New Olympus 35RC owner and his stupid questions

[boffen]

Hi! I got my first rangefinder camera two days ago, after shooting digital for a couple of years. I settled on the Olympus 35RC because of its size and seemingly user-friendly settings. The camera I got seems to be in decent shape, but I have some questions about it, and film/RF cameras in general.

1: The focus ring makes a little noise when I use it. Is this normal? It seems to be in perfect working condition.
2: What battery can I use without having to adjust the ISO-settings, and where can I order them (needs to be somewhere with international shipping)?
3: I'm currently using it in manual mode by using my D300 as a light meter. How accurate is this? Will the same settings on both cameras produce similar exposures?
4: I plan on buying a cheap light meter so I don't have to drag my D300 with me all the time. Do you guys have any recommendations?

Thanks in advance for answers or other tips and tricks!

Edit: Got my test roll back. Overall I'm pretty happy with the results. I guessed my way to the correct exposure on about half of them, so I'm fairly happy with that, considering the fact that I've never used the Sunny 16-rule before. Other than that I've noticed that I need to practice framing. The pictures themselves aren't too interesting, but can be found on my flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/iamboffen/sets/72157626351022479/

I liked this picture:


imm027_26A by iamboffen, on Flickr

 

[fidget]

Hi Boffen,
I have had a couple, although I haven't really used them much.

My focus adjustment makes no noise, but the old one was a little "firm" to move, the later one is very free.

I have used those zinc-air hearing aid batteries with a ring (cut from foam) around it to make it sit in the centre of the battery compartment. Mercury batteries and some adapters are available fairly widely. I would suggest that you use a zinc-air just to establish that the cam is otherwise Ok and that it suits you.

I've not used my digis in this way, but you should be able to arrive at an "adjustment factor" if your digi doesn't agree with a light meter.

There are threads on lightmeter recommendations, a search will show them up. My recommendation is to get a cheap one, although my Gossen Digisix is very small, light and has had no issues for the 6 years it's been in use.

Good luck with your Oly, hope to see some of your images posted...

 

[David Hughes]

Hi,

They took the old mercury PX-625 battery and you can get a replacement the Wein cell fairly easily or a little ring that allows a hearing add battery to be used. (But hearing aid batteries come in dozens and half will be dead when you get around to using them... )

Some use a hearing aid battery and silver paper (especially second-hand ones sold "with new battery").

Also, there's a super battery holder that takes a hearing aid battery and adjusts the voltage via a diode.

In your shoes, I's ask a camera technician about the focusing ring. Better safe than sorry and the camera's getting on in years. He/she could check everything while he/she has it and advise on batteries.

Regards, David

 

[Mablo]

Olympus 35RC has built in lightmeter. Just pop in a hearing aid cell with some stuffing around it and set the A-mode on.

 

[jesse1dog]

Seem to think a suitable 'O' ring from the hardware store will fit round a battery and keep it secure - good solution and not a great cost.
Nice little camera.
If the seals are sticky 'JonGoodman@yahoo.com' can supply bits and pieces for that. (Hope the link works.)

jesse

 

[boffen]

Updated with a link to pictures from my first roll.