Olympus OM2n by Richard de Bulat
I have never used an Olympus OM camera before; I don’t know why, since back in the day when I was student the OM1, at least, was made quite famous as a camera used by David Bailey. But then, he used just about every camera going and there were a lot of good camera makes to choose from.
The OM2n differs from its predecessor in that it has an automated exposure system, requiring batteries to make it work, but in every other respect, it is as iconic as the OM1. Using the camera for the first time was a bit of a revelation, its small form factor and ease of use makes it an ideal 35mm camera to walk around with, benefitting additionally, from having a range of good lenses at fairly affordable prices.
The camera I used currently sits in the discount section of the shop as it has some slight marking in the viewfinder which you can see if you look for it, but is otherwise barely noticeable. The lens I was using, a 50mm f1.8 has a tiny patch of fungus emerging at the outer edge, but, as results will show, neither interfere with achieving a good image.
For my walkabout, I used Kentmere 400, which is a budget film, made by Ilford, that has less silver in its emulsion, making it less expensive and less contrasty than Ilford’s professional range. I used it on a grey day, between showers of rain – a low contrast film on a low contrast day, what can possibly go wrong?
The camera’s internal meter coincided with the reading from my hand-held lightmeter so I set the aperture to f5.6 and shot most of the roll at around 125th sec with the camera set to auto and every frame was well exposed. I developed the roll in Rodinal 1 + 25 which will enhance the grain, but give a slight lift in terms of contrast. The developed negative does look a bit flat and far less punchy than I normally like, but scanning into Lightroom I found that most of the images were straightforward to work with and produced some pleasing results.
I walked across the Tamar Bridge, taking photographs as I went and was sorry to run out of film just as I was walking down to the riverside. The bridge structure and views from the top, looking down provided images that had some natural contrast, whether against the sky or otherwise standing out against the general murkiness. The film stood up well and the camera delivered on expectations, with an accurate light meter and easy handling and I think that this is definitely a camera I would be happy to add to my collection. The slight defect in the view finder seems negligible to me and the lens is completely unaffected at this moment in time. All-in-all a great camera to use.
