A throwback moment after viewing some of my older photographs from many years ago, when modern technology was a new concept seen in sci-fi movies, and automation was still in its infancy.
Page Last Edited : Wednesday, 3rd of September 2025.
© Dave Rowlands. All Rights Reserved.
I've often thought about what in this modern technologically superior age if I was just to put one lens on one of my M43 cameras and set it up in totally manual mode except for the "Auto ISO" which will be setup with a minimum of 200 and a maximum of 6400, minimum shutter speed based on the old 1/Focal Length but with the Olympus IBIS you could cut this in half or more if you wish. My minimum shutter speed is always set to 1/30th second, regardless of which lens I have pointing at the world in front of me. And then just imagine meeting someone who has never experienced such barbaric instrumentation as a camera that had more than one button on it, I mean come on, everything will be voice controlled and only recognise it's master's voice and any mistakes will be down to the software and not the user (sound familiar?).
So after going through all my manual lenses I thought about using my Tamron 35-70mm f3.5 (17A), the FotoDioX Pro FD-M43 EXCELL + 1 and my Canon 2x-B Teleconverter, it's kind of cheating in a way because the focal reducer makes the lens a 25.2-50.4mm f2.5 and with the addition of the Canon 2x-B I'll have a 50.4-100.8mm f5.0 lens, but if I decide not to use the focal reducer the lens would be just a 35-70mm f3.5 and with the Canon 2x-B a simple 70-140mm f7.0. It sounds crazy, I know, but I set it all up ready to use. Below are some shots of the setup (I forgot to include the Canon 2x-B). Another reason I chose this lens was because of it's Macro focusing ability, you can get as close as 10 inches (250mm) at the maximum zoom of 70mm and a magnification of 1:2.8 according to the markings on the lens. It does allow you to get really close, though, without having to use additional close-up lenses or extension tubes.
E-M5 II with the FotoDioX Pro FD-M43 focal reducer and Tamron 35-70mm f3.5 Zoom lens ready for action.
E-M5 II and Tamron 35-70mm f3.5 Zoom lens looking the part. I do like the front lens on this zoom.
E-M5 II, focal reducer, and lens looking down at it all. It reminds me of the Olympus OM-10 I had in the 1980's.
E-M5 II and lens face off. With the focal reducer this is a great walk about combination even with the 2x crop factor of the M43 system.
I've used my E-M5 II instead of the E-M1 II as it's going to be the same lens in different combinations, which is easier to note down than having to edit the lens data on the E-M1 II. I must say though the combination looks the part. The red coloured item is the FD-M43 FotoDiox focal reducer and it works really well with this lens.
I'll also be using my Weston Master IV light meter along with the invercone for incident light readings. It is actually quite amazing how accurate this bit of ancient technology from over 65 years ago is still working. My other Weston meters are just as accurate and it still surprises me when I take them out.
It's now July, the weather is awful, rain, wind, gray to black skies and 17C outside, the UK summer has arrived. I really don't want to go out and take photographs in this kind of weather as the results would be pretty bland and wouldn't show any benefits of using this combination, and the only weather proofing is on the cameras. The weather will improve, they said. I'll wait.
To show how the weather is I just took a couple of shots a few minutes after writing the above text from my front door. It's actually raining, or as they say around here, "Spitting", where it's kind of raining but isn't. The images were straight out of the camera, no editing, it's just that I have the JPegs saved as 1920 x 1440 pixels in superfine mode, on my E-M1 II I also store a full sized JPeg on the other SD card. I use this size as it's convenient for uploading and the image quality is very good and if printed at 96 DPI can produce prints of 20" x 15" (50cm x 38cm). I haven't personally tried printing at that size but I guess it's possible and they will look fine as long as you use the rule of standing away about 1.5 to 2 times the image diagonal.
The weather in July certainly doesn't encourage going out and about with your gear, let alone getting on your bike to see if there is anything out there worth recording in a photograph. E-M5 II, 1/500th second, f3.5, ISO 200, 70mm FL and FotoDioX focal reducer.
E-M5 II, 1/500th second, f3.5, ISO 200, 35mm FL and FotoDioX focal reducer. Basically a FL of 25mm f2.5 but because of the M43 crop factor 50mm and some say f5.0.
I could have brightened the image up and made it look more pleasing but this is the weather at the time I took the photograph.
I'll have to set a plan of operation as the weather is so unpredictable and going out there expecting results could be challenging. So, let's see what options I have:
1 .. Use the camera setup with the focal reducer and 35-70mm lens for a couple of days.
