Shot with OM Zuiko 85mm lens on e-420 digital body
The sun burst into our bedroom this morning after two days of hiding behind clouds. Those dark days and precipitation did provide the mountains across the valley with brilliant white cloaks. It’s Sunday in Saint George which means most shops are closed so residents go to church and then spend the day outside with their family, hiking, biking or just visiting with each other in a local park.
By the time we put in contacts, gathered cameras and made ourselves borderline presentable, our neighbors were already enjoying the grand weather. Three kids ranging in size from 3 to 4 feet were bouncing happily on the family trampoline next door. The smallest of them was earnestly working to perfect his back flip. His height of bounce and backward rotation fell a little short so instead of landing on his feet he ended up resting on his shins. But he wasn’t giving up and I could see gradual improvement as he repeatedly spun in the sunshine dressed in shorts and an unbuttoned shirt that exposed his boney rib cage and recessed abdomen. I was impressed by the skill level of each child using the trampoline as well as their fitness and limitless energy. Was I ever like that?
Shot with OM Zuiko 85mm lens on e-420 digital body
We are staying in a pleasant but relatively humble condo on the west side of town, the complex is known as “Sports Village”. It has it’s own racquetball courts, two pools including a lap pool, tennis courts and a small exercise room. I think most of the units are rented out for weekends or short vacation stays vs being filled with year round residents. I’m told the units fill up a month or so before the St. George Triathlon with triathletes in training. The lap pool is not heated so the water temp is similar to that of the reservoir where the competition is held. Hence, a great training site.
Our training today will consist of walking through downtown St. George. (Sue’s getting over a mild cold and a little low on steam.) So we’re going to visit the grounds of the Latter Days Saints St. George Temple and the Town Park which is a green space with statues and water features surrounded by preserved historical buildings that currently serve as public buildings, i.e. city library.
23 mm OM Zuiko lens on e-420 digital body
Shot with OM Zuiko 85mm lens on e-420 digital body
My other mission is to test two old OM film camera lenses on my e-420 digital camera. A simple adapting rings allows me to carry over all my OM Zuiko lenses to my digital camera. The price you pay for using the old lenses is the focal length is doubled, F stop is halved and you can only use them via manual focus.
Shot with OM Zuiko 85mm lens on e-420 digital body
I was concerned that it would be difficult to manually focus without a split image screen but it wasn’t an issue on such a sunny day. To my surprise I really enjoyed shooting with the 85mm telephoto. The 85mm actually functioned more like a 170mm so I had to backup a lot on some shots and made a point of stabilizing it well as I didn’t bring a tripod. The Olympus e-420 unlike the 520 or 620 does not have image stabilization. The best part was the great feel that old lens had compared to manually focusing my digital pancake lens. To sum it up I preferred shooting with the old 85mm on manual focus over shooting the digital pancake lens on auto-focus.
Shot with OM Zuiko 85mm lens on e-420 digital body
The other old lens I tested was a 23mm wide angle. I bought it used and it is well worn. The focusing barrel is a little sloppy and the images were not crisp. My conclusion is that it needs to be retired, I don’t plan to use it again. But I’m looking foreword to using the 85mm again and soon.
Shot with OM Zuiko 85mm lens on e-420 digital body
Shot with OM Zuiko 85mm lens on e-420 digital body
I hope you enjoy the test shots and thanks for reading my blog. Peace and happy travels.
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Hi Tom & Sue! Sounds like a lovely day in Utah. We just had RAIN on top of all our snow, so it is super icy out. Trying to avoid a fall….
Glad you’re on the rebound, Sue. Nice to just do a gentle walk as a part of your recovery.
Loved your photos, Tom (always do!). That’s interesting that you shared photo info along with them.
We just got back from a weekend of xc skiing and DANCING (clogging, square and swing). It was a nice workshop at a great resort, but I gained 3 pounds…
Still haven’t ordered my guide book for El Camino. My mind is just elsewhere now, as we are up to our armpits in kitchen remodel…which leads to refinishing all the floors and replacing all the windows. A real Pandora’s Box. 🙂
Have a great day, Val
Hi Val,
Sounds like you’re busy and having fun. The dancing may be helpful to keep you up right on the ice. As for the three pounds, could it be new muscle? 🙂 Sue and I need to do some serious planning on the Camino also. We know we are going to be there in Sept and plan to hike it but we haven’t worked out the details yet. I guess we need the stress of an immediate deadline to kick us into high gear. It just seems too far away to sweat about it now. I guess we need to change our attitude a little.
I’m glad you liked the photos and we hope we can hook up on the El Camino in Sept. Adios!
tom and sue
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”