A few months ago, I was browsing a local pawn shop hoping to find something interesting.
Looking thru the used cameras behind their counter, I spotted an old Olympus 35mm film camera and with no second thoughts decided it needed a home. I ended up spending 25 dollars on a OM-1 with a 50mm f1.8 Olympus Zuiko lens. I was happy as hell, it is hard to find a used one with the original Zuiko lens, much less one still in good shape. Time isnt kind to lenses, especially since the advent of digital, people tend not to be as nice to them, I am assuming because they didn’t come with the digitial they think they will never use them again and let them get dusty, dirty, scratchy and OMG fungus even grows in some of them.
When I was a kid I loved taking pictures, what kid with a camera didn’t want to be a National Geographic Photographer
I still would love to be in National Geographic, who knows it might actually happen one day, even if it is just me throwing one of my prints into a magazine LOL. I actually started out shooting with cameras that used 110 film cartridges and some where around here I have my grandfathers old one. Recently, I had developed some film that I had shot over the course of a few weeks. In November I took part in a couple of days of workshops by the Illustrious Jeremy Saffer, learning how to use continuos light, LED tubes and spots with assorted modifiers, altho geared towards those of us in the digital age, I brought along my OM-1 and took a couple shots. Not as easy to shoot with a camera that your really not familiar with.
B&W Film ASA800 I forgot what the film type or the shutter speed was
After getting back some film that I had shot, on 25 year old film that had been sitting around gathering dust in my office for at least the last 10 years, not all the pictures came out on the film but of the ones that did I really liked a couple of them and it has reignited a passion for photography that had been starting to wane. The question tho is can I do alot of what I love doing with My OM Systems OM-1 MKll digital camera and how much is it going to cost me. Right now, I am paying on average 10 dollars a roll for color film then another 10 to 15 a roll to get it purchased, then up to a week wait before I get to see if I got the shot right. I miss the days of the one One Hour Film Developing Kiosks lol. So I have been looking into developing it on my own and it actually looks simple enough. It looks like it will be at the most a 300 dollar intial investment and it will be enuff to do up to 20 rolls of film, then maybe 30 bux more for more chemicals. Then invest a little more into a negative scanner and I will be golden.
This wasn’t shot using film, but on my digital camera and is what I want to try with the film cameras. I have been enjoying shooting long exposure photography for awhile now and I really want to see how I can do it using the methods that my photography predecessors used. The other thing I am wanting to try is Astrophotography. Things like star trails and getting shots of the Milky Way. I have found a couple of videos on Youtube and a couple of blog posts on shooting long exposure photography on film. At least I now know where the bulb setting on our digitals come from now. Fortunately, I do have the remote cable to be able to do this.
This picture I took at the Jeremy Saffer workshop I was at in November (if you ever get the chance to take one, take it!!). I took a couple of behind the scenes shots and when I had a turn with the Fantastic Model Kate Monahan (who was cosplaying as her favorite Anime/Manga character Misa Amane from “Death Note”) I was able to snap a picture of Kate, and to be honest, I like it just a tad bit more then the digital images I captured that afternoon. Fortunately, where I get my film developed they scan the negatives and send them to me via email. You dont have as much control over the image like you would with a raw file, but that is part of the joy of film. In my research on how to go about doing the things I already do with digital, I discovered I can use the same flash trigger for my film camera that I use for my digital. That is going to be a game changer for using the old stuff with the new flashes.
I started using Olympus about 15 years ago when I got a E-520 and a couple of lenses.
Over the last 15 years between friends and family, and my own interest in getting back into film photography I have developed quite the collection of old cameras. 35mm cameras, Polaroid cameras, 110 cameras and even movie cameras, What I have decided to use and play with are the old Olympus 35mm Cameras, specifically the OM-1 and the OM-10. I was able to get these really cheap, one of them at a pawn shop for 25 dollars and a couple of lenses I was able to pick up at one of my local camera shops for only 30 dollars. Imagine that…. Full Frame photography for less then 50 bux with a variety of lenses that are covering 24mm to 200mm. The other things I will need like neutral density filters, star trackers, tripods, camera bags, I already have.
I have a couple of things I am working on right now, keep an eye right here. I will be keeping you all up on what I am doing with this project. Milky Way season is here, a partial solar eclipse is coming and I am debating a new lens or new lighting. I may also have a date with a young woman who is actually willing to get in front of my camera, again lol. Stay Tuned!
