A Compact Comeback, And The Half-Frame Format

Compact Comeback: A quick look at image making with a vintage compact, the Olympus VR-370, held vertically to shoot in the half-frame format.

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As we are seeing the strong comeback for compact and pocketable vintage digital point-and-shoot cameras, or digicams, compelled by the interest among younger generation of digital camera shooters, we are also seeing the prompts for a very modern compact half-frame digital camera with a fixed focal length lens and a vertically oriented sensor, designed for the fun and the experience of shooting with half-frame film cameras.

For a fraction of the cost, a vintage digicam, held vertically to capture images in the 3:4, or half-frame format, can also be equal to the task, fitting the bill for both, without the need to break the bank.

My constant on-the-go companion, for this example, is a compact point-and-shoot travel-zoom, the 16MP CCD Olympus VR-370, fitted with a 24-300mm equivalent 12.5 x optical zoom lens, introduced by Olympus in 2013. The specifically compact ultra-zoom, known for its extended zoom capabilities, compact size, and decent imagery, comes in a range of models that include the VR-310, VR-320, VR-330, and VR-340. The series was in production from around 2011 to 2013.

Functionalities of the VR-370, as mentioned earlier, include the 24-300mm equivalent 12.5 x optical zoom lens, a 16MP CCD sensor, Built-in Flash, Dedicated One-Touch Video Button, Dual Image Stabilization, Ergonomic Grip Design, and 3.0-inch LCD with Anti-Glare Technology. Exposure capability includes Program, Intelligent Auto, Beauty, Scene, Magic (Filter), and Panorama features.

Images in the 3:4 aspect ratio (or the half-frame mode) are also referred to as the portrait format. The image is 3 units wide by 4 units tall, a derivative format for most digicams, which are normally fitted with 4:3 landscape image sensors. When the camera is held vertically, the image equates to the 3:4 aspect. The image format, a natural choice for mobile photography enthusiasts, is equally significant in social media content creation, as it allows photos to appear exactly as shot without cropping.

An additional functionality of the camera is the ability for the camera's battery to be charged on board, i.e., with the battery still mounted in the camera, via a multi-use USB (CB-USB7) cable. A very convenient concept, no doubt, as it eliminates the need to have a charger on hand all the time and allows for the replacement of the USB cable at a lower cost if both the cable and charger are missing from the kit.

Olympus VR-370

Time to make the choice you wouldn't want to miss out on, to satisfy your craving for a simple, reliable reach and creative versatility in a (retro-styled) compact with its CCD sensor and video capabilities that reflects the technology of the 2010s, and in-camera features and effects that still appeals to vintage digital enthusiasts and nostalgia travelers alike.

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Olympus VR-370, Contre-jour

Compact Comeback: Images with a 16MP CCD Olympus VR-370, a vintage travel zoom, on an early morning street shoot, ala a contre-jour.

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Shooting contre-jour, with the sun behind the subject, picking reflections off windscreens and shop fronts, and a frontal under the bright glare of the Golden hour - a few early morning shots from around the commercial enclave adjacent to our local weekend farmer's market. The term is derived from French, which means 'against daylight,' and refers to a photographic and artistic technique where the light source is positioned behind the subject being viewed or photographed.

The result is a particular visual effect characterized by strong contrasts between light and dark, often creating silhouettes and emphasizing the subject's shapes and lines.

Before its use in photography, contre-jour was used in painting, where shadows would fall forward toward the lower center of the frame, either to the left, right, or center. The effect usually hides details, creates a stronger contrast between light and dark, silhouettes, and emphasizes lines and shapes.

As for the camera, the Olympus VR-370, launched by Olympus in 2013, is a point-and-shoot travel zoom with a 16MP CCD sensor, a 12.5x optical zoom lens (24-300mm equivalent), backed by a 460k-dot resolution 3.0-inch LCD with anti-glare technology. The camera features a built-in flash, an easy-to-use zoom and menu control, an ergonomic grip design, a dedicated one-touch video button, and Dual Image Stabilization to reduce the effect of camera shake.

