I am writing this blog especially for Marcus (marcusterrypeddle) who recently read an interview I did with Melvin Mapa and a photo that was featured in the interview appears to have never been blogged about by myself!
I am first of all surprised I never did but I’ve looked through my blogs and cannot find any mention of when I used this film. Perhaps I just forgot at the time as I had a really busy summer in 2018 taking lots of photos.
These photos were taken on my Olympus Pen FT when I first only had one lens for it which was the Zuiko 40mm f 1.4
I visited a classic car show in Stanmer Park along with my friend and we travelled there in her 1965 Mustang.
At the time I posted a lot of the photos on instagram but for anybody not on Instagram, here are some of the photos I took:
I was really pleased with how they had turned out and I was happy that I had chosen the Cinestill 50D Film.
However, I remember at the time feeling frustrated that I only had the 40mm lens as I felt this restricted the amount of car I could really get into each photo. I therefore improvised and did some close up shots of the cars and some of their interiors. I also stood as far back as possible where I was able to, so I could try to fit a whole car into the photo.
It wasn’t long after this that I invested in some other size Zuiko lenses for the camera and I certainly haven’t regretted doing that.
Back in August I attended a photo walk in London organised by the London Camera Project and Kosmo Foto.
The plan for the day was to meet at CitizenM Tower of London Hotel where we would walk around the Tower of London area, then through Wapping, onto the Tower Bridge and Southwark.
What was also exciting about this photowalk was that everyone attending would receive a 35mm roll of Kosmo Foto film. There were also prizes and rewards arranged throughout the walk.
On this particular occasion, I didn’t have anybody to look after my dog, but I desperately wanted to attend this photo walk and thankfully the organisers were happy for me to bring her along.
My dog Daisy and I travelled up to London via the train from Brighton and I’m grateful that I have a pet who is very good at travelling and we have been to London together before on the train so I knew it wouldn’t be a problem. I’m also able to take her on the Underground which is great.
This is Daisy getting settled on the train on our journey up to london (photo taken on my iPhone):
When we arrived at the CitizenM Hotel a little earlier than the official meeting time, it was quite obvious to see who was there for the photo walk because they had camera’s with them. Since I had Daisy with me, I was unable to enter the Hotel, where a lot of people were waiting. However, this was an advantage too because I was able to chat and guide the people who were there for the walk who wasn’t sure where the group was.
Here is a lovely photo of Daisy taken outside the CitizenM Hotel by @lomo_keiko using her Lomo LCA Camera and Lomography 100 film:
Daisy is with me most of the time so I’ve developed a skill in taking photos whilst also holding her lead. This meant that she really wasn’t a problem on the walk.
Thankfully, she proved quite popular with the other photographers attending the walk and I think a few photos were taken by them of her.
I decided for this particular photo walk to take my Olympus Pen FT camera with me. Whilst I was tempted to take my Hasselblad 500 C/M, I knew the Olympus would be the most manageable camera to take photos whilst handling a dog at the same time.
Although we were handed a roll of the Kosmo Foto film, I still had a Cinestill B&W film in this camera from some other event where I took photos and didn’t manage to use up the whole of the film (since it’s 72 frames!) so thought it would be best to use it up on this walk. I also knew I wanted to take black and white photos.
Here are some of the photos from the walk:
Here is a photo of Daisy and I taken by @lomo_keiko using my Olympus Pen FT:
This photo was also taken by @lomo_keiko using her Lomo LCA camera and Kosmo Foto film:
Whilst on the photo walk, we stopped at a couple of pubs along the way and the final one we ended up at was a really nice bar called Hawkes Cidery & Taproom, where further film photography prizes were handed out. They also serve some lovely Pizza’s which I really enjoyed after all that walking!
Needless to say, I had a lot of fun on this photo walk and it was really nice to meet some new people, as well as catch up with some friends I’d made from previous photo walks.
Whilst I wouldn’t normally take Daisy with me on a photo walk, on this particular occasion, because everyone was very accepting of her, it was really nice to have her out with me and I know she loves to visit new places.
Several months ago I purchased a flash shoe accessory which was made specifically for the Olympus Pen FT.
When I initially fitted it onto the camera, I was really worried about it breaking the plastic around the viewfinder (there are many FT’s I’ve seen for sale with broken plastic on their viewfinders due to this particular accessory breaking them) so I was a bit reluctant to use it for a while….
Here is a close up of the viewfinder of the camera:
Here is a close up of the viewfinder with the flash shoe accessory attached:
However, the other week it was a miserable rainy day in Brighton and I desperately needed a photography fix! So I decided to carefully attach it to my camera and try it out at home by taking photos of my pets.
I had previously bought a Mirage 200 flash which I picked up for around £4 on eBay and it came with new batteries in it so that was a bonus! There was also the metal attachment with it in case I wanted to mount the camera on that instead of using the flash shoe accessory which means the flash sits to the side of the camera.
Here is the flash mounted on top of the camera:
I decided to use my 40mm 1:1.4 G.Zuiko Auto-S lens since I thought this would be good for portrait shots of my pets.
In my 35mm film stash, I had some Kodak Portra 160 colour film which, I decided to use for this project.
The Mirage 200 Flash provides an exposure table on the back of it which, suggested that I shoot at an aperture of f/16 if taking photos of around 1 metre (3 foot) away with a film ISO of 100, or it would be f/22 for ISO 200 film.
Since the lens I was using only goes up to f/16, I decided to shoot on that aperture.
I also had problems with the viewfinder being quite dark whilst shooting indoors so I really had to concentrate on getting the focusing right because it wasn’t very clear.
I ended up having to take photos of my pets over a couple of days since there was 72 shots to use up on the roll of film!
Once I got the film back, I was very pleased with the results! The film had exposed really well.
