Think Pink

The Pink Panther was a childhood favourite of mine both in the Cartoons made during the sixties that I saw as a child and also the Peter  Blake directed movies staring Peter Sellers as the hapless inspector on the case.
I collected a lot of merchandise as a child such as plushies, notepads, toys and calendars and bought Pink Panther themed bubble bath so you could say it was an obsession of mine.

Bags

I just adore cure airline type bags such as these

Zoom lenses for the Olympus cameras

This is actually really good a seven element, seven group Tamron type 17A 35-70mm co-called "standard" constant F3.5 zoom with a 1:2:8 reproduction ratio at the 70mm end complete with Olympus OM mount and even a Hoya 1A filter fitted.

Serial # 556389

It only weighs in at 330 grams which isn't bad while the viewfinder image is fairly bright making it handy for quick picture taking where changing lens isn't so easy.

Making quick changes to how you frame the image is something that's easy to achieve with a zoom lens without having to move around a lot.

It came in their original packaging with the OM40 having instructions and foam too.

For more years than I really care for  arguments have raged over the qualities of lenses that cover several focal lengths  over fixed focal length ones.

Olympus themselves had manufactured a good number during what might in hindsight  be called the "Golden Era" of the OM system  in the late 1970's and 1980's that met their exacting standards.

Just what is the argument against them?

I think the first is for serious landscape photography they are harder to use with filters, specifically those square ones like Cokin's that screw on the filter thread of a lens because most zoom lenses have front elements that rotate when you focus whereas on fixed length ones they do not.

The other is during that era many cheaper zoom lenses came on the market that weren't so well designed spoiling their image. 

It was said at the time you needed to spend two to three times as much for a zoom lens of a similar quality to two or more fixed length ones and many amateurs just were not prepared to spend that.

This said, a good one has real uses like being able to easily control the final image you take very precisely not least on transparency film and this example I own, the 75-150mm F4 is a good example as it provides a very high image quality, offers a wide range of telephoto lengths and yet weighs little more than single 200mm lens which is comfortable for hand hold usage. 

I find its coverage is a good match for what I want in the field saving me carrying the 90mm and 135 and rarely need the 200mm as it's top end of 150 is adequate while saving me from changing lenses frequently.

It also uses a 49mm filter thread just like the regular standard and wide angle lenses which makes working with polarizers and square filters more straightforward for not having to double up on attachment rings and screw in filters.


As the OM system in the early 1990's moved very much toward  advanced amateurs and professionals with the OM4Ti being the only 'new' body available, while only a  few fixed length lenses went from the lens range such as the 135mm, all the Zooms did until they introduced the 35-80 F2.8 in 1995 issued with the OM3Ti.

More Clannad

It was a good while ago since I bought and wrote a review of the Anime Clannad which has two parts, a series that really moved me.

Thinking of that I thought I'd share a couple of images of a collectors figure ofTomoyo Sakagami.