Olympus pen-s half frame
Before I took some time off from shooting (something I badly needed) I was testing out an old Olympus Pen-s half frame camera. With all the talk of the new Olympus pen digital I thought I’d give the camera a try for the second time. My first attempts were not great as it doesn’t have a meter, has a shutter limit of 250th/sec and has a tiny ring where the aperture of the lens can be changed with a lot of effort. After more than a month on the shelf I thought I’d develop 2 of the films I’d shot with it to see what I had. I’ve not had a chance to go through them all yet but I did find this semi focused feel quite appealing. These 3 frames are actually taken in succession which, judging by the other frames further on in the film seems to be a reflection of my ability to gauge light and set the camera correctly. I think my speed judgment is off a bit but I’m not minding that I got these wrong 
I’ll likely be posting experimental stuff up here for a bit while I get to work on the other projects I have lined up.
October 12th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
I think it's pretty good. The motion seems to accentuates the hustle and bustle that can be found in the subway. Btw, what are your plans the week before Christmas?
October 12th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
Ha! If you've got a two rolls of this stuff i'd say it's a result!
I'm in the process of scanning the first film to go through a little Olympus XA2 – supposedly the wife's, but i seem to be the one shooting with it…
October 12th, 2009 at 5:08 pm
Have that drunken night in the city feel.
like the sepia too.
October 12th, 2009 at 6:17 pm
Kiem – thanks mate. Christmas? I'll be in OZ from 18th till the 4th.
October 12th, 2009 at 6:18 pm
Funny thing about the sepia. Scan the negs in colour and this is what you end up with
October 12th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
1 more roll to go. Great thing about half frame and 36 film is you get 72 shots out of it
– but it takes a while to get to the end of a roll.
October 13th, 2009 at 12:22 am
You got to love the olympus half-frames (and other olympus cameras, for that matter, still a big fan of the OM1 and the XA and…).
I think the result is nice, don't mind the blur (agreed with Uchujin, great drunken feeling!) and the exposure, well, yeah, whatever. For me the greatest thing about XA or Pen-something is that you can have it with you in your pocket at all times (I know I know, you can and should have a camera with you at all time, whatever size or so, rule #1 of photography…) but I have to admit that sometimes 72 frames are a bit long when stuck with high ISO on broad daylight or the opposite, a nice iso50 when at night in a pub filled with strippers (not that it happens to me a lot, but you never know…)
I recently got bored and bought a miniDiana to try out the 24×24 and half-frame mixed shooting. We'll see, I'm still in the process of finishing the test roll (hp5+ @ 400iso)
Again, nice pictures, very moody, filled with stories. Me likes!
Best,
Arnaud
October 13th, 2009 at 2:01 am
You can not be serious Sean. I land in Tokyo on the 18th. Leave for HK on the 24th. How unlucky is that.
October 13th, 2009 at 8:20 am
Thanks mate. We'll have to see if I can get a few that are in focus and not too blurred next
October 13th, 2009 at 11:32 pm
hmm. Unlucky. Mail me to let me know where you'll be after that.
October 14th, 2009 at 6:20 am
HI Sean, I really like these, especially as a group.
October 14th, 2009 at 7:38 am
Hi Elliétte, thanks
Next time when you write a comment can you add your web address so I can find you to send a mail. Cheers 
November 20th, 2009 at 4:57 pm
i like where you are going with the motion. Is it your new muse?
In my travels I came across a great Canadian painter years ago, Emily Carr. Her work from early 20th century has always stayed with me. She studied art theory in Europe and then went on to explore painting nature around Vancouver. She experimented with “dynamism” through paint. Her works are brilliant and have endured in the art world. The colours literally have a vibration, and give us incredible lense to see invisible elements like wind and time.
Here's a friggin massive link so some of her paintings….
images.google.co.jp/imglanding?imgurl=http://clicks.robertgenn.com/images/featured_artist/emily-carr/emily-carr-artwork-forestundergrowth.jpg&imgrefurl=http://clicks.robertgenn.com/art-order.php&usg=__9vBfQLexeOzmXPSoPVztrnCR3Po%3D&h=1060&w=632&sz=203&hl=ja&sig2=opOBRoC_Nv1JFvJhXFqe1g&um=1&tbnid=4FRwoo2cSVFVOM:&tbnh=150&tbnw=89&prev=/images%3Fq%3DDynamism%2BEmily%2Bcarr%26hl%3Dja%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1&ei=OTcHS96hFY3-7APMjYmKDw&q=Dynamism+Emily+carr&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&sa=N&um=1&start=10
ciao bro.
November 21st, 2009 at 5:32 am
Love this shots and yes, they have a very drunk feeling hehe.
I'd love to take a shooting stroll with you next time I'm in Tokyo
November 21st, 2009 at 1:32 pm
Love this shots and yes, they have a very drunk feeling hehe.
I'd love to take a shooting stroll with you next time I'm in Tokyo