Honouring the Oly 35sp

[ruben]

Ruben:
No need for apologies!!!!
It´s a question of preferences, and if you prefer to go with a handheld meter, that´s OK. I´m currently doing almost the same, because many of my cameras don´t have a working meter, and of course, even working well, the meters are of the average type and have no intelligence to help me.
To be honest, what I would like to have is a fixed lens RF with a spot meter like the Oly 35SP, but unfortunately those are unusual to find locally in good shape.
Then I do my spot meterings by hand.

Kind regards

Ernesto

I do own an Oly 35SP, and can tell you, that besides a hell of a lens, the spot meter feature there is no big deal. Not because it is not accurate but because it is too big spot area metering (the rather big yellow patch). In practice it gives you some compensation, usually 1 stop plus or minus from the general reading (which is also accurate and good), but I would not say it is rather a big deal in practice than it is in the concept. (Kudos for Maitani !). The OM4's and 3s' are a totally different story, a spoting delikatesen, or better said a Multi spot delicatessen. (More Kudos for Maitani ! ! !)

The 35sp has its drawbacks as well. The shutter noise is rather loud, but its vibration is a punch on your face. The EV info at the viewfinder makes the camera slower to manipulate unless you are shooting in program mode (auto) or using an auto flash indoors at permanent camera aperture.

But if you are using the latter two options, then the 35sp shines in terms of overall efficiency and speedy manipulation. The handle protruding from the focusing barrel is a great advantage (once you got used to it) for superfast focusing.

To end this little homage, I would say that the Oly 35sp stands out among two heavier competitors, the Minolta Hi Matic 7 and the Konica S2. But I am not sure if it can beat the Canonet QL17 III, with its autoparalax compensation, as net opinions about both lenses quite differ, and I have no personal experience with my Canonet, sold me un-operative by a fellow Israelian.

Cheers,

Ruben

 

[ddutchison]

There's certainly no faulting the glass on this camera, or its reliability. Although mine feels rough and kind of tinny, it's never failed me in the decade and a half I've owned it - and I once used it quite heavily. I have to admit that I have no opinion on the metering as I removed the dead battery when I got it and I've never bothered to replace it.

My only gripe is the very long 5mm travel of the shutter release button.

 

[Trius]

OK, <pout on> Maitain, AFAIK, did not design this camera. It is part of the "35"series, and Maitaini's first design was the Pen, maybe at the same time as the SP, but not his design.

2nd, you're right about some of the details, but what ddhutchison (is your avatar Oscar?) says ... it never fails.

3rd, if you compare 6% spot (the size of the RF patch) to a 1deg spotmeter a la Pentax or Soligar, it's the wrong comparison. RFs are made for quick, unobtrusive shooting where a 6deg spot is bonus. 1deg spot is made for 4x5 and larger.

Noise? My SPs cost me about 1/10 of a Leica, maybe 1/5 of a ZI/M. Questions?

<pout off>

I love my the images from my SPs, so what's the issue? 😀

 

[ruben]

OK, <pout on> ...3rd, if you compare 6% spot (the size of the RF patch) to a 1deg spotmeter a la Pentax or Soligar, it's the wrong comparison. RFs are made for quick, unobtrusive shooting where a 6deg spot is bonus. 1deg spot is made for 4x5 and larger.....
...I love my the images from my SPs, so what's the issue? 😀

Without any substancial authority, it seems to me that the Oly 35sp yellow patch should measure more than 6% of the total rf window.

As for "the issue", it doesn't matter Maitani was or not the practical designer, as it should be regarded as a Maitani quality level camera. Therefore, kindly join me in more KUDOS FOR MAITANI !!!

Cheers,

Ruben

 

[ruben]

...The 35sp has its drawbacks as well... The EV info at the viewfinder makes the camera slower to manipulate unless you are shooting in program mode (auto) or using an auto flash indoors at permanent camera aperture.

But if you are using the latter two options, then the 35sp shines in terms of overall efficiency and speedy manipulation. The handle protruding from the focusing barrel is a great advantage (once you got used to it) for superfast focusing.

Ruben

Well, I have to retract myself more than a bit about the EV viewfinder info utility.

Once upon a time, some decade and half ago when I went rather serious with Photography, and read whatever I could about technique, by luck I catched a crucial book standing out by far from everything else I read until then and afterwards. It was David Vestal's The Craft of Photography.

There I learnt, among others, about the inner connection between film exposure and film development, on the basis of systematic testing. By those times I started to meter handheld and adjust the meter reading to the subject's brightness.

With time I became sloppy, lazy and digital, and started to fun around with Sekonic's digital meters giving instant incident readings.

That was the situation until a recent classified offer by Tom, about a Weston Master meter, that hurt my heart reminding me David Vestal's explanations about his Weston Master IV and how good it is for the exposure counscious photog. On this basis I ordered a Euro Master from e-bay, still on transit, and this brings me back to the EV value viewfinder info found at the OLY 35SP.

If you are a photographer using the auto reading of your camera, or the reflective reading of you handheld meter, then the EV scale of the OLY 35SP is rather a liability.

But if you are an exposure counscious shooter, then the EV info of this camera is of great value. Sure, many or most other cameras show you a combination of f/stops and speeds, with which you can follow all other combinations maintaining the same EV.

But if you want to change the EV factor to compensate your reading, then the EV way of the OLY 35 SP, both at the viewfinder and at the lens nose, becomes the most straightforward way to get all the info you need, exception made by the Weston meters. And if you follow this way, then proportionally, the camera is the faster to manipulate without a Weston meter.

Besides that, if you are shooting with the 35SP at program mode, a fixed program shown at the camera manual, the viewfinder scale is telling you another detail: whether the program is going to shoot at speeds of 1/60 and over, or 1/30, or slower than 1/30 - a not at all unimportant detail.

Kudos for Maitani's Olympus !

Cheers,
Ruben