabilization, which is the real upgrade for shooting legacy manual focus lenses.

The latter was my reason for upgrading this experimental camera. I have no intention of acquiring a lens system for it, although there are many excellent Micro-4/3s lenses. I might change my mind, but for now I prefer the Fuji glass for APS-size sensors and the Nikkor glass for full-frame.

I’ll probably write more about system decisions later. My system evolved substantially over the last couple of years.

I like the vintage image quality that the 16mm movie camera lenses bring. I have an Angenieux 20-80mm zoom that has an excellent reputation and needs to be used with the Olympus. As the opportunity presents, I’ll probably add a few more vintage movie camera lenses to the collection and use them to create some images.

These lenses are less sharp and bring less contrast than modern lenses. They are mostly 50-years old or more. Optical technology changed quite a lot during that period of time. But they bring an interesting quality to the captures. The results are less sharp, contain less (raw) contrast, and are subject to flare. But they are interesting.

So this will be my area of photographic exploration for awhile. I’m looking forward to working a little less in 2018 and having more time to work on personal projects. That will include writing and photography, which I will share here.

The end of the year approaches. With it will come my annual period of reflection and thoughts for the coming year. Even though there is sadness that Wife is no longer here to share the season, I look forward to remembering the birth of the Christ and the celebration of an ending and a beginning.

Life is good.