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Scanned some more shots
Scanned some more shots today, nothing profound, more just fodder to try out some new developing times. APX400 in Rodinal at 1:50 for 28 minutes. Its all a learning experience for me so I’m quite pleased with how they turned out. Also, I couldn’t find any suggested times suitable, so I kind of had to make my own up.
The thing I’ve noticed lately with film is that shallow depth of field shots looks wonderful. Especially with some nice grain, it has such a unique aesthetic that I really love. In the future I’m going to try and take advantage of that more.
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The Olympus mju:-II (Stylus Epic)
Ok, quick question. How many cameras can you think of that satisfy the below criteria?
- compact
- rugged/all weather construction
- super sharp and contrasty fast lens
- spot metering
- auto focus
- auto film winding
- decent flash with various modes
Thought of any? Ok, now tell me how many of those come in under $20?
Is your list getting smaller? It may even be empty. If you’re lucky though you will still have one camera in mind, the mighty Olympus Mju:II. (The only other camera that might come close is the Konica Big Mini, but they’re more expensive, and I don’t have any experience with them yet).What’s wonderful about this camera is its simplicity and quality. It’s a proper point and shoot that manages to produce wonderful pictures that rival cameras many thousands for dollars more expensive. Don’t believe me? Well just go over to Flickr and check out some sample pictures.
Obviously a great camera doesn’t equal great pictures. But having something so small and inconspicuous will always give you an advantage over something big and obvious. Street photos, architecture, party snaps, the camera can do it all.
Just for the record, this camera isn’t perfect. It has some quirks that can be annoying, such as how it resets settings when you shut it down (for example, it’ll reset the flash mode you selected earlier). Trying to focus through glass can also be annoying but sometimes fixed by focusing to infinity at the sky then re-composing the shot again. Also, selecting spot metering can be fiddly. But the good points far outweigh the bad, And the truth is that this is an amazingly simple, cheap, and compact camera that takes amazing photos. It’s currently my “go everywhere” camera and if you can’t already tell I really enjoy using it. If you’re in the position to get one don’t hesitate, I’m certain you’ll get a lot out of it.* 2020 Edit: So this whole Olympus mju thing really blew up didn’t it. It’s pretty tough finding them for under $20 anymore, but if you’re lucky you can get them for under $100. Honestly though, as great as they are, I don’t think they’re worth the current market prices of $300+. That’s kind of insane.
Some shots from my First Week with the Mju:II
And here’s a Flickr group for the Mju:II
