What a contrast of emotions my 35mm contribution to the Frugal Film Project 2024 has been. I started the year with an Olympus OM101, complete with two proprietary lenses, that was given to me by a dear friend and it soon went south when the camera failed in February. Fortunately my friend had given me not one, but two of them and I was able to continue the year.
However, the longer the year went on, the less inspired I became and to be fair it wasn't entirely the fault of the camera. I began to struggle to get two rolls of film in two different formats shot within the deadline each month. I had truly bitten off more than I could chew and found that my limit isn't what I thought it was.
Now we come to the last roll of the year and I'm glad I stuck it out as there were a few times I was tempted to abandon this format and stick to medium format and dear Baldy the Baldax. With this in mind I loaded my last roll of Kentmere 400 into my Olympus OM101 and headed out on a foggy morning after Christmas to see what I could find and finish my commitment to the project.
The veil of fog on December 27th 2024 was my reward from the Photography Gods for not giving up. We all have cameras we just didn't gel with, often for the daftest of reasons and the OM101 is mine. It has fought me and thrilled me every step of the way and I will remember the Frugal Film Project 2024 for many years to come. My first body failed, then my zoom lens decided to play up and I almost lost the will to keep going, but, as with Baldy the Baldax, I persevered and I'm glad I did.
The photos I shot on the foggy day were compositions I had shot many, many times, but the difference was the fog and I hoped Kentmere 400 would render it as well as Ilford HP5. I had switched to my OM101 after finishing my film in Baldy so apologies if there's any similar ones, but I couldn't ignore fog like that. I photographed the trees, power lines and pylons from different angles as I headed on the second half of my walk.
The fog just didn't go away all day and I am grateful for that. It changes everything from a bland same old kind of day into one of mystique, moodiness and a hint of drama. By the time I arrived at my favourite tree I had enough frames left to grab a couple of shots and my film was done. It was with some relief of a project completed that I rewound my film, put my OM101 back in my bag and headed home for a well earned cup of tea.
I developed my roll of Kentmere 400 35mm black and white film in Kodak HC110 1+31 dilution B for 6 minutes at 20 celcius and soon had it hanging to dry in my bathroom. Once dry I digitised it with my Nikon D700, Tamron Adaptall 2 90mm f/2.5 macro lens, Valoi 35mm film holder, Pixl-Latr and A5 sized LED light pad. I processed the RAW files with Affinity Photo 2.
When you use a camera for a year you get to know the easy way to use it very quickly. That was certainly the case with my OM101. I used it as a glorified point and shoot for a lot of the time and the weather in 2024 was a factor in that decision. It started off dark, wet, cold, dull and gloomy and more or less carried on that way for the year.
It wasn't always gloomy, there were days when the sun came out to play and I got some bangers. It gave me the confidence I needed to keep going when I began to struggle with it. Given the weather we had around Christmas I am rather pleased with my final roll of Kentmere 400 for the Frugal Film Project 2024.
The important thing is I finished the year and have gained a lot of insight into the way the camera manufacturing businesses was going when auto focus appeared. Digital shooters might appreciate the focus wheel as it is similar to back button focus, but for anyone wearing glasses and is left eye dominant, it's a pain. I set my lenses to infinity and basically left it there all year.
I reckon Olympus probably should have paid Minolta to licence their auto-focus system and spent their time on other things to make this camera better than it is. It's not a bad camera, but the manual adapter and focus wheel on the back seemed like afterthoughts rather than a genuine attempt at taking their camera in a different direction. I always saw the manual adapter on the OM10 as an afterthought, a mistake, and they did it again with the OM101.
The lenses and built in light meter are up to the high standard we came to appreciate from Olympus, but the lack of manual focus on the lens itself or any way of knowing what settings the camera used in Program or Aperture Priority modes were errors in my humble opinion. I can't fine tune my focus or exposure settings as easily as I can with my OM-1, the benchmark for all subsequent Olympus SLR cameras.
Would I use it again? Probably, but not for a while. It can sit on my shelf for a while and we shall see if I start to reach for it when choosing a camera to use. I often reach for my Olympus cameras, so you never know when I could give it another go. Whichever way it goes I must say thank you to my most excellent chum, "Wellies" for giving the gear to me and a chance to sink my teeth into the system.
For 2025 I am going around again with just one camera and one film, my Kodak Retina 1a and Ilford FP4 Type 517 cine film in 35mm. This is a film stock I hadn't encountered before, Ilford stopped making it years ago. Analogue Cameras managed to get hold of a large quantity of it and res-pooled it into 35mm cassettes for us film photographers to enjoy. I am excited as I know this camera works well, has a great lens and I can't wait to get started on learning to get the best from this version of Ilford FP4.
Here's a few favourite photos from my December roll of Kentmere 400, 35mm black and white film shot for the Frugal Film Project 2024. On the day it was a right old "pea soup" kind of fog and I love the ethereal mood it gave to my photos. It brought a different vibe to favourite compositions and locations I have explored many times, but never on a foggy day. As always I have placed them and more in my Frugal Film Project 2024 35mm album on Flickr that you can visit using the link below. I hope you enjoy them.
Frugal Film Project 2024 - December - 35mm
Analogue Cameras.co.uk - Ilford FP4 Type 517
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