Those Days....

Go ahead, take a gander at the shot below….. That is the top of my Pen F half-frame. A nice morning here in Philadelphia USA with the humidity bound to climb. I have no idea how the folks prior to air conditioning ever survived being back east with Humidity. Regardless, June 14th And my Pen F is telling me I have around 4 shots to go before I max out my film roll. Actually only 2-3 since going to the full 72, makes it really difficult to rewind the film. That my friends is an issue with all Pen F’s….. If you go to 72, the camera won’t rewind well and you risk ripping the film in mid ‘wind’…. So with a few shots to go, I take off to work on my “Alone” project.

With.an extra roll of 400, plus my notebook to record events, happenings…reflections. My project takes me to various locations on the streets of Philly and being summer….and getting into humidity, I knew I had maybe 3 hours before I needed to find shelter (air conditioning). Many times when I shoot in Philly, I make a line, half-way thru my day….to an air conditioned place such as the local camera shop, perhaps the National Park at Independence Hall or Constitutional Hall or the Museum of the American Revolution. I become rejuvenated.

Now, the nice thing about the Pen F is that it is small. Probably the smallest film camera I own. Today I decided to attach my 60mm (85 equivalent) as I did purchase this thing for $895 and dang-it-all Deputy Dog, I am going to get my use from it. So with nothing around my neck to attract sweat, and just my pocket stuffed with that extra roll of film and my notebook; with the Pen F in hand…..I wander.

I looked….I sat…I journaled in my notebook on my day….what I needed to look for ….I placed it back into my pocket and walked some more. A new place. I waited….sat, walked….skirted from one shady spot to the next. Wrote again in my journal as I sat on a cement bench, still cool to the touch from the night.

The funny thing is….2 hours into my walk and nothing….not one shot…no release of the shutter to even make it to 69, let alone 71. But I had time to ponder, sit…bounce my leg around a bit, twiddle my fingers and stare off.

With three hours nearing, it was time to pack up. Take note, there was nothing really to ‘pack up’. Along the return route, it wasn’t that there wasn’t anything to shoot on the streets as there always is, but when I go out with a project in mind, my brain focuses on that project. I seek out images for that particular project. Today, after near 3 hours I had zero shots. But, that’s okay as that is part of doing business….that is photography. With a stated purpose in mind and my brain focused on the shots I want, my mind isn’t just meandering and desperate to take shots just to take shots. I don’t work that way. If nothing comes my way, well….that is the day. Today just happens to be one of ‘those days’.

Olympus Half Frame Pen F results....

The other day I took out my Pen F and shot a roll of 24….knowing that I would get more like 48 shots from it. I played with it, I worked it….I experimented with it. I shot 1.4 in broad daylight without a ND filter….I shot F16 on a cloudy day, I used a combination of shutter speeds accordingly etc…. The point was I wanted to see how shutter worked, F etc on my Pen F….as well as a new Zuiko 85mm equivalent lens I picked up from a Japan camera store as I compared it to the 38mm lens on the camera.

All told….I was pleased. As you can see by the negatives below, the images are vertical and not horizontal (although you can still shoot horizontally). And more importantly, they ‘came out’ :-) …. I was a bit worried since when I rewound the film it had an odd feel to it like I didn’t take many images. Not sure why, but that had me worried, so seeing the results below had me jump up and down.

It is important when experimenting with a camera, lens, situations….that journaling comes into your focus and this becomes a natural process to you. Journalling, especially when working on a project, adds a written history to your images. It helps, let alone it is fun…..to return to your journal after completion of a project and re-read what occurred. Journalling becomes the frosting on the cake, with the birthday candle stuck to it. After every single press of the shutter, I would immediately write down my settings, so when I started to review my negatives, I could see the settings for each negative. Sometimes I used two settings for each half frame set of images. I learn from my mistakes and put the time in ‘during the process’, to do just that. A portion of my journal is below.

So, that brings me to the end result…or what did I take away. With film, it is important to expose for the shadows so in some cases within my experimentation I over-exposed several stops. The importance of this stood out within my images. It was easy to casually view a negative without perusing my notes and be able to determine this. The Second thing I learned? The wide open lens on the Pen F (38mm) or….. (53mm equivalent) is sharper than the 60mm (85mm equivalent). One reason why I picked up the longer lens was I am going to be getting close to people and at the same time take multiple shots of them. The Pen F has a problem. It has a very loud shutter….which would even alert a bent old lady with two hearing aides that something was amiss. .So the 85 equivalent promised me the ability to shoot somewhat of a close shot, but at a distance, far far far away from the noise of the Pen F shutter. And not to be forgotten, since this project will be done in downtown Philadelphia, the noises of the city will help.

The shots below show some of my results. You can see the first paired shots, which were with the 60 (85)mm…are just a bit fuzzy. With a half-frame, you are bound to get more fuzziness regardless of lens, simply due to the size of the frame (half frame), but in the images below, it is noticeable . I also shoot using Fomapan which is not nearly as refined as TriX or Ilford 5p.

The second set of connected images is also done with the 60 (85), but the light was more exposed in this image from both frames. Notice though the difference in exposure between left and right images, as the angle was opposite.

The third pairing of images was done with the 38mm lens (53 Equivelent) and I believe is sharper …..It just goes to show you how much you can learn if you elect to burn a roll of film or two. I am not done learning my Pen F.! But I am willing to put the time in for a project in which I will be using the diptych technique…. Take care all…

My 'Half-Frame' Project

My upcoming project (I always have one on the horizon) will utilize my 1960 circa Olympus Pen F half-frame. I am ultra pumped about this project as it will extend well into the entire 2024 year. Currently my Pen F is coupled with a 38mm lens which is the equivalent of 55mm in full frame. Having another Zuiko 55mm lens and having worked with that focal length on my OM-1 film camera, and having done so exclusively for my last project (Same Ole Shit), I am fully aware of what a 55 can do. But the 55 i used prior was for that OM and not this Pen F, but, the uniqueness of that focal length stands out. .

But now ladies and gents, please allow me to introduce to you the larger 60mm…..(85mm equivalent) which I will use to compliment the 55mm lens. . A minor issue I have ahead of me but yes; I still need to find a good copy of this lens. They are out there and can be had in excellent shape, and should be, given the $$$$. Another old but relatively rare Pen F lens, but ….it should be just about perfect for capturing my street images from just a bit further away, or street portraits.

As I approach my photography goals today, and I might add…I continue to grow in my craft…I seek to hone in on my projects using the right gear combo. Thus the Pen F half-frame and the 38/60mm lenses. Yet there is more, yes more….. How I ask, can one move forward with a project of this caliber with out a bit of fun built into it?

Fun, what is fun? What does fun look like in photography? Well, that varies…. but I know from past projects that that ‘fun’ involves motivation to get up daily and to hunt the streets. Go past the weather, the grime…the miles I walk and seek out compositions and scenes that match the project. That is the ‘fun…’