Analog Diary, Moments

Olympus Pen EE-S, D.Zuiko 28mm f/3.5

Analog Diary, Moments

'Nostalgic moments with the Olympus Pen EE-S and a roll of expired film'

Moments brings me back to my favorite hangout where I frequent when selling used and vintage 35mm film cameras, manual focus lenses, and other film camera accessories. It was a fast-food joint down the mall located a ten minutes drive from where I live. It has been a while since, and sad to say, the joint is no more, it's lease being taken over by another franchise.

Those were the days, enjoyed my time there, and with the half-frame Pen EE-S, a fixed focus point-and-shoot camera with a 28mm f/3.5 lens with a shutter speed of 1/60 second, images to reminisce the moments. These images were tweaked on the Olympus Viewer 3 (OV3) for Auto Tone Correction, Tone Curve, Brightness & Contrast, Hue & Saturation, Sharpness & Blur, and Noise Reduction.

The Pen EE-S is a bit of a gem, and a true classic, easily recognized by the selenium meter window around the lens. It is well built, feels solid and robust, fits snugly in the palm of your hand, and has a very quiet shutter that is hardly audible beyond a short distance. Shooting and working both the film advance and the shutter release with one hand is as easy as eating a pie.

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Analog Diary, Shooting Hipster Style

Olympus XA 1, D.Zuiko f/4 35mm

Analog Diary, Shooting Hipster Style

'In the park, shooting hipster style with the point-and-shoot Olympus XA1'

Took the Olympus XA1, and a roll of Fujifilm Superia X-tra 400 for an out and about in the park recently, did the shots hipster style and was very excited at what I saw of the scanned images that came back from the lab.

On the XAI, which comes with a fixed focus f/4 lens, you do not have to worry about focusing on everything is sharp beyond 1.5 meters. Along with the minuscule size of the viewfinder, which I sometimes fret about, I find it better to compose the right mix of form and space, light and shadows with the naked eye, rather than the viewfinder, and trust that the camera is pointing and capturing the right scenario as I am looking at.

Shooting hipster style is straight shooting with the camera at your hips (waist high), without prior framing or composing the image through the viewfinder, more or less a guesstimate shot. Doing it is pretty easy actually.

All you have to do is to first pick your vantage point, hold the camera level and horizontal at hip height with both hands, frame the composition physically with your eyes and body movement, press the shutter with your right thumb, and you are done.

This is the technique I use instead of going down on my knees every time I want to grab a hip level shot.

Image tweaks on the Olympus Viewer 3 (OV3) include edits in Auto Tone Correction, Tone Curve, Color Balance, Sharpness & Blur, and Unsharp Mask. I left Hue & Saturation untouched for this batch of images.

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Analog Diary, Curated Colors

Olympus Pen EF, D.Zuiko f/3.5 28mm

Analog Diary, Curated Colors

'Post-processed colors of expired film images on a half-frame Olympus Pen EF'

Had this roll of shots taken with the 35mm half-frame Olympus Pen-EF scanned but was left lounging on the Olympus Viewer 3 (OV3), my image management and editing software suite, for quite a while.

Images from the expired roll of color negative film looked rather pale with muted washed-out colors. Though I have a go at it and see how far I can curate the images to make it a bit more vibrant, loud, glaring, or something like that.

The Olympus Pen EF, 1981, was the last of Olympus Pen half-frame cameras. It was produced only in black, with white lettering, and had a small built-in flash which is powered by a single AA battery. The lens is a fixed focus G Zuiko 28mm f/3.5 lens with a focal range from 1.4 meters to infinity, coupled to an electric-eye (EE) programmed lens shutter mechanism range from F3.5-1/30 sec. to F22-1/250 sec. Takes 72 shots on a standard 36-exposure 35mm film cassette.

Curating these JPEG images on Olympus Viewer 3 (OV3) includes the use of Tone Correction, with its strength adjusted manually; very high contrast on the Brightness & Contrast tool, same with color saturation on the Hue & Saturation tool; sharpened with the Sharpness & Blur, Unsharp Mask, and Noise Reduction tools. The images look pretty strong now. I will probably tone it down later for consistency of colors across my image folio.

For Sale: 35mm Half Frame Cameras

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Analog Diary, Going Ultra-Wide Angle #II

Olympus OM-2SP, Zuiko MC Auto-W f/3.5 21mm

Analog Diary, Going Ultra-Wide Angle #II

'A walk in the park with the Zuiko Auto-W 21mm f/3.5 ultra-wide angle lens, Part II'

The walk down the meandering path of the park gives me the opportunity to grab a few shots which show how well the lens can be adapted to a couple of genres I mentioned above.

When focusing is set to hyperfocal range, the 92° angle of view of the Zuiko 21mm f/3.5 does not only grabs them all in but also places them equally in focus throughout the depth of field.

Aside from being the recommended option for landscape photography, you can also use ultra wide angle lenses for architectural interiors, near-far relationships, group shots in tight spaces, street shooting sidewinder style (shooting from the hips), and people watching. Images were post-processed on the desktop image manager and editor, Olympus Viewer 3 (OV3), and tweaked for Auto Tone Correction, Brightens & Contrast, Hue & Saturation.

• Analog Diary, Going Ultra-Wide Angle #I

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Analog Diary, Images On Expired Film #II

Olympus Pen EE-S, D.Zuiko 28mm f/3.5

Analog Diary, Images On Expired Film #II

'Unexpected and surreal colors of images captured on expired film, as captured on the Olympus Pen EE-S'

It will be quite a hard sell trying to visualize the outcome of your shots with expired films, just be ready to expect the unexpected. Expired films may be fogged, have decreased sensitivity and contrast, increased grain, color shifts, and reduced saturation that may range from muted colors to extreme desaturation affecting a specific color.

No two rolls of expired film will produce the same results either, as each degrades and warps differently. Even so, expired films can still surprise you with unexpected imaginary. Color shifts, foggy and fuzzy images lacking in sharpness, may provide a vision of the surreal, an option you may not get at all with fresh and current films.

Give yourself a go and you may end up on a high. Sourcing for stocks of expired film, however, may not be easy, as they are not as easily available as expected.

• Analog Diary, Images On Expired Film #I

For Sale: 35mm Half Frame Cameras

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Resource Links:
A Guide to Shooting Expired Film
Why Shoot Expired Film? - Japan Camera Hunter