Low End Mac Reader Specials

TypeStyler For Mac OS X is Now Shipping! Download The Free Fully Functional 60 Day Tryout at www.typestyler.com

Poker Mac Don't install Parallels to play poker online! Poker Mac will show you how to download and install a native Mac poker application such as Full Tilt Poker Mac.

Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.

Compare products like desktop computers, apple laptops, apple macs, and LCD Monitors side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for new mobile phones, sat nav systems, or MP3 players. The Ciao online shopping community makes searching products easy for you.

Recycled Computing

Kodachrome, the Olympus Pen, and the New 'Digital Pen'

- 2009.09.14

Follow Low End Mac on Twitter.

Popularity: LEMLEMLEM

Tweet this article. Short link: http://bit.ly/inuOI

Film and camera, oh my!

I just found the camera of my dreams that will make my whole life better. (We men are simple creatures who just need enough new toys to make things interesting.)

Kodachrome (1935-2009)

Before I start talking about precise equipment with bells and whistles, I'd like to talk a little bit about the greatest film ever created: Kodachrome is the film of the gods. I've never been to heaven, but I bet that the landscape is rendered in the bright, super saturated colors that I associate with Kodachrome. There would be deep, deep blue skies, hot reds, and bright yellow colors.

Kodachrome slideI'm nostalgic already.

Kodachrome was the first color reversal film (during processing, Kodachrome is a negative file, but when film is chemically re-exposed to light, it is converted in into a positive image). It was introduced in 1935 with a film speed of 10 ASA for the daylight version, 16 for the tungsten version. This means that it was not very sensitive to light and required a tripod a lot of the time. The famous photographer, Ernst Haas, used slow shutter speeds to make use of this film and discovered that the blur that resulted brought out some of Kodachrome's finer qualities. He also bought a refrigerator full of the original Kodachrome when Kodak introduced Kodachrome II (ASA up to 25!) in 1961.

Kodachrome was basically a fine-grained black and white film that had color dyes added during processing. Other transparency and color negative films have the dyes built into the film, and the development process is used to process each of the color layers. Agfachrome, Ektachrome, and Fujichrome used this process to produce colors.

Kodachrome was different - and boy, what a difference!

Now, of course, we live in digital photo land, which brings me to the second part of today's column - I'm in love with a (so far) unattainable object.

Olympus Pen F and Digital Pen

black Olympus Pen FTOlympus Corporation has been producing fine quality cameras since the Pen F (1963). Olympus Pen FThe Pen F was a half-frame camera - that is, it took pictures that were half the size of a normal 35mm camera (18 x 24mm instead of 24 x 36mm). Instead of 36 slides in a roll of Kodachrome, you could take 72 slides. It was a boon for tourists and photographers who wanted to test out a new emulsion. I owned a Pen FT at one point, but I sold it with a Rolleiflex to raise some cash.

Olympus went on to invent a full frame camera - the immortal Olympus OM-1. I own one of these beauties, although the film release button doesn't work. The OM-1 is purely mechanical; the only thing in the camera that needs a battery is the light meter. It is sort of a photo hockey puck, in that it is so rugged.

I also own one of the last cameras in the OM series, the multi-spot metering OM-4. IMHO, the OM-4 has the most sophisticated light measurement system in a 35mm camera - but they use film, and we live in the digital age.

Olympus 'Digital Pen' E-P1 and Pen FHowever, Olympus has done it again. Sure, Olympus makes some very fine digital DSLRs, but now it has introduced the E-P1, a camera that has interchangeable lenses and no optical viewfinder. Many are calling it the "Digital Pen" due to its similarity to the Pen F (see photo, right).

It is a small digital (12.3 megapixel) camera that not only uses it's own family of Four Thirds lenses, but (I mean but) it can use my old OM series lenses with an adapter.* My lenses won't autofocus and will have to use stop-down metering, put I can still use them.

No one likes to keep using old technology like me.

Funding will determine when I get my hands on one, but it will be the end of an era. I will finally have a high quality digital camera to use for serious photography.

Tools change, but the vision remains. LEM

* Editor's note: With other adapters, it can also use Leica M-mount and R-mount lenses. Four Thirds lenses are also made by Sigma and Leica. dk

Recent Recycled Computing Columns

Links for the Day

Recent Content on Low End Mac

Recent Deals

About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts

Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2009 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
  LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
  Access our RSS news feed at http://lowendmac.com/feed.xml.
  Email may be published at our discretion; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. If you prefer your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
  PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.
  Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iBook, iMac, eMac, iPod, iPhone, PowerBook, MacBook, MagSafe, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.

Custom Search

Amazon.com

Navigation

Used Mac Dealers
Apple History
Video Cards
Email Lists

Favorite Sites

MacSurfer
MacMinute
MacInTouch
MyAppleMenu
InfoMac
Macs Only!
The Mac Observer
Accelerate Your Mac
RetroMacCast
PB Central
MacWindows
The Vintage Mac
   Museum
DealMac
DealsOnTheWeb
Mac2Sell
ramseeker
Mac Driver Museum
JAG's House
System 6 Heaven
System 7 Today
the pickle's Low-End
   Mac FAQ
Abandonware
   Petition
Mac vs. PC Info

Affiliates

The Apple Store
Mac Connection
B&H
MacMall
TechRestore
ExperCom
Crucial Memory
batteries.com

Advertise

All of our advertising is handled by BackBeat Media. For price quotes and advertising information, please contact at BackBeat Media (646-546-5194). This number is for advertising only.

Open Link

Problems viewing this page with Internet Explorer 5.5 or 6? It works fine in other browsers, including IE 7. We recommend Firefox for those using Windows, as it is standards based and more secure than IE 6 (and earlier). More LEM visitors use Firefox than any other browser.