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Subject: [OM] Random OM content
From: Ken Norton <ken@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 27 Jan 2011 10:35:18 -0600
Doing my part to keep the flame burning...

Saturday, I went out for a hike in battery-killing weather. It was
about -20C and the wind was honkin. Didn't matter how many layers I
was wearing, that wind was snot-freezing cold. Before leaving the
house I contemplated my camera options trying to decide what was going
to fulfill my photographic vision for the day as well as not be a
problem to deal with while wearing thick gloves and suffering from FBS
(Frozen Brain Syndrome).

Issue Number One: Batteries. I decided first and foremost that I
didn't want to mess with worrying about batteries. So, that
immediately disqualified the digital cameras as well as the OM-2S.

Issue Number Two: Weight. It was going to be a five-mile slog through
snow, so I wanted to travel pretty light. That disqualified the OM-4T
which needs the motordrive for film advance.

Issue Number Three: Changing Lenses. With the wind and some snow
blowing through the air, combined with thick gloves, I didn't like the
idea of lens swapping.

Issue Number Four: Monochromatic scene. Color is kinda wasted on
white, gray and gray-white.

So, through a process of illumination, I came up with my winter slog
setup. The OM-3Ti, with Zuiko 35-80/2.8 zoom and a couple rolls of
Kodak Plus-X was just what I wanted.

When I started out hiking I got a meter reading, set the exposure and
other than an occasional verification, never touched it again the rest
of the day. As you would expect, the camera performed perfectly.
Everything is controllable with thick gloves and I never once was
concerned over battery condition or the ability of the camera to work
once completely cold-soaked. I almost always keep the camera outside
the parka and after a few minutes the camera was temperature
nuetralized with the ambient air. The lens did get a little stiffer in
focusing and zooming, but not enough to be concerned. So, overall, it
was a good outing. At some point I decided that I was sufficiently
frozen so I cut off the last half-mile of hiking and shortcutted to
the jeep. The camera outlasted me at 2.5 hours.

Did I get any decent shots? Maybe. There were two that I think will be
worthy of some printing effort, but sometimes I use photography as an
excuse to just get out of the house. I'm thankful for the camera
options and find it amazing how many ways you can optimize a system.

A
-- 
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