My Olympus 35 RC has arrived!

[Miguel Oliveira]

Hi there

I brought a Oly 35RC over ebay, after some missed bids I get my Oly for 32£, I think it was very good deal, she is in very good condition, like the pictures in the attachements shown.

Cause I'm a very inexperienced 'photographer', I bought 10 35mm film roll on ebay, and I'm almost finishing the first one, it was my ideia to make a test drive of the camera, to see if the camera behaves properly!

When I get my pictures, I will post here to give you guys an update. For the mean while, do you have any tips, advices to give me, anything is welcome, I'm starting on this and any help is needed!

Thanks for anything

Miguel

 

[Rodchenko]

Congratulations. Some RCs have gone for crazy money recently. I hope you enjoy your new camera, and I'm looking forward to seeing the results.

 

[petronius]

Fine camera. Have fun and show some results.

 

[zuiko85]

Even if in excellent condition check that the light seal foam on the door is not spongy or crumbly. From what I could tell from the third photo in your post visually it looks OK but it is a small photo so hard to tell.

The RC is a photographers favorite, especially since it can be operated in a full manual mode and only needs the battery for the light meter. It's compact and has a good lens.

Your going to like it, a lot.

 

[Retrotech68]

I always liked the little 35 RC. I hope you'll enjoy yours. As zuiko85 has just pointed out, it can be used in manual mode only, which is a marked advantage for many of us. From the photos you posted, I the only thing that will need some attention is the leatherette: you must glue those edges, otherwise it will eventually start to peel off... Check also the light seals - you can order a pre-cut set online and replace the old, sticky foam if needed.

Alex

 

[zuikologist]

nice one!

one tip - the auto contacts on the aperture ring sometimes corrode a little which affects exposure - a little exercise every now and then helps.

 

[back alley]

i should pull mine out of the closet and run a roll through it!

 

[btgc]

Some RCs have gone for crazy money recently.

Hmm.Ken Rockwell reviewed RC years ago. Isn't boom factor over (just wondering) ?

 

[Miguel Oliveira]

Thanks for the tips, today I had taken a few more pictures, and this is really a test drive for the Oly...If I don't like the pics, or when I post them here and you guys advice me to get a full inspection on the camera I will do it.

I'm from Portugal and I found a tech store that makes free budgets and they could say to me what it's wrong with her...

One more question, I am viewing some filters on ebay, do you guys think that it's better to get an lens hood and some filters like UV or something?


Tks!

 

[farlymac]

Congratulations on the RC, Miguel. As far as filters are concerned, for B&W films you can use Yellow, Orange, Green, and Red to control the contrast, and a UV for general use (also keeps the lens clean), or if you are up in the mountains.

For today's color films, usually a Skylight is all that is needed, although a Polarizer would make the sky more dramatic. Only problem there is determining the effect when on a rangefinder camera. I have seen a solution for this in an accessory finder with markings that match the ones on the filter so you can set the filter to what you see in the finder http://www.kenkoglobal.com/index.html. Somewhat expensive, though. There are also cooling and warming filters for those times when the light is too shifted, like in early morning/late evening, or reflecting off the snow.

Neutral density filters are good to have for those times when you get stuck with the wrong speed film in the camera, or a graduated ND for when you want to cut down the sky exposure.

A good vented hood can be found from the large auction site. Heavystars is my favorite seller for those.

PF

 

[zuiko85]

Miguel, your RC takes a 43.5mm filter. That is an uncommon size. I would suggest you try to obtain a 43.5 to 43mm adapter, a slight step down in size that will allow you to use a more common filter size.

Just type in '43.5mm step ring' on an e-bay search and scan the selections. they are all from China.


However there can be a problem with this particular camera and filters, hoods and other 43.5mm threaded accessories. The filter thread is recessed into a channel. The center of the lens is almost even with the rim of the threaded part. The problem is that if the wall thickness of the filter or other threaded accessory is too thick it might not be able to screw onto the lens at all.

Unfortunately until you have the filter or filter size adapter in hand there is no way to tell for sure if it will fit.

I love my RC but this was a mean little Olympus trick to get you to buy only their filters. Their filters are now long out of production, rare and expensive when you do find them.

 

[bobby_novatron]

The RC is a beautiful little camera. I liked it so much I bought 3 of them!

The Zuiko lens is fantastic. Very very sharp, and excellent colour rendition. Hope you enjoy yours!

This photo was taken with my 35RC and cheap 200 ISO generic film (I assume Fuji).

 

[ddejohn]

i should pull mine out of the closet and run a roll through it!

Or sell it to me! 😀

 

[farlymac]

I use a 43.5-to-46mm Step-Up ring on mine with no problem. The 46mm size is more common to compact 35mm cameras, and so the filters are easier to obtain. Either a straight hood (Hoya made good ones), or a vented one will be fine.


With Vented Hood by br1078phot, on Flickr

And a sample photo


Industrial Still Life by br1078phot, on Flickr

PF

 

[Miguel Oliveira]

thanks for the tips guys!

I finished shooting my first film roll, an 200 ISO, yesterday so when I get the pics I'll scan them and show you guys!
For the time being I'm just going to buy a good case for the camera, with my evolution (hope so) on photography I could buy some stuff, but for now it's shooting shooting 🙂

Thanks for all

 

[dtcls100]

Congrats on getting a great camera.

 

[charjohncarter]

One of the great features of the Olympus 35RC and all these cheapo RF compacts from Japan is they have a leaf shutter. That allows you to use flash easily for flash (outdoors), which is not easy with a Leica. So for fill flash or over powering the sun flash you have these forms covered without using a mega-powered flash. This is my friend cutting my hedge on a bright sunny California day and I used simple fill flash, but I did dial down the shutter a half stop to darken the sky.

It also has a 'flashmatic' feature which lets you use manual flash indoors or at night outdoors with excellent accuracy. The adjustable shutter speed allows for ambient light control when using 'flashmatic', also.

 

[Sid836]

I love the 35RC. This is what a compact rangefinder should always had been. After reading the other thread about the GAS syndrome, I have sold the one of my two 35RCs. I will do the same for all of my cameras I have in double.

 

[Dennis.Carlson]

This camera is so awesome, I always wanted one but I don't like the fact that its shutter priority. I like to control my depth of field. If it was opposite, this could possibly me by only camera. I love the form-factor of it.

 

[charjohncarter]

This camera is so awesome, I always wanted one but I don't like the fact that its shutter priority. I like to control my depth of field. If it was opposite, this could possibly me by only camera. I love the form-factor of it.

I have more than one complaint about the 35RC, and shutter priority is one of them. I will say with increased use you do get used to using a higher shutter speed to decrease depth of field (and some of the other irritations). I have had many of the compact 35s and they all have something that I would like to change. But after trying many; the 35RC is the one that is the best for me.