Olympus Pen EE-S

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Here’s another cracking little camera that you can pick up for around the price of a video game. This one is the Olympus Pen-EES. It shoots half frame pictures on 35mm film, meaning that you can get 72 pictures on a roll . The exposure is automatic. Just set the film speed (with a maximum speed of 200ASA) and press the shutter button. A very clever mechanism uses an internal meter needle to select between two shutter speeds and a range of apertures. If there is not enough light you get a red flag in the viewfinder and can’t take a picture. It’s exactly the same system as the Olympus Trip 35 which I also like a lot.

The camera has a super sharp little F2.8 lens which you have to focus. This is a bit of a pain (it makes possible out of focus shots) but it does mean that you can get blurred backgrounds if you want.

I reckon the camera has got the exposure pretty much perfect here

Blurred backgrounds are possible

You can use it with a flash, but you will need a bracket for the flash gun

If you want to have a film camera with you all the time this would be a great candidate. Things to bear in mind.

  • Make sure that the exposure works. The camera has two shutter speeds, ker-lick and click. If you point the camera at a bright scene and press the shutter button you should hear a click sound as the shutter fires. A dimly lit scene should produce ker-lick. A blackout should produce a red flag.

  • The camera doesn’t need batteries for the light meter to work, but the selenium cell which it uses can be damaged if it is left in the light for a long time. Cameras that have been kept in a case or have a lens cap have the most chance of still working.

  • The EE-S2 is a slightly newer version which can be set for 400ASA speed which might be useful. But it can be slightly more expensive.

  • There are other EE and Pen variants, some with fixed focus. These are less likely to take a completely blurred shot, but sometimes you like to add some blur.

  • If you half press the shutter button this will lock the exposure. If you want to brighten your shots, point the camera at the ground, half press the shutter, reframe and then take the shot.

  • In flash mode you can set the aperture by hand and the shutter speed is a fortieth of a second. This means that you can use it as a manual camera with a slow fixed shutter speed if you wish.

  • The camera takes “portrait” orientation pictures (see above). These are all the rage in SnapTock and TickChat.

If you are looking for something bomb-proof to start your photography journey I’d recommend a Pen EES. I think they are super stylish, they seem to be coming down in price a bit at the moment (that’s how I got mine) and they tend to be reliable.