Here are a couple of photos of my dog, Daisy:
Here is one of Daisy next to a cushion which I had printed up and made from a Polaroid photo I took of Brighton Bandstand:
Here are a couple of photos I took of my cats:
These final three photos of my cat, Mr Robinson, made me laugh. I can only think I perhaps wasn’t giving him any more treats for the day!
I would definitely use the lower ISO Portra film again for taking indoor photos as I really liked the colours.
Due to my fear of chipping the plastic viewfinder on the camera, I cannot see me using the flash attachment on a regular basis but it’s good to know I’ve got it for when I do need to take some indoor shots using this camera and I’ll just have to be extra careful when mounting the flash.
I’m a big lover of the Lomography Lomochrome Purple film (since purple is my favourite colour!) and have really liked the results in other cameras I’ve used it in.
I therefore wanted to try it out in my Olympus Pen FT camera. I already knew from trying out the film previously that it worked well with landscapes.
I therefore visited Seven Sisters Country Park in Eastbourne to take some landscape photos and here are some of the results:
I was really happy with the results of the film with the landscape and I managed to achieve the cool purple effect I was after. I wasn’t sure how the pictures of the sheep would turn out but I was pleased with those photos too.
Since the half frame camera has twice as many photos to shoot, I didn’t manage to use up the film whilst at Seven Sisters.
I therefore headed to Brighton Marina and took some more pictures using my 25mm Zuiko lens and also my 150mm Zuiko telephoto lens and here are some of the results:
You’ll see that the film wasn’t nearly as effective as it had been on the landscape shots. I did feel the photos taken at the marina had a vintage feel to them and there is clearly a hint of purple and a lot of the blues on the boats have turned into a green colour.
I also took a couple of photos of the cliffs nearby:
Again, the purple was only really effective on the green parts of the landscape but I did like the effect the film had on the blues of the sky and sea.
I still had a couple more shots of film left to use up (72 exposures goes a long way!), so I decided to head to my local cemetery in Hove and here are some of the results:
I was really pleased with the results of these photos too. I got the purple effect I was after along with a nice contrast of turquoise sky in some of them.
I know I’ll definitely be using this film again when taking landscape shots as I absolutely love the colours it produces.
A few weeks ago my husband and I had a few days off work and on one of the days we decided to have a walk around the lanes in Brighton with our dog.
I needed to pop to one of our local shops, Zoing Image in Sydney Street as I was after some Cinestill 800 film to practice some night time shots using my Pentax K1000 (blog to follow on this).
As well as the unusual film selection that Zoing Image stock, they also sell a selection of second hand cameras. Every time I visit, there are always a new selection of secondhand cameras to choose from so I love to browse.
Whilst my husband isn’t really into photography, he always takes a keen interest in any camera I buy and was extremely fascinated by my Olympus Pen FT half frame camera and the quality of images it produces.
I think this is what led him to noticing the Olympus Pen EE Camera in the cabinet for sale.
He told me he was instantly drawn to the size and grey colour of the camera. Once I explained to him it was an automatic half frame camera he wanted to have a look at it in more detail. He absolutely loved the tiny viewfinder window and the feel of it in his hands so we bought it along with some Kodak Colour Plus 200 35mm film and loaded it in the shop there and then so we could take some photos of our day around Brighton.
In some ways, this camera is similar to the Olympus Trip where a red flasher will pop up in the viewfinder if the image is too bright or dull and won’t expose correctly. This took some getting use to for my husband as he tried to take several shots where this happened.
The film number counts back from 72 to 0. The lens is a D Zuiko f/3.5 (4 element) with a focal length of 28mm.
I already knew the lens would be of good quality from my experience of using Zuiko lenses on my Olympus Pen FT.
A great edition to this camera in the shop was the fact it also came with a UV lens which screwed into the middle of the camera:
The shutter was quite small so could be hard find by feel when taking a picture:
I solved this problem when I got home by adding a metal shutter button which definitely made taking pictures easier:
The camera also came with an Olympus lens cap although I don’t think it’s the original as I think they have EE written on them.
The camera unfortunately didn’t come with the original case or wrist strap but the shop were kind enough to provide me with a small black case which was in great condition. Also I know that the original olympus cases for this camera can deteriorate over time as the plastic outer coating of the case tends to flake off. Thankfully I had a grey wrist strap at home which had originally been for my Panasonic TZ70 digital camera which I’d never used as I prefer to use a leather neck strap with that particular camera. Personally, I would never use a neck strap with the Olympus Pen EE due to it being so lightweight (12.5 ounces).
I’ve also since purchased a skylight filter for the camera which I picked up for a couple of pounds on eBay.
I was surprised how quickly my husband and I were able to get through 72 frames over two days but with a point and shoot style camera I don’t really think so much about the image since it’s automatically focused (unlike my Olympus Pen FT where I spend much more time thinking about the image I’m taking and what lens to use etc).
Here is a little selection of pictures we took:
I got the film developed at Moorfields Photographic in Liverpool as they have the half frame developing equipment which means that each image is exposed correctly rather than a compromise of exposure between two images as would occur at a normal lab with standard 35mm equipment.
Overall I was happy with the quality of the images and was what I expected from the Zuiko lens. I also liked the vintage feel of the photos. The sharpness was a little hit and miss at times since it’s automatic with only one lens type.
I will always prefer my Olympus Pen FT because of the gorgeous crispness I get with that camera along with the variety of lenses I can use for a particular shot.
However, if out and about in a rush and if I’ve only got a little handbag on me during the daytime then I would happily put this little camera in my bag and use it for the day.
It’s also handy for my husband to use when we’re out and about as he’s not so keen on all the time that can be spent perfecting a shot using a heavier SLR Camera 📷