Olympus mju 2 [mju:] II Review. Is it as good as the legend says?

Olynpus Mju II.  Quickly snatched shot.

The Olympus mju II is hailed by the on-line photo community as the pinnacle of consumer level 35mm compact point and shoots.  The sharpness of it's 'large aperture' f2.8 lens is legendary.  It's also super compact, weather sealed and simple to use. It sounds ideal for street photography.

But is the Olympus mju II any good for street photography?

Ricoh FF9 Compact Point & Shoot Review.

No the FF9 isn't massive nor do I have a tiny head.
It's being oggled by a 2 year old.

A full frame compact camera for £25.

I've always got my eye out for a decent little 35mm AF point and shoot for a walk about casual shooter and I pulled the trigger on this bit of kit on the worlds favourite auction site.  £10 and in full working order.  It didn't have a battery but my local friendly camera storer kindly supplied one at twice the going rate - I like to call that the price of convenience  - you gotta keep business local.  So locked and loaded with battery and Fuji Superia 400 its landed cost was £25.

A full frame auto focus pocket camera for £25.  Sounds good to me.   I've read good things about Ricoh compact 35mm cameras so hopes were hight for this thing.

How to get Lightroom for free.

This blog is about making strong images whilst spending as little as possible on gear.

Photos need editing and powerful, easy to use, editing software can be expensive.

I edit my photos on a cheap Dell Latitude laptop (solid corporate quality laptop that's built tough and cheap to buy).  It runs Windows XP so I'm limited to Lightroom 3.6.

You can download a free 60 day trail of Lightroom 3.6 from the official Adobe website here.  It's all pukka and above board so no worries with breaking any laws.

It expires after 60 days but just knock your date back on your PC clock when you want to use it and you're good to go for as long as you want.

The more recent trail versions of Lightroom aren't so easily tricked.

Lightroom 3.6 is as powerful as you'll ever need.

Minolta X300 Sample Images. It works!

Reflections.  Shot with Minolta X300. Fujifilm Superia 200. Scanned negative desaturated in Aviary.

Roll number 1 of Fujifilm Superia 200 was run through the X300.  The good new is that it seems to be working well.  I shot the test roll in falling light with the apature set mostly wide open to get a good shutter speed.