Olympus Pen F 40mm G.Zuiko f1.4 and Rollei Retro 400s – My experience with this iconic camera

This post was one of my first few on 35mmc, that’s after lurking for a few years before I plucked up enough courage and audacity to get some of my photos and writing published. I have to thank Hamish for allowing me to express myself here. It was an article on W. Eugene Smith and how his photography has impacted almost every photo I take, his influence has had an everlasting affect and I always look for what I saw in his famous photograph.

I wrote about my experience with the original Olympus Pen F and included a selection of appropriate photos. As you all know, the Pen F being a Half Frame camera has about 70 odd frames in a roll of 36. So I now decided to make a post about the other photographs in that roll. I think I only shot one roll with the Pen F before selling it off to fund another camera, a silly decision.

I do miss it, I did purchase another a couple of years ago but it had the inferior lens and had focus problems, so that every single photo in the roll was out of focus, I then promptly sold it. I really like using the portrait format, much like I enjoy the 6×4.5 I had on a cropped frame Medium Format Fujifilm GA645i. So I shall acquire another at some point, and this time for keeps!

I took the camera on some day trips to a couple of places which I think are essential visiting for anyone who wants to tour or travel around England; namely Glastonbury and Canterbury. Glastonbury especially is spectacular, not just the Tower, which stands high on the Tor itself, overlooking the Isle of Avalon. The Tor is mentioned in Welsh mythology particularly in myths linked to King Arthur and the island of Avalon, and has several other enduring mythological and spiritual associations.

Canterbury is also a very important place, with it being a centre of Pilgrimage, being the final destination on the Pilgrims Way from Winchester. The Cathedral is especially awe inspiring.

I also visited Herne Bay on the Kent coast in the South East. Not really worth mentioning in the same breath as Canterbury and Glastonbury, but I got a few decent shots.

The benefits of the all manual original Pen F are that it’s the best looking,  it has the biggest and  brightest finder of the SLR series, (if buying make sure the mirror is flawless, as any dulling or fade dims the VF image). I really liked the Portrait vertical image – it makers composing so refreshing and the aspect enables you to try photographing in a different way. Focussing is better with a brighter finder as all I had to go on was a small circle in the middle – of course you could just zone focus, but I was shooting many things (and portraits) wide open (which you can see in the former post I linked above).

The camera is a beauty, not only in looks but also in feel – it’s compact, wonderfully and precisely made and has a heft and solidity which inspires confidence and makes you feel you’re holding something precious!

The shutter is an oblong affair with a proper solid feel and satisfying click as you press it. The Winder is a double stroke which is recessed into the body – everything about using it is satisfying.

This is a selection of more Photographs from the roll I shot with the Olympus Pen F, 40mm G.Zuiko f1.4 and Rollei Retro 400s (developed in Rodinal) – I always use a Yellow Filter with BW and did so here. All are metered with an incident light meter – Minolta Autometer III.

I was very very impressed with the resolving power of this fast 40mm lens, considering this was 400 speed film and scanned with an old Epson flatbed – I can only imagine how fine very slow Film would resolve. If it wasn’t for the 4/3 format they could quite easily be mistaken for ‘Full Frame’ photos.

As you can see, the photos aren’t half bad.

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