Gear, mono, PEN F, People, Photography

Old School Glass

I’ve been experimenting with a vintage lens I acquired with an OM2 film camera, and an OM to M34 lens adapter – both purchased from the tip shop – strapped to my favorite ever camera, the Olympus Pen-F.

Mmm, both could do with a dust! lol. Taken with my phone.

The following images are jpegs straight from the camera, absolutely uncropped and unedited except for size reduction and watermark. – I didn’t even sharpen them or adjust the levels, I rarely do this, much of my creative control is in editing, I love to draw out detail!

Benny’s eyes tack sharp!

The 2016 Pen-F is such a great camera to handle and use. All metal and leather, it feels like an old-school film camera, except it isn’t. No longer made, it has become collectable and the most creative camera I have ever used, with the colour dial on the front giving you easy access and so much control over each shot. I tend to slow down and think about the end result more, which sometimes requires planning ahead for the subject.

Water-fern, two different exposures.

The lens is an Olympus OM-System 50mm f1.8. It is lovely!! Requires manual focus and the aperture ring is on the very end, making the whole kit feel just wonderfully old-school. It does have a little fungus but fortunately it is not noticeable in the images.

I took the following picturegraphs (pretty sure that’s a word I made up) over a few Salamanca Markets, having fun and getting comfortable using a prime lens around people instead of zooming.

I absolutely love the sharpness – when I nail the focus – and the smooth rendering of the out of focus areas.

I’m an avid camera watcher at the market!

I have my third wedding to shoot in February, so I really need to just play with both my cameras and get super comfortable and familiar with their different controls after a lengthy break. I brought the Pen-F as a backup for my OM1, but seriously, I tend to only grab the OM1 when I need weather-sealing, or high speed/action shots.

Pretty sure this lens will feature heavily at the wedding, even though it’s a bit more of a challenge without any in-camera asists, I just love the results. The couple are getting married at the beautiful Russel Falls in Mt Field National Park, and the reception is at Kingston Beach .. a contrast of locations but I should feel comfortable 😀

An experiment shooting toward the sun.

And yes, it does shoot in colour too at the turn of that front dial – tonight’s lovely sunset – I just had to stop on the way home. Twice! And yes, still unedited 😀

And lastly, some battery tips! If you use multiple batteries, number them and put a rubberband around each after you charge them – so you know which one’s you’ve used. I make a small tag with some tape so they are easier to remove. I started doing this on aftermarket batteries in case they swelled in the camera, but I’ve never had a problem. I also put tape tags on my SD cards 😀

Thanks for visiting, enjoy the world!

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TasView (Tone)

Tone Bacon - Tasmanian photographer. tasview.com

18 thoughts on “Old School Glass”

    1. Thanks John, it’s a lovely camera to use. From 2016 and no longer in production, it’s become a bit of a sought after collectors camera for Olympus users. I was lucky to pick up a near mint one second hand for a reasonable sum after hunting for some time. OM have recently launched the OM-3, which also has the creative colour dial. It’s water-sealed, unlike the Pen-F, but I can’t justify the $$. Maybe in a year or three I’ll see if I can pick up a used one 😀 The image quality is pretty much the same in most situations as the OM-1 I have, even though the upgraded the sensor to a multi-layer one. Thanks for stopping by and commenting, I’m a bit slack at getting back … lots to do in life 😀

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  2. Really enjoyed your article, Tone! I’ve also played around with adapters and vintage glass—especially Olympus OM and Minolta Rokkor lenses. Some of them work beautifully on Micro Four Thirds. If you keep the 2x crop factor in mind, 21mm and 28mm are great choices. A 50mm is fine too, though that already gives you a solid portrait lens.

    I love using these old lenses—there’s just something about the feel—but the extra length they add is the only downside. Still, great article! And that last tip about tagging your batteries and SD cards? Brilliant idea—absolute gold. Thanks for sharing!

    All the best,
    Marc

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    2. Hi Marc,
      I also have a second-hand M4/3 25mm Pana/Leica DG Summilux 1:1.4 prime (50mm equiv.) which is a fantastic lens! I find it a bit short though generally for my style of shooting – I don’t like to get too close 😉 I bought it for a wedding in a low light setting and it preformed well. I also use the 60mm 1:2.8 “macro” as a portrait lens, which works wonderfully but that’s almost too long. For versatility, the Oly 12-40mm 1:2.8 Pro zoom covers a lot of ground and is hard to beat, though it is around twice as big and heavier than the other lenses 🙂
      I’m glad you appreciated my tip, it was a last minute inclusion.
      Thanks for the comment.

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    1. Thanks Joy,
      I am so fortunate to have landed where I have and appreciate life so much! I would love to have more time to enjoy, capture and share the beauty I experience, unfortunately it doesn’t pay the bills 😉 I’m happy to be back out photographing again when I get the chance and hopefully start posting more regularly again, now I’ve settled into my new house 😀
      Thanks for your comment and for helping to motivate me!

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    1. Indeed Ted, nearly all my gear is second-hand, and I find the “lesser” non-pro lenses to be lighter, smaller and just as capable in most situations. The 14-150mm II is my all-round favorite lens.
      Though the OM-1 is more advanced than the Pen-F, to me it feel plastic and cheap by comparison – not that is cheap or poor quality, it’s just the tactile feel in my hands, though it is arguably more ergonomic. I do find the inbuilt front and rear dials less exposed and more fiddly, and the rather low profile shutter button can be hard to find in the dark, especially when vertical on a tripod, but I take the OM-1 to the beach because of the weather-sealing 😀
      Looking forward to finding a used OM-3 for a more reasonable price down the track, it seems like it might be a great compromise between the two!

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      1. I will also look at used gear first. We have several web sites that sell only used and have a good way of rating and supporting what they offer.
        BTW, I agree somewhat on the OM-1 (1). The buttons/gears are hard plastic. For nature photos I use the newer OM-1 mk2. Gears and buttons changed for the better.

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      2. That’s interesting re the OM1 II Ted, I didn’t realise it was different aside from the menu button being moved to the right side. There wasn’t anything compelling for me to upgrade from the mk1, it suits my needs and wants for now 😀

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      3. I have both because I always want a backup body when out for any amount of time. I would be unhappy with being in another part of the country, or world, and not have a plan B. In the past it was less worrisome since my wife is a photographer and between us extra ‘of every thing’. Now I need my own ‘stuff’ 😆.

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  7. My bloggy friend, Ed referred me to your site. You do amazing work. All of your photos are outstanding but my favorite is of the two girls looking at their cameras. The photographer photographs photographers. 🙂

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