a body cap lens project

Dear Readers of Olympus Passion, my name is Roberto Adami, I am 48 years old, and I live in Cremona, Italy.

I have been an amateur photographer since I was 15, when I received my first reflex camera: an Olympus OM-10 with the classic 50mm f1.8 lens.

Since then, my passion for photography has always been alongside my love for sports (especially cycling and basketball) and music, listening to and collecting vinyl record, which I photograph and share on my Instagram profile (#ivinilidibob).

I first learned the basics of photography thanks to a historic photographer from my city, who passionately taught me to think about each shot, to understand how to convey emotions through images. He was always very patient and enthusiastic about sharing his knowledge, and I spent many hours in what was a shop of a bygone era; through his stories and advice, my passion for photography grew stronger and stronger until, after an illness, he passed away, leaving me his Minox 35GT, with which took many shots of our city and the Po River that flows through it.

I have always been fascinated by landscapes, especially the mountain landscapes of the stunning Dolomites. Over the years, I also explored other types of photography such as wildlife, sports, and musical events. In particular, in recent years, I have been photographing cycling events like MTB races and Gravel Bike events organized by the cycling sports club I am part of.

Additionally, I have been fortunate to follow various musical groups both live and in rehearsal rooms, as well as music festivals, which has allowed me to combine my great passions for photography and music.

In these cases, the compactness of the Micro 4/3 system combined with high quality allows me to use my cameras and different lenses (for example, the OM System OM-1 with the M.Zuiko 40-150mm F2.8 PRO) for an entire day without having to carry heavy equipment as I used to in the past.

Each photographic genre has also represented an opportunity or necessity to use other brands, until about ten years ago when I found the perfect balance between performance and convenience with Olympus’s Micro 4/3 system, experiencing the same feeling of usability and practicality as the film SLRs of the past from this historic brand (I still own my first OM-10 and an OM-1n, which I replaced a few years later, along with several prime lenses).

Currently, my equipment consists of three Micro 4/3 cameras (OM System OM-1, Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II, Olympus E-PL7) and various lenses, both prime and zoom, ranging from 8mm to 150mm (16mm to 300mm in 35mm equivalent).

A few years ago, I bought a used E-PL7 with the 15mm f8 body cap for some gravel bike excursions: it immediately proved to be a great adventure companion, thanks to its convenience, never sacrificing file quality.

The ability to store it in a bag with a small, compact Manfrotto tripod (ModoPocket) always mounted, along with the tilting screen, immediately made me appreciate its versatility for taking photos during multi-day bike trips, both as a memory and for promoting the events we organize as a sports group.
Since I regularly own and use other Olympus cameras, I find the same ease and immediacy in navigating the menus, feeling always comfortable.

When purchasing, besides the availability due to the used market, I preferred the 15mm body cap over the 9mm to avoid the fisheye effect, which doesn’t align much with my photography vision. I often photograph buildings, and the distortion of the 15mm is definitely better and acceptable.

The 15mm f8 body cap is certainly a great lens in terms of convenience; of course, the fixed f8 aperture and construction require some compromises in brightness and detail, always working in hyperfocal mode. But for the use I’ve planned, it’s an optical tool I would find hard to give up.

Over the past year, I’ve started using it for a project I’ve called “a body cap lens project,” aiming to emphasize the content and emotion that an image can convey over the cold data of the shot or the sharpness of the file.

Its lightness and compactness allow me to carry it everywhere—during workdays and lunch breaks—photographing what catches my eye in my city: alleys, streets, monuments, and people.

For this project, I set the camera to MANUAL, shooting directly in B/W with a portrait crop, setting ISO usually between 200 and 640 depending on the lighting conditions, and varying the shutter speed to immediately have in-camera an effect as close as possible to what I envisioned.

I usually take no more than 5 or 6 shots per day, limiting myself to moments and situations I already see as nearly finished in the camera.

I download the SD card and process the shots only at the end of the month, without constantly reviewing them (except in rare cases), to avoid the obsession of producing or feeling the need to publish something on my website or Instagram profile.

This workflow allows me to keep and post-produce only the images that truly move me, reliving in my own way the anticipation of film development and, why not, rediscovering the awareness that I can make mistakes by discarding unsuccessful shots afterwards.

I limit post-processing as much as possible—generally just adjusting highlights and shadows to compensate for the lens’s intrinsic limits—without distorting my idea of the project: I see, frame, shoot. Nothing more.

The same places, photographed at different times, hours, and seasons, sometimes appear completely different from each other, allowing me to capture in my memory moments of a place that was, that is, and that will be.

It’s an ongoing project, for which I haven’t set a deadline or a specific number of shots, and for sure I’ll extend in places outside of my city.

This way of living photography, and especially this project, brings me back to analog photography and the early days of my passion, trying to rediscover what made me fall in love with the camera—slowing down life, which too often runs too fast.