Wow! Just Wow!

That pretty much sums up my first experience of developing photos from the Olympus OM 10.

I put an Ilford HP5 Plus black and white film into the camera as I enjoyed shooting black and white.

I wasn’t sure if I would get the focus set up on the Olympus OM10 but it seems like I got it with no problem!

I set the ISO to match the film and let the camera set the shutter speed.

I manually set the aperture and the focus and it seems to have worked!

I had a few occasions where I think I spent more focus (no pun intended) on the circle in the middle of the viewfinder rather than the whole image but I think I got the focal point pretty much right on nearly all 39 shots from this roll of film.

I had some good shots on this roll (more than any on the Trip) and was particularly inspired on a dull grey day at the office.  I shot picture after picture of the brutalist architecture which lent itself wonderfully to black and white film.

During this particular shoot I took my time and found inspiration in lots of places.

I have taken a similar shot to this one in Paris but given this was taken on film and needed no correction, I am very pleased with the final result.

I was composed, patient, waited for the right moment where there was little traffic or disctration in the shot and took the photo of the “Boris Bikes”.

This photo is clear, crisp, sharp.  There’s great depth of field.  Good bokeh.  I love the repetition.

As you may have guessed, I love this photo.  If I had taken it with a digital camera I would have been happy but given that there is little distraction in the image, the image is level and as I planned it – it’s great!  I had one chance to commit this to film and I nailed it 😉  (If I do say so myself).

The reviews said that the 50mm kit lens supplied with the OM10 is super sharp and boy they were right!

For a lens that is 30 or so years old, the performance is brilliant.  It was a really overcast, grey an drizzly day and yet the rendition in the photos is superb.  (It also performed very well in bright sunlight).

The 400 ISO rating let’s in so much more light and I am sure help elimante any shake I had with the Trip (but that may also be to the auto shutter speed selection I had in place).

This photo is of a much darker subject (in all respects) and yet the camera has managed to capture the mood and the atmosphere wonderfully.

It’s very gritty and has very hard lines and shadows but the lens has managed to reproduced my photo very well.

I am so pleased with the Olympus OM 10 – it’s such a great SLR I can see why it was popular and so many people recommend it.

I have many more photos from this roll I will share but I wanted to concentrate on these two for now.

What do you think? Do you like them? Do you share my enthusiasm?

I’ll share more futures in the near future.

For now I have loaded Lomography Lady Grey into the OM10 and look forward to seeing how those shots compare to the Ilford shots above.  So far the Ilford HP5 Plus 400 BW is my favourite film.

The OM10 has given me more confidence in my ability and I am really enjoying this analogue chapter in my photographic journey.