As I’ve mentioned a few times recently, I’ve been trying to resist the urge to buy any new used cameras until I become more familiar with the cameras I already own. Especially now during the pandemic when I’m going out less, I feel like getting anything new would keep me from really enjoying what I already have.
For some of my cameras, too much time passes between uses. An example of this is my Olympus Pen-EE which I bought last November and have taken only one roll with it. However, I recently loaded a roll of Kodak Gold 200 in it and took pictures around our neighborhood.
On the whole, I think my results from that last roll turned out better. Not sure if that was because of the film–last time I used Fuji Color 200–or if that was because of the difference in light. The previous roll was taken during the winter and this current roll during the summer. I say that because many of the images are overexposed, and the brighter daylight could have contributed to that.
Regardless of the quality of any individual image, the Olympus Pen-EE is fun to use. Considering I get 72 pictures from a 36 frame roll, I am less fussy about what I’m taking pictures of (which could also have contributed to the uneven results).
One thing I need to remember is its closest focusing distance isn’t very close at all. Even pictures taken at 3 or 4 feet away were out of focus.
I thought I had an idea when I started the roll how the images would pair up, but I was incorrect. There must have been an additional frame I needed to take while loading. But part of the fun of a half-frame camera is not always knowing how the pictures will align which leads to some pleasant surprises.
Despite the issues with overexposure and some out of focus images, many photos from this roll turned out pretty good with some interesting pairs.
Of course, the rest of the roll had mixed results.
There are a couple of things I want to try with this camera.
For these first two rolls, I have used its automatic setting. I can adjust its aperture but, for some reason, that’s associated with using a flash. The shutter fires at either 1/40 or 1/200 so I would need to account for that when metering. I’m curious if trying to make some of these adjustments myself could correct some of the overexposure issues.
I would also really like to try this camera with black and white film, and I hope to try that soon.
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