First roll from Olympus OM-1n

After receiving the delivery of the used 40 year old OM-1n from USA ebay seller, sending to a local camera shop for a check & replacing the light seals, I went for a shoot with a 24 frames 35mm film.

The whole roll took about 3 days to finished. Focusing is much easier compared the old Russia rangefinder due to the Single lens reflex technology and the Olympus OM lens smoothing focus ring was nice to use.

With the metering available, the total control of shutter speed , aperture and focusing are much a breeze. No more auto iso (in digital camera) and  ensuring there is  no camera shake, the focal length and shutter speed relationship have to be taking into serious consideration unless a tripod is used.

All in all love the manual control and feel of this film camera. And with the developed film, I can say this old camera is 100% functioning.

50mm lens Fuji 200 colour film.

50mm f1.8 lens- Sinking jetty

Digital Xpro1 in action for low light shoot

50mmf1.8- signs of the old book store along the alleys of Joo Chiat still visible. The place is now a high end office.

Pre-war shop house along Joo Chiat road

Old bicycle shop remaining

Old Coffee powder shop along Joo Chiat

Nicked name "Thieves" market at Rochor. Not a stolen goods market but a old items market. 

Re-Starting Film photography guide

This blog served as a personal sharing for those who may be interested to go back to the basic photography and like to try the handling of a film manual camera.

Vintage SLR Olympus OM-1N above the modern but fast outdated Fuji Xpro1

There are lots of sites showing why film photography is not dead and is coming back due to their uniqueness etc. The look of the film is a very sought after thing nowadays as most digital cameras have some form of film simulation or you can get software to make your digital file "looked" more like film.  Why not get the real thing then?

I have done online shopping thru Ebay, B&H and KEH for the available 1960s-1980s film SLR. The models I have narrowed down are the Olympus Om-1, Minolta ST101 and Nikon Fm2. Noted that all these SLRs are mechanically built, meaning that if there is no batteries, the shutter and aperture still can work. The focusing is by manual and the focus screen is so easy to see, The batteries are just for basic metering.

I used to have the electronic film SLR like the Minolta 500si, 800si etc. These cameras are the modern SLR and without batteries it can't work. The later DSLR evolved from these modern SLR until the recent Olympus OM-D and FujiFilm X designed their new digital cam based on the 1960s-1980s  vintage SLR or Rangefinder.

I see that the vintage SLR is a more worthwhile buy due to their precise,all metal built and the feel/handling of the camera have a timeless feel. They can work anywhere and if the meter breaks down, I can estimate the exposure by the sunny 16 rule or use my Iphone app "Pocket Light Meter" to get the correct exposure.

After buying a good & clean condition OM-1N with 50mm f1.8 from a reputable ebay seller, I sent in the camera to a local shop (P&G photography) for a check and spent another $45 to replace the light seals. For old vintage camera, the light seal "melting" is a common problem. The old mercury batteries for the OM-1 has a replacement type and can be easily purchase from ebay or the local shops.


As 35mm films in Singapore is not so common in "convenient" store nowadays, I get my film from shops in Peninsular area or online B&H.

As for development of film, I recently found a mail-in service where I just order the development plus scanning online and mail the roll of film to the developer. After 3 days, the package will be mail back to me.

For Singapore, negative film development C41 is still can be found easily but for positive slides E6 development, currently from what I know there is only one left in Singapore.

With a process setup, I can now focus on enjoying the fun & patience of film photography again.

Great shape Old OM-1N

Looking great for a 30 year old SLR. Beautifully made and classic feel.

Different real film simulation.

FujiFilm Arcos 100 (35mm film)

I had my roll of  Arcos Black and white film developed thru a mail-in service by Triple D. All I have to do is to mail the roll of film to them and 3 days later I received the developed film and scanned CD by mail. It is so convenient.

Every time, I see the developed film, the same magic feeling comes. Some images I thought will turn out bad, seems to be surprising good. The grain, highlights and some imperfection in the film give a refreshing feel. The digital files nowadays are too sharp, too detail and too perfect.

Although the developed film only hold 36 frames, each frame means alot to me as it is well thought before the shutter is clicked. The camera used is the Russia FED5 mechanical rangefinder. The viewfinder focusing is quite hard to see and I am happy that 90% of the shots stay focus. The metering is all by guessing. I used the traditional sunny 16 rules to estimate the exposure.

My FED5 russia rangefinder resting at a tradiitonal cafe

Film Slides

I have recently gotten the film bug again. It was almost 15 years ago when I was serious with film photography. Those days, I shoot with slides film like the Velvia 50 and Provia 100 from FujiFilm.

Spent a good amount of dollars developing and mounting the slides. I have even a 2nd hand projector for the slides too.

It is quite irony to see the latest digital cameras are made to look and feel like the old SLR film or Rangefinder. We have inbuilt camera software to make the images to be "film-like" and also companies are selling software to make your digital file to be imperfect.

Recently I have online purchase a used Olympus OM1N film SLR from Ebay and a bulk of negative film from B&H and is getting ready to re-enter the film photography (slowly). Currently I have only a very old FED5 russia rangefinder for film photography.

Although nowadays, the digital files I can say is almost perfect. Great details, No grain , great shadow recovery, good HDR, easy to edit software etc. Somehow, I would like to see the memory captured into a film which is special and to see some imperfection. As my daughter & I were viewing the color slides thru a scope and light table, we would somehow felt the images are very real life.


I decided to digitize some of the colors slides by shooting into my Xpro-1 with 35mm using the light table as the light source.

Here are some of the old images from Bali & Sri Lanka before my kids were born. All shot with Minolta SLR like Dynax800 or Dynax 600.