2 .. Take the focal reducer off and see how it goes for another couple of days.
3 .. Add the Canon 2x-B to the setup giving me a 70-140mm f7 zoom.
4 .. Add back the focal reducer just for fun to give me a 50.4 - 100.8mm f5.04.
5 .. Add my Canon 135mm f3.5 lens to the mix as it would allow me more reach especially with the 2x-B.
So there are a few options I could try. The combination of the focal reducer and the 2x-B Tel-Extender is interesting, I haven't taken any shots with it yet but the weight and feel of the whole thing reminds me of picking up my camera bag in the mid 70's and saying to myself I needed to cut down on the gear I take with me. Here's what the combination looks like so far with all the bits added.
As mentioned above the weight of this combination is crazy, as in over 1.5 Kg (3.3 pounds) and there is no way I would be carrying this all day long, it's no wonder we had many pub stops in the early years.
So, after all this to and froing I've decided that I'm going to use my OM-D E-M1 II and the amazing Tamron 35-70mm f3.5 CF Macro. This lens even though its over 35 years old is incredibly sharp when stopped down to f4.00 at all focal ranges and at f5.6 it's amazing. I will also bring the Canon 2x-B along with the Canon 135mm f3.5.
There is something about the Tamron 17A lens that keeps me coming back to it, OK, it's awkward to use, especially when trying to focus while in the 35mm focal range. The lens is at its longest, physically, when set to 35mm and just gets shorter as you zoom higher. So, at 35mm focal length, the lens is actually 9 CM long, but zoom to 70mm and it remains at 9 CM but now focuses to 250mm. It has been said that relying on the macro mechanism to alter the focusing range and zoom settings will definitely wear the lens cams out, and that you shouldn't put any stress on them.
I must say though that this Tamron 35-70mm f3.5 CF Macro BBAR MC is one of the sharpest manual zoom lenses I have ever owned. This combination with various other bits and bobs that may pop up will be taken into review, it could be fun, let's see, shall we?
No decisions made yet as the weather is still pretty awful, the photos below were taken as usual from my front door on August 7th 2024 at around 11:30 AM. The forecasts say to expect this for the next few days, so there goes another weekend where staying indoors is the only thing to do.
I could create a panoramic photo of those three shots though, that would take me a few minutes of not caring about how bad the weather is but won't bother, ha.
I don't mind going out in the rain but as I have to dress for the occasion with putting on a coat that would keep out the deepest of the coldest weather, a hood that would stop any water getting past my face and the whole coat weighs more than my manual camera rucksack it seems hardly worth the effort, my camera would definitely be very hard to use especially changing modes to suit, nope, not worth the effort as coming back from the outing would mean having to dry off everything including my camera gear and hope everything was not water damaged.
I used to use the same kinds of excuses while living in Canada, you could guarantee what the weather was going to be like; but there was never any film in the camera, you'd have to drive for miles to get some (well, a walk would have achieved the same), then you would have to load it into the camera, make sure everything was OK to go and then find somewhere a few doors down from the pub where there were some decent photographic experiences you could take advantage of which of course never happened because it got so dark really quickly in those days.
Right, so, what did we used to do in those dark days of trying to keep ourselves occupied when we had nothing to do after work. I found the hobby of electronics when I was about 12, especially the Crystal Radio stuff. it blew my mind in different directions where you could listen to news and music for free (well, something I found out later in life wasn't quite true), and all based on energy floating around on our atmosphere.
Well with everything being so "Automatic" these days is there any point in getting out of bed? Well, there could be as there is nothing like the feeling of looking at your stuff and wondering what you were going to do with it today, but then 24 hours later it looks promising except I have to stay at home today as OH has gone on a shopping spree and things are due in the mail that need to be signed for.
So the weather looks promising but the opportunity to leave the house with my camera set up as I was hoping has been put on the back burner as there are things that must be done before I can even think of going out for a short walk with my gear. About 45 minutes after taking those photos above the weather reverted back to look the same as the previous photos, rain, wind, and pretty miserable but the temperature reached a high of 17C which is an improvement to yesterdays 16C, it is August after all.
So, while waiting for the weather to improve and then the opportunity to go out for a short walk or even a longer one seems a distant reality which may happen eventually, but then, well. The last long walk I did was in 2018, it was a 6 hour walk that would have taken a healthy person about 2 hours but where I live I can walk in a full circle and end up at my front door. I had the Canon 600D at the time and it was a great piece of technology, some of the images it created were absolutely stunning. Some old photos from that long walk below.
