One of the cameras I picked up at a car-boot sale the other week was an Olympus OM-10. It came with a Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 lens (that was clean but faulty) and the manual adapter that plugs into the front of the camera to convert it, as you might expect, so that it can be used fully manually.

The light-seals looked like they’d seen better days – just a thin, plasticky coating remained in most cases – so I took the time to remove the old material and fit new seals. When that was done, there was nothing more than to take it out for a test.

Comparing it to my OM-1, the OM-10 feels somewhat flimsy. Not so much in its weight of the feel of the body, but the dials feel looser and far less well constructed than the other camera. Despite this slight misgiving, everything on the camera appears to work ok, and the roll came back from processing with no unexpected issues.

I’d used a Cimko 28mm f/2.8  lens that I bought from a chap on a forum a year or so back. The first results with the lens (on the OM-1) had been disappointing – most of the shots were soft compared to the Zuiko 28mm f/3.5 I also own – but having recently re-scanned some of the photos on the Plustek, it’s become apparent that it was my scanning that was to blame. The Plustek holders keep the negatives much flatter than my Epson V550 holders, and I think the original softness had been the result of slightly bowed negatives. As the Cimko has a nice “macro” mode, this is good to know as it gives me some additional flexibility in the shots I can take with my Olympus cameras.

The shot I’m sharing today is nice and sharp. I converted it to black and white in Lightroom as, although it was taken in some soft golden-hour light with a lovely warm glow, the mono image just has more punch to it, which I prefer.

Olympus OM-10, Cimko 28mm f/2.8 & Agfa Vista Plus 200 (converted to B&W in Lightroom).

Taken on 19 April 2019