Frugal Film Project 2024 - January - Olympus OM101 and Kentmere 400 35mm Black & White film

 For the 2024 edition of the Frugal Film Project I decided I wanted to go back to 35mm film and use a camera with which I have shot precisely one roll of film. It's an Olympus OM101 that was given to me back in 2022 by a dear friend known to all his chums as "Wellies". The Olympus OM101 isn't an OM series camera, but does use the tried and trusted OM mount. This means almost every OM mount Zuiko lens that Olympus made can be used on the OM101. 

The camera came with a 50mm f/2 PF and a 35-70mm f/3.5-4.5 PF lens. Both lenses are the proprietary "Power Focus" lenses for the camera. They were designed and built in the 1980's when all the major manufacturers jumped on the Auto Focus train. Olympus pursued the "Power Focus" route that put the focusing motor for the lenses in the camera. Focus was done using a wheel on the back of the camera.

This should be familiar to anyone using "Back Button Focus" on their DSLR or Mirrorless digital camera. It's basically the same, but you have full control over the focus. Another company got the full auto focus functionality programming patented and happily reaped in licensing fees from everyone else. Olympus didn't want to play that game and went with this method instead. It flopped spectacularly and was withdrawn from sale after three years amid poor sales figures.

When using the Power Focus lenses, the OM101 has a Program mode where the camera chooses the aperture and shutter speed based on the excellent light metering that Olympus were noted for. It also has an Aperture Priority mode that utilises something that OM10 users will be familiar with, a Manual Adapter. You select the lens aperture with the adapter and the camera selects the shutter speed. 

It can also be used in full manual mode using the manual adapter to select aperture and shutter speeds. The Power Focus lenses don't have an aperture or focus ring on them. The only one of the two lenses I can adjust is the mid range zoom that I can zoom between 35mm and 70mm. Focus has to be done with the wheel on the back of the camera. 

Having driven myself a tad crazy by learning how to use my Olympus OM101, I used it once in January 2023 and then put it on my shelf whilst I calmed down. It took a bit of getting used to. I intended to use it again in 2023, but got side tracked and forgot about it until the time came to choose my camera for this years project. I thought, "why the heck not" and here we are with my January roll of Kentmere 400. 

The film choice was a no brainer, Kentmere 400 is cheap and made 30 miles away from my home at Harman Technology in Mobberley, Cheshire. How lucky is that? Seriously though, I will always try to support a local business if I can, having fresh film made 30 miles away for a price that I can afford is my good fortune. I really enjoyed using Kentmere 400 in 120 medium format in 2023 and I chose to use Kentmere 400 35mm in 2024.

For my first roll I chose a bright sunny day in early January, but any pretence of warmth was down to me wearing thermal everything! I'm glad I kept all my winter riding gear when I parked my motorcycle. Undies, T-shirt, socks, gloves, hat, jacket, all rated for arctic winds that we often get at this time of year. As my Scots chums say, "it wis a wee bit braw, aye baltic", or something like that. 

The important thing was to keep my eyes open for the light making for interesting compositions. It was perfect for reflections as I discovered on the large glass front of the local Council offices. I was able to get a couple of photos of the reflection of the Town Hall. I was also able to get a couple of shots of light being reflected onto a building opposite that was in the shade with the sun shining brightly behind it.

The rest of my shots were nothing special, I'm just trying to photograph things I have done before from different angles. My aim this year is to improve my photography and look for different and interesting compositions, be it light reflecting onto a building or finding an alternative composition of the statues dotted around town. I wasn't hanging about as the wind was bitterly cold and it wasn't long until I was back home having a cuppa tea in my nice warm house.

I developed my film a day or two later and chose HC110 dilution E 1+47 for 9 minutes at 20 celcius. I like dilution E, it's a nice sweet spot for Kentmere 400 and it wasn't long before it was hanging to dry in my bathroom. Digitising was done with my Nikon D700, Tamron Adaptall 2 90mm f/2,5 macro lens, Valoi 35mm film holder and Pixl-Latr illuminated with my A5 led light pad. RAW files were processed using Affinity Photo 2.

Here's a few favourites from my January roll of Kentmere 400 for the Frugal Film Project 2024. I'm doing double duty this year as I'm keeping going with Baldy the Baldax for medium format and I will speak about that in another blog. I had fun getting to grips with my Olympus OM101. It's a bit fiddly to get used to, especially with gloves on, but I hope to be using it fluently by the end of the year. One down, eleven to go and I will keep my 35mm separate from my medium format shots so I don't get confused. 

If you wish to support my photography you can donate a few shekels using the Ko-Fi buttons on this page as Phyllis did on New Year's Eve. Thank you Phyllis, I appreciate it very much. I aim to have my Agfa Isolette I restored and your help is gratefully received. As always I have put these photos and more in an album on Flickr for you to view in full resolution using the link below. I hope you enjoy them. 

Frugal Film Project 2024 - Olympus OM101 - Kentmere 400