2026-10-19 Olympus X-36 (Also known as the T-100) Digital Camera

The Olympus X-36 (also known as the T-100) came out June 20, 2010. It is a 12 megapixel camera with a 6x5 mm sensor. It has a 36-108mm (35mm equivalent) f/4.6-8.5 optical zoom that can have an additional 4x digital zoom.

This is a wide shot, taken with flash, of the top of my dresser about 1.5 m (five feet) away.

This is the same view taken with both 3x optical zoom and 4x digital zoom.

   The X-36 has contrast detect autofocus with real time focus tracking. The focus can get as close as 5 cm at the wide zoom end, 60 cm at the telephoto end. The shutter is totally mechanical with speeds from 4 sec to 2000 sec. Since the sensitivity range is 100-1600 ISO, you won’t be capturing too many night skies.
   On the other hand there are 13 scene modes with multi-segment metering and face detection.
The flash will illuminate to 4.4 m (14 feet) on wide and 2.3 m (7.5 feet) on telephoto.

This was a grab shot in slight rain with the camera handling all the details.
The rechargeable battery will power 190 shots. The camera recharges though a USB cable. The camera is 93mm x 60mm x 24mm (3.66 in x 2.36 in x 1.0 in, W/H/D).

With card and battery, the X-36 weighs 123 g (4.3 ounce).
Just to give you an idea of how digital cameras compare to film cameras, a Canon FT 35 mm camera with a Vivitar Series 1 70-210mm f/3.5 zoom (3x zoom ratio)—without a film loaded—weighs 1,446 g (3.1875 pounds). That is almost 12x heavier than the Olympus X-36!

Comments

2026-03-14 - History and Evolution of the Kodak Logo

While working as a junior clerk at the Rochester Savings Bank, George Eastman first began commercial production of dry photographic plates in a rented loft of a building in Rochester, New York in April 1880. In the next few years, Eastman became very successful and expanded the company several times. His company started as the Eastman Dry Plate Company in 1881, later became the Eastman Dry Plate and Film Company in 1884, and soon after the Eastman Company in 1889. The last name change occurred in 1892, when the Eastman Kodak Company of New York was organized. The company has been called Eastman Kodak Company ever since. The word "Kodak" was first registered as a trademark in 1888. The letter “K” had been a favorite of Eastman’s, he is quoted as saying, "I devised the name myself. The letter 'K' had been a favorite with me; it seems a strong, incisive sort of letter. It became a question of trying out a great number of combinations of letters that made word...

2026-03-20-Manfrotto monopods

Sometimes collecting is a matter of persistence. The Manfrotto “GRUPPO” 434SSB monopod (shown top) showed up one day at my local thrift store. They had a price tag of $25 on it. I had bought the lower Manfrotto Compact MMC3-01 monopod at the same thrift store for $3. So I asked, “Why so much?” They answered their “expert” had found it sold for $200 on the internet. I find experts—who almost never clerk in the thrift store, so are unreachable—hard to deal with. There is also the matter someone might actually pay them $25 for a 2.27 kg (5 pound) aluminum pole, so I decided to let the Gods-of-Collecting decide if I was going to ever own it. For weeks I would pick it up, check the price tag to see if they had come to their senses, and return it to the shelf. I did try various clerks to see if they would lower the price, but they said they were not authorized to change prices. I plodded on, week after week without much hope. ...

2026-06-23 Olympus Camedia D-535 Digital Camera

The Olympus Camedia D-535 digital camera is a cute little camera, introduced September 16, 2004. It was modestly priced at about $175 list. It had the motto, “one button/one function.” There were four scene modes available, as well as movies (QuickTime / 320x240 at 15 fps for as long as the memory held out) and “Program-Auto” on the rotary dial. A four direction with a center “OK” allowed rapid access to (starting at 12 and going clockwise)— EV adjustments plus and minus 2EV in ½ EV steps Macro (including Super-Macro allowing shooting down to 2 cm (0.79”) Reset Self-timer (12 seconds) The three buttons under the 1.5 inch (130,000 dot) screen (from left) are delete, menu access and flash modes. The two buttons to the right of the screen are camera (top) and playback. There is a rocker switch for zooming that doubles as a magnification /file views switch on playback. The power-on button is inset into the top at the middle of the camera, with the shutter button ...

Edmonton Photographic Historical Society

Search This Blog