Olympus OM10 + Kentmere 400 on a Wee Walk Down the Road

posted in: Camera Gear, Film Photography, SLR | 6

We went for a wee walk down our road the other day so I decided to try out the Olympus OM10 with Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 lens and Kentmere 400 film, neither of which I’ve used before.
Olympus OM10 and Kentmere 400 Film

The Kentmere film has an interesting look that I really quite like. In terms of quality it’s certainly no HP5; the grain is quite pronounced but very pleasing (developed in Kodak HC-110 dil.F for 16 minutes). It’s not overly sharp but has very pleasing tones. I look forward to shooting it more!

I was impressed with how the film performed when overexposed. The first five pictures below were shot fairly wide open at f/1.8 – f/2.8 without me considering the maximum shutter speed of the aperture priority OM10, which is 1/1000s. With ISO 400 film, the result was that the frames were being overexposed by around 2 stops. After realising my mistake I starting to stop the lens down much more to around f/11 and sometimes f/16. I didn’t think the first eight frames would make it but after normal development they are just fine (albeit quite dense). They scan OK and I’ll have to wait to see how they perform with the enlarger.
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When cutting the film from the reel in the dark tent I wasn’t careful enough. With hindsight I remember not being able to move the frame advance lever by a millimetre after shooting the the last frame – clearly I was at the very end of the roll. I’ll know for next time that I should cut as close to the reel as possible. However, the result is actually quite interesting – a happy accident perhaps? 🙂

6 Responses

  1. simon kidd

    They look great James and the grain isn’t unpleasant at all. I’d tried pushing the film to around 800/1600 and I liked it. I might bulk buy a roll of the 400 stock.

    It’d be interesting to see a wet print.

    The OM 10 is a lovely looking camera, really nice fast lens too.

    Si

    • James

      Thanks Si! The grain definitely adds some character to the resulting images. From what I’ve read online, I think the developer and developing technique has a lot to play with regards to the results from this film. It seems that there are fewer good combinations available to keep the grain and contrast under control. That’s great that you managed to get a good push from it. I’m looking forward to trying some wet prints from these negs.

      The OM10 is a pretty nice camera – nice and compact too (designed for girls apparently!) 🙂

  2. Jennifer

    I lurve the grain 🙂 OM10 was one I considered when buying my first SLR in about ’79 but it lost out to the lovely Pentax MX and a 1.7 lens. Really should put one on your shopping list they are wonderful!

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