OM, I've become a Zuikoholic!

[philosomatographer]

Three more that I processed today. I really, really am a zuikoholic... 🙂

First two with Zuiko 35mm f/2.0, last one with Zuiko 21mm f/2.0. The 21mm especially shows extremely consistent performance across the frame for such a wide and fast SLR lens - stopped down, resolution is exemplary right into the corner.

Most impressive of all - to me - is the incredible correction for geometric distortion in both of these lenses - straight lines stay absolutely straight. The Zeiss Distagon 21/2.8, for example, needs strong correction if straight lines are placed close to the edge of the frame (moustache-shaped distortion) - but the Zuiko (which is, admittedly, a little prone to internal reflections, as shown in my last image where the bright afternoon sun was shining directly onto the non-hooded lens) renders a straight and true image.
​

 

[Field]

I bought an OM-2N and traded some Cowboy boots for an 50mm 1.8 (attached to an OM1 I do not care much about). I am excited... Waiting for the OM-2N to arrive!

 

[matthewm]

You can crop and create black borders with a single enlarger. It's very easy (especially with a 4 blade easel) and there are various ways of doing it. Get something like a steel ruler with straight edges and expose thin strips of the paper, i.e. thin strips between the easel blade and ruler. You can even do variations on this theme; like borders of varying thickness, or raising the ruler so that the inner edge of the border is blurred. This is obviously all done after the paper has been exposed and the negative removed from the neg carrier.

With a bit of ingenuity you can even create a black rectangle *outside* the picture area.

When I was in school and had access to a darkroom all the time, a friend of mine and I set up a standard hinged easel, exposed our prints and then used a piece of black mat board cut down to 7.875 x 9.875 and centered it (eyeballed it, really) on the print and then exposed for several seconds (long enough to make a black edge on the outside edge between the mat board and the easel). It crops in ever-so-slightly on your image, but we combatted this by allowing ourselves just a tad bit of cropping room. I did this on some 11x14" prints with .25" borders. Turned out well.

 

[sreed2006]

I cheated; this was taken with a DSLR. But I have a project I've started to learn how to do this with Fuji Acros 100. This is just a test shot to check for lighting, depth of field, and composition. Once I am comfortable with all that, my project is to take pictures of my OM cameras and lenses, using my OM cameras and lenses.

Critiques welcome.


Olympus OM-1n and lenses kit by sreed2006, on Flickr

 

[kosta_g]

I just bought another OM! this time a 1n! so now i have my one and two... that'll be all! it's going to be colour and black and white duo from now. fingers crossed it's a keeper.

i think i'll consider selling my m3 if it is!

 

[tomalophicon]

sreed, where did you get that strap?

 

[spiderfrank]

some other shots: OM-1n, Zuiko 28/2.8, T-Max 400 in HC-110

 

[sreed2006]

sreed, where did you get that strap?

A fellow RFF member, Crazy Fedya, had 8 for sale in the RFF classifieds back in May of this year. I bought 4 of them. They are really nice straps. 😀

 

[sreed2006]

@spiderfrank, I like the first two the most. The exposure, depth of field, and development look fine in all three. In the first two, though, there's more of a sense of scale because of the objects in the photographs.

TMAX 400 in HC-110 looks pretty good. I used HC-110 yesterday on three different types of film (Fuji Acros 100, Kodak 400 TX, and Fuji Neopan 400). Today, I'll scan them and see what I got.

 

[sreed2006]

<snip>... my project is to take pictures of my OM cameras and lenses, using my OM cameras and lenses. ...<snip>

Well - easier said than done - he said in reply to himself.

Errors from poor composition to not enough light during exposure to air bubbles during processing, the first roll of the project will be placed in the circular file. :bang: I am gaining a much better appreciation of the skills and talents of the many fine photographers on this site. 😛

 

[Aurelius]

Well - easier said than done - he said in reply to himself.

Errors from poor composition to not enough light during exposure to air bubbles during processing, the first roll of the project will be placed in the circular file. :bang: I am gaining a much better appreciation of the skills and talents of the many fine photographers on this site. 😛

I tend to use the great Hipstamatic (also) for this purpose.
Some samples:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/99413716@N00/sets/72157627079111534/

 

[sreed2006]

Aurelius, those pictures do look nice. Very creative.

I sense that you may be a Zuikoholic.

Just saying. 🙂

 

[Flat Twin]

Both are great but I especially LOVE the top one shot in the rain... Well done!

Regards,

Simon

Some more contribution to this giant thread from my work, both scanned darkroom prints:

Inner Smile in the Rain

(Kodak TMY400-2, Zuiko 50mm f/1.4 (guess focused while briskly walking), OM-3Ti)

Trash Scourer

(Kodak TMY400-2, Zuiko 135mm f/3.5 (through car window), OM-3Ti)​

 

[Aurelius]

Aurelius, those pictures do look nice. Very creative.

I sense that you may be a Zuikoholic.

Just saying. 🙂

Thanks! It was a form of a mini project.

Zuikoholic indeed yes!!

 

[eklchan90]

Feeling great with my OM-2N + Zuiko 50mm f1.8 MIJ!!!
(By the way, how do I insert pictures within the post?? Please kindly advise..)

 

[Lilserenity]

Feeling great with my OM-2N + Zuiko 50mm f1.8 MIJ!!!
(By the way, how do I insert pictures within the post?? Please kindly advise..)

Love the colour in those, what film was that? Looks a bit Fuji-ish but probably wrong 😉

To insert pictures, well I use Flickr and if you click on the Share button you can get the BBCode to paste directly into here. Otherwise you have to host your pictures on a website somewhere, get the http:// url for those hosted pictures and paste that into the window that pops up when you click the Insert Image button (5th from right 2nd toolbar in post editor)

Vicky

 

[Jockos]

My OM1 light meter is bouncing all over the place, but mostly rests in the bottom position, as if the whole world has gone dark.

Would the battery adapter thing help with this, or should I just get better at estimating light?

 

[eklchan90]

Hi Vicky,

Wow, you are good!! The film that I used was actually Fuji Superia 400. I think this film makes a good match with the Zuiko 50/1.8 mij. Next, I will try to shoot it with Ektar 100 and Portra to see how much the difference is.

Glad you enjoy my pics and thank you for the instructions!

Eric

 

[jarski]

My OM1 light meter is bouncing all over the place, but mostly rests in the bottom position, as if the whole world has gone dark.

Would the battery adapter thing help with this, or should I just get better at estimating light?

IIRC OM1 used older mercury batteries (1.35 volts vs 1.5), unlike later models.

but your symptom of illogical metering and bouncing needle sounds like common with older film bodies: broken light meter. my Nikon FE did just the same. had it fixed once, but sold for parts after problem repeated few years later :bang:

 

[Jockos]

IIRC OM1 used older mercury batteries (1.35 volts vs 1.5), unlike later models.

but your symptom of illogical metering and bouncing needle sounds like common with older film bodies: broken light meter. my Nikon FE did just the same. had it fixed once, but sold for parts after problem repeated few years later :bang:

As I feared then.. Other cameras with mercury batts i had, was easy to fix by turning the ASA to compensate for the higher current, but I've never experienced bouncy needle before.

Was hoping that the OM would be a good camera on the cheap, but with this, I've replaced almost every single component, short of the shutter mechanism.
Scratched matte screen, rotten prism, crumbled light seals, bumpy grip and now a faulty meter..