Flash, bang, wallop!

One thing I do like to do is take pictures of my pussycat and I was beginning to get frustrated with the hand-me-down flash unit I need to do this with and recently I bought a dedicated flash unit for my Olympus camera that screws on the top of it.
Called the T32, it has a highish output of 32GN it is designed so cameras that adjust flash exposure through the lens like the OM2/4 models and OM40  can use it while by just flipping over a panel it allows cameras like my OM10 to use three automatic settings a sensor in the flash controls the output from and gives a choice in additional of quarter or full power should you need it.
The head can be tilted upward to bounce the flash for softer illumination or down by 15 degrees if needed.
 

Going the distance

I've had my OM10 for just about a month now and love it so I wanted to get another lens to enable me to tackle most of the pictures I'd like.

This is a moderate telephoto lens ideal for taking detail shots of buildings, relatively close wildlife or say stacked views of mountains.
This is the F 3.5 version that offers same sharpness as its heavier F2.8 version and thanks to the bright viewfinder, the slight drop in lens speed isn't noticed and takes a 49mm filter thread that is the same as the 28 and 50mm lenses which helps when it comes to using polarizers and filters.
It is very sharp.

Toward a wide view

I'm enjoying this camera a lot but as good as the 50mm so-called standard lens is - and it is -  I started to find myself needing a wider view for such things as group shots or landscapes with more of a feel of depth.

Calling in the camera shop, I noticed they had Olympus's own 28mm wide angle lens in its F2.8 form for quite a good price as the aperture settings are toward the front on Olympus's own which is easier and are well marked. 
This will come in handy for when I'm away on vacation and optically the lens is very good indeed.

I get a proper camera

I like taking photographs of things and places that interest me and ever since my college days I'd had a compact camera that had recently having some issues  and I'd aqyired an ancient Russian Zenith E slr that while being better was also limited and very heavy.
I was looking for a light weight affordable system camera that would enable me to take better pictures and I was strolling in a camera store one day and I saw this.

This model was introduced in 1979 being discontinued in 1987 coming in Chrome and Black finishes.
Anyway money changed hands for it and the 50mm 'Standard' lens. I took it on vacation to evaluate being a believe in the 'give it a real job and see how it performs' school of thought.
The OM10 is by design amateur camera - that's to say it's for the everyday Joanne or John who just wants good pictures with simple controls - rather than loaded with lots of features and a build to take Power Winders together with day in and out professional use in all weathers.
So as standard it is automatic exposure only with a setting for Flash units that are not for Olympus and the Flash is exposure is set by hand rather than automatically in the camera.
What stuck me was the evenness of the exposures because as basic as it is, it tells you first what shutter speed it is likely to set based on the 'F' stop settings on your lens in connection with how bright it is but makes the final decision during the actual exposure so if the sun just went in after pressing the shutter (to take the picture) it adjusts to it. It is what Olympus called "AutoDynamic Metering".
This is a little unit you plug in on the front that when you set the exposure control to Manual Adapter enables you to set exposures by hand.
Let's say I don't believe in setting exposures by hand as a religion as if you use the settings the camera indicates you get pretty much the same result for more effort (plus the automatics on this camera are more accurate).
Where you might use it is if there is big difference between how much light the main subject requires and say a very bright background (or for using certain filters) pointing the camera toward what you wish to take the reading from and using the manual setting to lock it.
This meant I had as much control over how my pictures would come out as the main camera but in something much lighter to carry about.
The other thing was the lens was small of really fine quality and easy to adjust from the front.

Day out to Llangollen [Pre-blog]

Today I went out to Wales on what was  a very sunny day.
I saw a lot of motorcyclists and it transpired an organized meet of drivers of vintage motorcycles was under way so as I've had a fascination with them from my teens I strolled along to see them and talk with the owners.
Also there was a railway steaming event on  at the rail station which needless to say Pop insisted on seeing.

That's the station. Afterward we went on a narrow boat along the Canal with a horse towing it which was rather fun before we set home

Birthday musings

Sometimes you tend to ask yourself "What if..." and chunks of my life have indeed been rather like it for a variety of reasons like having the physical and intellectual disabilities I have you might wonder how it would of been for not having that not least upon my education and how such things play into socialization and so on.

One "What if..." is what would of been like had I of been a Girl Guide or Brownie as unlike many of my siblings and cousins I never got asked nor introduced to scouting in any way shape or form almost as if they though I'd be too much of handful for them to look after even if Guides and Scouts did have disabled members back then.

Personally as I reflect this birthday week upon it I think it would of helped with socialization which I struggle with, learning what today we call life skills as my parents never taught me any and provided a much needed sense of identity.

Sometimes I do wonder if I could go back and "do" two and bit years of Brownies with a Brown Owl, following the program obviously outside of anything involving actual children with safeguarding and that.

A bit like grown up role playing but without any "adult" stuff in it, in other words as if they were being an actual Brown Owl leading a session with me as the member.

It might do me some good.

The Catcher in the Rye

Today was a landmark day in the UK for a book I loved in my teens that had been anglicized and censored ever since it's original publication there.
One the things I loved about it was the sense of alienation that was so well portrayed by J.D.  Salinger in Holden Caulfield, the "you can't really trust" feel bit it teachers, parents or other authority figures and in any event what do they really know?
Holden cares deeply about children, seeing himself as a saviour of them and in many other respects his social ineptitude, impulsiveness and self doubt underscore a lack of maturation although he'd never see it that way.
Some days I feel that way, lost in the adult world.