It’s CCD week on my photography how-to blog. In some recent posts I’ve talked about taking a look at (older) digital cameras that had CCD sensors and this week and today I continue the series with the Olympus E-300 EVOLT that was used to make today’s featured image.
Today’s Post by Joe Farace
“Mindfulness arises when you allow your attention to fall effortlessly on the breathing point like an autumn leaf falling on a lake of still water” – Amit Ray
Barr Lake State Park state is located in Adams County near Brighton, Colorado and was established in1977 as a sanctuary for both wildlife and people. A reservoir covers more than 1,950 acres and is located in the heart of the 2,715-acre park. The lake is surrounded by cottonwood trees and marshes and is home to many aquatic plants. The southern half of the park is a wildlife refuge that shelters animals and more different kinds of birds, including eagles, than are found anywhere else in Colorado.
I used to live just a few miles from the park and quickly signed up for an annual state park pass and would go there often—during the week, it’s less crowded—for model shoots. That’s where today’s featured photograph with Tia Stoneman, my original muse, was made. I also photographed several different models there and you can see one result here. The park was also a place where I went to shoot new cameras that I was testing for the former print version of Shutterbug and also carried out some of my early experiments with infrared photography there, some of which ended up in my book, The Complete Guide to Digital Infrared Photography.
How I Made this Portrait:
This photograph of Tia was made at Barr Lake State Park on the lakeside area of the park. Like my monochrome image of Tia recalling vibes of classic Hollywood, this image has a retro vibe but features strong primary colors. I think the hat is a big help as a prop.
The camera used to make this portrait was an Olympus E-300 EVOLT that was part of the company’s original Four-Thirds series of DSLRs. The lens used was the Zuiko Digital ED 150mm f/2 with an available light exposure of 1/800 sec at f/6.3 and ISO 200. The original JPEG image file was lightly tweaked in Photoshop and includes a layer of Glamour Glow from Color Efex.
This series has gotten me excited me about trying to shoot a camera with a CCD sensor again. My original plan was to look for an affordable Leica M8 or M9 since both cameras have Kodak CCD sensors, but because of financial realities that’s not going to happen any time soon. On the other hand and maybe more do-able, picking up an EVOLT 300, 330, 500 or 510 might be possible and has me intrigued about doing a side-by-side comparison between one of them and a CMOS sensor DSLR. If you have any one of these Olympus cameras that you would like to donate or sell at an affordable price let me know.
Shooting The Olympus E-300 EVOLT
The Olympus E-300 aka Olympus E-300 EVOLT in North America was an eight-megapixel DSLR that was announced at photokina 2004. It was the second camera in the series, after Oly’s flagship E-1, to use the Four-Thirds System-sized sensor (17.3 x 13mm,) now living happily (as CMOS) in the Micro Four-Thirds system and was the first of this series that was intended for consumers.
For a long time my wife shot exclusively with Olympus Four-thirds system DSLRs before later switching to Nikon. (It’s a long story.) Over the years I borrowed several of her cameras to make glamour photographs like the above portrait of Tia Stoneman. The camera I used for that portrait had Kodak’s KAF-8300CE FFT-CCD sensor that is now beloved by many shooters of older digital cameras because they believe it produces the most filmic look. Look for a technical-oriented post about the differences between CCD and CMOS real soon now.