About a month and a half ago I dove in head-first into the world of film photography with a rocket strapped to my back. Within weeks I had acquired both a Mamiya C330 and an RB67 Pro SD to satisfy the medium format itch. A week after my wallet left me to be treated better elsewhere, I got an email from family saying they found a small collection of camera gear in my late Father’s possessions.
Enter Olympus.
In his small kit, my Father had a practically unused Olympus OM-PC, an Olympus Zuiko 50mm f,1.8, a mess of Vivitar flashes, and some very dated Cokin filters. I picked up batteries to operate the camera, and a few rolls of ILFORD HP5 PLUS to run through it. I decided to push the film to EI 800 now that I had the power of a shutter speed of 1/1000th of a second vs 1/500th with my Mamiya brick.
Overall, it is a very light body being mostly plastic with a rubberized grip. It’s small and unassuming, which is fantastic since I still haven’t quite figured out how to talk to strangers about why I’m taking photos of office towers downtown yet. The OM-PC does have some fairly interesting metering technology in it that I don’t fully understand enough to review, but having it set to aperture priority made the entire process as easy as could be.
I wasn’t super impressed with the contrast of HP5 shot at box speed, so I hoped that pushing it 1 stop wouldn’t excite the grain too much, but improve the contrast to where I’d like it for dramatic-looking photos.
Oh was I ever on the money with that guess.
I burnt through the rest of the roll after I felt like I got the shots I wanted and developed it at home in Kodak D76 at a 1:1 dilution as per box instructions.
They’re crisp, with loads of grain from what I’m used to, but it gives the images these buttery smooth transitions between tones on the reflective glass windows and sheet metal. The metering was accurate, and I feel confident I can trust the camera to make the right choice, or at least give me an accurate idea of where to start adjusting exposure settings from.
I’m unsure of how well these would print in traditional darkroom methods, but scanning with my Epson Perfection V600 scanner resulted in clean images with very little need to tweak levels from what the software decided was correct.
For being (as per forums) an unremarkable Olympus camera, I’m beyond tickled with how light and compact this kit is, and with how sharp the glass is! For an everyday black and white film, I think I’ve got a few scenarios to test with ILFORD HP5 PLUS yet, but it’s well on it’s way to winning me over.
~ James
Submit your 5 Frames… today
Get your own 5 Frames featured by submitting your article using this form or by sending an email via the contact link at the top of the page.
Share your knowledge, story or project
The transfer of knowledge across the film photography community is the heart of EMULSIVE. You can add your support by contributing your thoughts, work, experiences and ideas to inspire the hundreds of thousands of people who read these pages each month. Check out the submission guide here.
If you like what you’re reading you can also help this passion project by heading over to the EMULSIVE Patreon page and contributing as little as a dollar a month. There’s also print and apparel over at Society 6, currently showcasing over two dozen t-shirt designs and over a dozen unique photographs available for purchase.
5 responses to “5 Frames… With ILFORD HP5 PLUS (EI 800 / 35mm format / Olympus OM-PC)”
The OM-PC was a really interesting camera. It used a more sophisticated CLC-type metering, which was… https://t.co/uSABXEqbSZ
Very nice!
Thank you!
The grain is a bit aggressive when viewed large, but I’ve grown to like the look of pushed Ilford stock.
Hello !
I also have this camera with Vivitar 135mm 2.3. Very light camera very heavy lens. I will try this combination soon.
I found this strange combo in local Salvation Army store. $30 paid
Gorgeous prints,Mr. Tollefson….