35 RC Auto Exposure Problem

[TXForester]

I can't seem to use AE on my RC. The needle always goes into the red zone no matter what combination of ISO, shutter speed I use. Using a hand held meter or the meter in another camera tells me the subjects are within the range for speed set and ISO set.

The camera fires ok when I manually set shutter speed and aperture. The meter shows the shutter speed and in manual shows the right aperture.

Any ideas what might be wrong?

 

[OlympusRF]

if you got a new batt, maybe the wire to the battery chamber is broken, or the cds cell that died. Open the camera and see until were the voltage is going. If it arrives to the cds cell and nothing happens, is because its dead, i think its easy to replace, but a little hard to find....

 

[charjohncarter]

As above; take the bottom plate first (carefully). Check that the contacts are solid and conducting: contact: then go to the next step . If you are lucky enough to have a filter ring that is undamaged then remove the ring and check the contacts to the meter, if they are good you can check the continuity of the meter with a simple meter from Radio Shack. In my limited experience these CDS meters don't die easily (I've only had one), so probably it is a problem with the first course I suggested.

 

[johnalex141r]

Mine had a short...

Mine had a short...

I have one, great little camera. It had a problem though, the screws holding the shutter speed "platform" were a little loose; if the platform touched a metal bit of the frame, the meter stopped working.

I know, I know; not a great description; I mention this only because, sometimes, the problem is in front of your nose, all you need to do is to see it (that is the *hard* part!)

I knew that the problem was somewhere with the shutter speed selector, because if I wiggled it, and looked through the viewfinder, I could see it going to/from working state.

My 35RC now has a little bit of paper in it to act as an insulator, in case the screw comes loose again.

JohnS.

 

[btgc]

I weren't able to get back automation on my 35RC. It's little great camera anyway.

 

[John Hermanson]

Look closely at screw head in battery box, it probably has a fine ring of green crust around it. Right there could be where your battery problem starts. No contact between battery spring and screw head. Then on other side, possible corroded battery wire where it solders to screw. Then maybe on/off switch (under front plate) is corroded, then maybe meter coil itself is open. John

 

[ZeissFan]

There could be many reasons why the meter isn't working with the most likely being a connection problem but also not ruling out a short somewhere.

You really have to be able to tinker with things but also be able to have some skills with a screwdriver and multimeter to be able to inspect and diagnose problems. Not a criticism, of course, but not everyone can do this.

I'm crap with a sewing machine, but give me a screwdriver, and it's a different story.

 

[Richard Ross]

Then on other side, possible corroded battery wire where it solders to screw. John

That was the problem with mine - the wire had corroded through and disconnected. A fiddly job but not difficult to fix.

 

[John Hermanson]

A direct short will make the battery very hot in a very short time. All the problems I've found in the RC are "open" circuit problems, ie power not getting where it should mainly due to "I've been running on one battery for 10 years, pretty good huh?". John