Shooting modes include scene selection for Sunset, Fireworks, Candlelight, Beach, and Sport. When used in iAuto mode, the camera will adjust the camera's settings to match the scene optimally. Other features available include Face Detection, which recognizes when you are shooting people and automatically adjusts the camera for the ideal portrait exposure.

Olympus VR-370

AF Tracking follows a moving subject, like a pet or a child, and constantly adjusts focus and exposure so the camera has the correct settings when you are ready to shoot. Magic Art Filters adds special effects like Soft Focus, Watercolor Effect, and Fish Eye, while Beauty Mode applies Photoshop-like enhancements to your portraits, softening shadows and smoothing wrinkles.

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Olympus VR-370, Kampar Drive-Through

Compact Comeback: A Sunday detour along the main street of Kampar, Perak, a township between Ipoh and the capital city of Kuala Lumpur.

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The short trip we planned for a drive up North to Perlis and back to Kuala Lumpur on a recent weekend went smoothly on the way up, but turned out to be rather sour for the return leg. Traffic on the North-South Highway was already filling up as we left Penang, and by the time we passed Ipoh, it was already a bottleneck. Waze advised us to take a detour, which we did, but traffic along the alternative route was just as heavy, if not just as bad.

The detour took us right through the main street of Kampar, the main one within the Kinta Valley tin mining region, which was at its height during the industry boom of the late 1880s. Aside from the unending stretch of pass-through traffic, the town (on a Sunday) is otherwise a forlorn sight, with hardly anybody around along the whole stretch of the main road. Shophouses look derelict, some abandoned, while the five-foot ways are dirty and unkempt.

Olympus VR-370

I used the 2013 vintage 16MP CCD Olympus VR-370, a low-cost buy on the auction market, for the shoot and some other shots during the trip. The camera has Dual Image Stabilization to compensate for the image blurring and camera shake, a 12.5X optical zoom lens with a 35mm equivalent of 24-300mm lens, and a 3.0-inch LCD with 460k-dot resolution, enough to keep me occupied and elated with not being the driver for the whole trip, and with images from the CCD sensor that speaks for itself.

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Olympus VR-370, The Second Link

Compact Comeback: Images of the Jambatan Sultan Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah, a 24-kilometer-long second bridge linking Penang Island.

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Driving down the North-South highway from Perlis back to Kuala Lumpur, after our short holiday recently, gives us the opportunity for a quick drive-through tour of Penang Island, ingressing the island via the first cross-channel Penang Bridge from Prai to the USM Interchange, a quick run-around and a 'Nasi Kandar' lunch in the city center, and doubling back past the USM interchange to egress the island via the Sultan Abdul Alim Muazzam Shah Bridge, which crosses over from Batu Maung to Bandar Cassia (Batu Kawan) in Seberang Perai on the mainland.

Locally referred to as the Second Link, the bridge was opened in 2014 and has a distance span of  24 kilometers, making it the longest in Malaysia and the second longest in Southeast Asia, next only to the 30 kilometers Sultan Haji Omar Ali Saifuddien Bridge, or the Temburung Bridge, in Brunei, which was opened in 2020. The bridge crosses Brunie Bay to connect mainland Brunei to the semi-exclave of Temburong. It was a bright and sunny day, with plenty of cloud cover, and the panoramas across the bridge were fantastic.

Olympus VR-370

These images were shot on the 12.5x Optical Zoom 16MP CCD Olympus VR-370 travel zoom, which is a palm-sized digital camera, compact enough to slip into your shirt pocket or a small purse, looking none too obvious. Post-processing and cropped frames were done on Olympus Workspace.

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Olympus VR-320, Home Clutter

Compact Comeback: Image making with the Magic Art Filter in Drawing mode on the 14MP CCD Olympus VR-320.

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Another set of Drawing mode images rendered by the Magic Art Filter suite on the 14MP CCD Olympus VR-320, a vintage compact travel zoom introduced by Olympus in 2010. The camera is fitted with an Olympus-made 24-300mm F3.0~5.9 equivalent zoom lens, 720p HD recording, image stabilization, Olympus's Magic filters, an HD output, and a 3.0-inch fixed-type LCD display aside from Program Auto and IAuto (Intelligent Auto) exposure modes which will automatically select the correct scene mode from a subset of either Portrait, Landscape, Night + Portrait, Macro, or Sports.

