I managed to get out and about well before the final day of the month in June. As luck would have it, the longest day of the year saw me head out around the local farm roads and footpaths on a fine evening with my Olympus OM101 loaded with a roll of Kentmere 400 B&W film.
It really was a glorious couple of days over the summer solstice as summer arrived with bright sunshine and hazy skies. I tried to take advantage of the skies by using an orange filter for all my photos on this walk and I paid another visit to the horses to say hello.
The horses in the first field were a little stand-offish, but a couple of enterprising horses graciously posed for a photo in the hope a treat would follow. As I mentioned last week, I don't feed the horses, that's something their humans do as they know what the horses eat. I said my farewell to them and headed off to the next field.
In this field the horses were away at the far side of the field and it gave me a chance to try the long end of my Zuiko 35-70mm power focus lens. I set the zoom to 70mm and operated the wheel on the back of the camera to set the focus to infinity and grabbed a couple of long shots.
To get to the third and final field I had to head to the top of the hill where the horses were happily grazing in the evening sunshine. Along the way I visited my favourite tree on the spoil heap and captured some wild flowers at the side of the footpath. It was whilst doing this I started having trouble with the power focus. Oh Oh! Was my second camera about to fail?
I checked the state of the batteries and the beep noise assured me there was power there, but the indicator light didn't light up. I was skeptical after what happened earlier in the year and decided to fit some new batteries that I brought with me just in case. Thanfully it appeared to do the trick and my camera was working properly again.
When I reached the horses they had congragated together and gave me a chance to get a couple of shots to finish my roll of Kentmere 400 film. I really enjoyed my walk in the evening sunshine and despite having to change batteries, I also enjoyed using my Olympus OM101. I packed it in my bag and headed off home. The long way of course, I had another couple of cameras with me to shoot for future blogs.
I developed my film a day later in HC110 dilution E 1+47 for 9 minutes at 20 celcius and soon had to hanging to dry in my bathroom on a balmy afternoon. It didn't take long and later that evening I digitised my film with my Nikon D700, Tamron Adaptall 2 90mm f/2.5 macro lens, Valoi 35mm film holder, Pixl-Latr and A5 size led light pad. I orocessed the RAW files with Affinity Photo 2.
I like the photos I got this month, the orange filter definitely helped bring some detail to the haze in the sky as did the longer develoment time. I am falling for Kentmere 400 developed with HC110 dilution E 1+47. It seems to me to be the sweet spot for this film, but other folk may have their own favourite developer and time for it.
I am finally getting a good run with my Olympus OM101. It likes to keep me on my toes, as this months battery swap shows, but I am beginning to get the hang of it. I hope the second half of 2024 goes well, but I am taking nothing for granted. The one exception is Olympus' fine optics.
The 35-70mm f/3.5-4.5 Power Focus has all of Olypmus skills in it and it's a shame it only works on this camera. I'm tempted to use one of my Olympus manual focus lenses at some point and make some use of the manual adapter that came with the camera. I also have a 50mm f/2 that came with the camera that I can use for the project I have come to love taking part in. I enjoy using the zoom lens, It's right in the sweet spot for a mid range zoom, but it would be rude not to use the 50mm power focus prime lens.
Here's a few of my favourite shots taken in June with my Olympus OM101 on Kentmere 400 black and white film for the Frugal Film Project 2024. I have placed them and more in my Frugal Film Project 2024 35mm album on Flickr that you can visit by clicking the link below. I hope you enjoy them.
Frugal Film Project 2024 - June - 35mm
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