W/NW: Photos with any Olympus rangefinder

Took my <a href="http://mcfaddenphoto.com/35ecr.htm">Olympus 35 ECR</a href> for

a spin as it has been sitting on a shelf for way too long without seeing any

use.<br>

It was oddly 'liberating' to use a camera with a true rangefinder - but where

you have to abandon any control over what exposure settings to use. You don't

even know what aperture/shutterspeed the camera's built-in meter is selecting so

the photos are somewhat of a surprise when you get them back.

<br>I was curious to see how well the meter would work in various

light-situations so I snapped some both inside as well as outside (in

harsh-light and in shade) - and I was really pleased with the exposure in almost

every shot (granted, the film's latitude surely helped here).

<br><br>Anyone else with some Olympus rangefinder photos?

<br><br>

<center>

#1<br>

<img src="http://www.pbase.com/rsilfverberg/image/69798119.jpg">

<br><br>

#2<br>

<img src="http://www.pbase.com/rsilfverberg/image/69798120.jpg">

<br><br>

#3<br>

<img src="http://www.pbase.com/rsilfverberg/image/69798121.jpg">

<br><br>

#4<br>

<img src="http://www.pbase.com/rsilfverberg/image/69798122.jpg">

<br><br>

#5<br>

<img src="http://www.pbase.com/rsilfverberg/image/69801064.jpg">

<br><br>

#6<br>

<img src="http://www.pbase.com/rsilfverberg/image/69801066.jpg">

</center>

<br><br>

The lens performed really well - especially outdoors. I metered with a handheld

meter when I was shooting inside and even at 2.8 the shutterspeed must had been

at about 1/30 so these photos most likely suffer a bit from camerashake as it's

not the easiest thing to squeeze off the trigger on that camera in a 'smooth'

way.<br><br>

Film was XP2 Super.<br><br><center>

<a href="http://silfver.blogspot.com">Batteries Not Included</a href></center>

Very nice. Wonderfully sharp and well exposed. These Rangefinders are amazing ! I own a Oly 35SP, and am inspired by your posting to go and shoot today. Maybe post some of my own tonite ?

Subhash

rich, your images show up on my monitor with a sepia cast to them. is this due to film type, filter or processing?

<b>Subhash</b>,<br>

thanks and you should - I got some Olympus 35s as well and they are great picture takers. I added some more 'meat' to what I thought about the ECR <a href="http://silfver.blogspot.com">here</a href> in case you want to read more.

<br><br>

<b>John</b>,<br>

I applied a duo-tone in PS for all of these photos (a quad-tone technically).

Rich:

 

Which scanner are you using and what settings?

 

Cheers,

 

Jeff

Jeff,

<br>

I use an Epson 3200 flatbed scanner. Almost any dedicated film-scanner is bound to be a better option though - but it's a cheap way to be able to scan 35mm, 6x6/6x7 and 4x5's.

<br>

Software-wise I use Hamrick's Vuescan. I scan at 1600 dpi and have the software set to do two passes (I find that it bring out more details in the shadows as well as makes it easier to handle the highlights in post-processing).

<br>

In photoshop (7.0) I;<br>

* Adjust levels,<br>

* Apply some sharpening<br>

* Mix up and apply a duo-tone,<br>

* Convert to RGB,<br>

* Resize,<br>

* Adjust brightness and constrast/curves,

<br>

Olympus XA, stile has that little camera somewhere.

Sorry for the quality. Anyway, it doesn't mach the prints.<div></div>

Same XA<div></div>

Olympus XA:<BR><P>

<center>

<img src= "http://pages.sbcglobal.net/b-evans/Web/image/karen.jpg">

</center>

Asakusa with the XA<div></div>

Like # 2 best Rich. I had an Olympus 35 SP for a few weeks, But I returned it to the store-I was neglecting my M3. Very sharp lens. But I'd never give up my XA. I take it everywhere. Everywhere.<div></div>

I just got an Olympus 35 SPn. With low expectation, I took it out for a spin. When I got the film developed, I was really surprised at how sharp and detailed the pictures are.

 

I guess the 7-element Zuiko lens does perform really well.

 

Here's one sample that I channel-mixed in Photoshop to get a bw version that retains the subtle gradation of color on the marble walls.<div></div>

<img src = "http://static.flickr.com/85/242748146_b62e366447_o.jpg">

 

<P>

 

Olympus 35 SP

<p>Superb work, fellas!<br>

I was just given an Olympus 35 SPN and I have to try it out see if it works at all. I have two questions at this stage:<br>

- Is the use of an 1.35V battery compulsory or are 1.5V batteries handled ok?<br>

- (forgive my ignorance) When you talk about scanning, do you scan the film or a printed image? Is it good enough to have the photo store do the scanning for me if I don't have a scanner, or is that considered last resort?<br>

Now back to the pictures: my favorites are Rich's 2nd and 5th and Melanie's. Could you elaborate on post-processing, Melanie? And did you rely on the Auto Exposure? Thanks.</p>