Olympus produced the multicolored video-capable VR digital compact camera series, which includes the VR-310, VR-320, VR-330, VR-340, VR-350, and VR-370 between 2011 to 2013. These cameras are fitted with CCD sensors and wide optical zoom lenses ranging from 14MP/10x optical zoom for the 310 to 16MP/12.5x optical zoom for the 370.

Olympus VR-320

Exposure modes include Intelligent Auto, which sets the camera settings automatically based on commonly used scenes that include Portrait, Landscape, Night Scene, Night Portrait, Sport, Indoor, Candle, Self Portrait, Sunset, Fireworks, Cuisine, Text, Beach & Snow, and Pet. For added creativity, these cameras were also supplied with a range of Magic Filters - Pop Art, Pin Hole, Fish Eye, Drawing, Soft Focus, Punk, and Sparkle. The Home Clutter images in this post are created by setting the image exposure to the Drawing option of the Magic Filter set.

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Olympus VR-370, People and Places

Compact Comeback: Image making with the Magic Art Filter in Drawing mode on the 14MP CCD Olympus VR-370.

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I was out and about in the city, trying to capture the essence of the city, which is ushering in the CNY 2024 spirit. Still, it looks like I ended up in the wrong location at a place that looked staid and stale with its own itinerary of events and the spirit they are celebrating. Sad, as it all seems unreal that, in these days and times of celebrative entrepreneurship, I could still find such a city spot that could not motivate or incentivize itself to the prospect of having strong economic returns by organizing and promoting recurring celebrative events.

I had fun, though, instead of doing another shoot for the 'CCD Resurgence' series, going for the special effect Magic Art Filter, in Drawing mode, on the 2013 vintage point-and-shoot Olympus VR-370, a small and compact 16MP CCD travel zoom category camera. The mode represents an image in a line art or line drawing form against a (usually plain) background without gradations in shade or hue, usually done in monochromatic. The location, just as well, was perfect for the people and the place to watch.

The VR-370, almost the perfect CCD vintage collectible, is a stand-out with its 12.5x optical zoom lens and a 24mm equivalent super wide-angle start that extends out to a 300mm reach. The camera has iAuto, Scene selections, Face Detection, AF Tracking, Magic Art Filters, and Beauty Mode.

Olympus VR-370

The camera is also supported by Shadow Adjustment Technology for a more uniform exposure across the image, and by Dual Image Stabilization that combines Sensor-Shift Image Stabilization with high ISO sensitivity to compensate for the image blurring due to camera shake.

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Panasonic Lumix DMC-S5, A Refresher

Compact Comeback: Image making with the 16MP CCD Panasonic Lumix DMC-S5.

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A break for me, and a quick dash out of the door. I am taking this opportunity of this pre-scheduled post for a quick refresher on one of my favorite CCD sensor cameras, the ultra-compact 16MP CCD Panasonic Lumix DMS-S5 that I have been using as a product shoot camera for my sideline hustle. As you see with these refreshed images, the camera is equally competent as an external use camera or an occasional close-up agent.

The choice, though, was not automatic, as I went through a selection of digitals to replace the aging E-520 that I had been using for a few years. The Panasonic DMC-S5, introduced in 2012, is a follow-up of the DMC-S series, including the DMC-S1 (2011), DMC-S3 (2011), and DMC-S2. The camera was updated with a new and higher-resolution image sensor, an updated autofocus system, a modest improvement in battery life, a reduction in burst-shooting speed, and an updated software package.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-S5

The lens, as found on the DMC-S5, was the same Lumix DC Vario 4x optical zoom with an aperture opening of F3.1~9.0 at the short end, and F6.5~f/20.0 at the other. The camera also features a true optical image stabilization system, a 2.7-inch 230,000-dot resolution LCD display, and a 23-point multi-area autofocus system, which includes a single-point focusing mode and face detection. ISO sensitivity is rated from 100 to 1,600, expandable to 6,400 in High Sensitivity mode. Shutter speeds are from 8 seconds to 1/1,600 seconds.

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