On The Road with Vicky Lamburn

Oskar Barnack, the man behind the original Leica camera designed the system to use 35mm movie film because of his asthma. A smaller lighter camera gave him the opportunity to walk and take photos which erstwhile equipment prevented due to its large size — 35mm was and is a miniature format. Yet today super-zooms and cameras including my own EOS 3 whilst undoubtedly robust, it is a big camera and does not make for long journeys on foot in my book. I have done it and for me I found the camera was not getting used because of its weight at the end of the day. You can read more about that in a previous blog post.

Having bought the M2, the plan was not so much to replace the EOS 3 but to have a smaller, lighter camera to use on occassion on walks. The reverse has happened, the M2 is fast becoming the only camera I use. From walks to pub gatherings and taking the odd silly snap down a night club, the M2 has become a a fantastic camera.
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If it’s not a migraine (before Christmas), a dodgy back (January) or just feeling sick as a dog (cough, sneezes, lethargy and dull headache – now) I’m typically ill before I go away and I can ill (no pun intended) afford time off work at the moment as I have so much to do. Hopefully an early night will cure much of my ills… Being single is great except for that bit where you get ill and when you need someone to just nip out and get some paracetamol or Lemsip!

Anyway aside from feeling dog rough (and looking a right dog too, blodshot eyes, grey pallour — for I am not an image of health and wellbeing…) I have acquired a new toy. Along with splashing out in some ways on the EOS 3 just after Christmas (not intentionally but shit happens) I have really come to love it. It’s one heck of a piece of kit. However it has one thing that it doesn’t do quite as well — discreet street photography.

The EOS 5 wasn’t a small camera either (not like the Rebels/three digit EOS series’) but it was I would say a quiet SLR. The EOS 3 has a noticeable (but not a terrible) mirror slap that immediately I aware of on the first frame I fired. This isn’t too much of a problem but with the size of the EOS 3 and the mirror slap, it’s not easy with a prime lens to snap a shot in the streets and carry on with people unaware the majority of the time. Sure if I had a 70-200 f/4L I would not have a problem, but I don’t — at least not yet. (Maybe by the end of the year.)

So the next best thing was a discreet good quality point and shoot which was cheap and unobtrusive with a good lens. Somehow and I cannot remember how I stumbled upon the Olympus Trip 35.

Photo Copyright mrlob (click on picture to open it in Flickr)

A solar powered camera that requires no battery, is constructed from metal, durable, accurate, automatic, small, rugged and of course can shoot a mean roll of Tri-X.  It has a 40mm f/2.8 Zuiko lens, and automatic aperture control and shutter speed between 1/40sec and 1/200sec depending on lighting conditions metered by the selenium meter. Not too bad for a camera launched in 1968. (My example was made in October 1970.)

It’s basically a good solid point and shoot with a bit of a rangefinder capability on it too.

Photo Copyright twentyhertz (click on picture to open it in Flickr)

Now I’m not for one minute thinking that this will take pictures reliably that are anywhere near as good as some of results from my SLRs (notably the EOS 5 and 3) but by all accounts it doesn’t appear to be useless either. Ken Rockwell’s site has some interesting information on the Trip 35 and how it stacked up to his EOS 5D and 17-40 f/4L lens… Should I mention at this stage the Trip cost me less than a tenner with postage?

I’m off to London on Sunday for a couple of days and I’ll have the EOS 3 and Trip 35 in tow but something tells me that the EOS 3 is going to be resigned to the night shots underneath Westway and that during the daytime the Trip will be champion… I’ve already loaded it up with one roll of Tri-X, which to me seems its natural film. That said, here’s a great photo taken with this little camera:

Zabriskie (Flickr)

Of course this is assuming I still don’t feel like a bag of shite come Sunday.

Continuing from part II, I explore the various reasons why I have chosen to stay with film in an increasingly digital age.

Continuing my first impressions of the already impressive EOS 3 I want to explore these impressions a little more but most importantly answer that question of why analogue (film) in a ‘digital age’? Specifically I am referring to 35mm film when I say film given that there are many film formats. My arguments may be different for medium or even large format, but the EOS 3 is a 35mm SLR.

In terms of answering why film in a digital age I believe that the two aren’t mutually exclusive and that they can co-exist and work together. There is however I think a saddening trend that digital is there to replace analogue because digital is better by being digital in its own right. This is not the case, they are both good and both have their strengths. To my mind it’s really about how each of their strengths play into your needs and knowing when to use each Read the rest of this entry »