Frugal Film Project February results
Teething problems with my Olympus Stylus Epic
I thought it was a stroke of genius to use my $69 Olympus Stylus Epic for the Frugal Film Project 2024. When I saw my February results, it felt like a mistake.
Over the last decade, the Olympus Stylus Epic (MJU II) has been the most sought-after point and shoot film camera. Therein lies the problem - expectations. If I shoot with it for the Frugal Film Project, shouldn’t every shot on every roll be amazing?
I chose the Stylus Epic for 2 main reasons:
Compact - I want to take it everywhere with me
Good quality - if I’m shooting 12 rolls of film with it, I want decent results.
I’m quite happy with the first 3 photos in this newsletter. They were taken at Springbrook National Park in Queensland. The fern image at the top is beautiful, I love how it’s sharp and in focus in the foreground and gradually falls off to the background. This is the kind of result I was expecting with the Stylus Epic.
But that’s only part of the story for the February roll. Half of the images were plagued by either close focus issues (see the scones photo below - was I too close?) or underexposure when using the ‘flash off’ mode.
On an overcast day, I took my Stylus Epic to a house around the corner that was up for sale. I’ve passed this house hundreds of times and was keen for a closer look.
It’s on a big block of land and has several outbuildings - and the cherry on top was the Hills Hoist clothesline. I turned the flash off on the camera. The first photo above looks a little underexposed but not too bad.
Things then got progressively worse. I really love the subject matter and composition of this shot of a building with a water tank - but why is it so underexposed? I’ve been using point and shoots for years in ‘flash off’ mode and have never had such disappointing shots.
I also love this shot of a hobby horse in a garage, but again, it’s underexposed. Seeing these results made me rethink my continued participation in the project. Should I swap cameras? Should I quit? My March roll would be make or break.
A couple of days ago I got my images back for March - I took the Stylus Epic on a trip to China and I’m pleased to say I’m back in the game! I learned from my mistakes on this roll and didn’t use the ‘flash off’ mode once. Stay tuned for those photos next week.
Watch on YouTube
Hear more about my February results in my latest video.