Olympus 35RC cannot change shutter speed after advancing film?

[DerekMiao]

I heard that Olympus 35RC can be destroyed by changing shutter speed after advancing film. Is that true?

I was told that I have to set shutter speed before advancing film on many rangefinder cameras, which sounds very disappointing.

 

[farlymac]

Download and read the manual, instead of going by hearsay, Derek.

http://www.star.ucl.ac.uk/~rwesson/esif/om-sif/camhistory/manuals/35rc.pdf

There are some rangefinders that you have to be careful with when setting shutter speeds, mostly the ones based on the Leica rotating shutter speed dial. The Fed and Zorki knock-offs come to mind. But you set the speed after advancing the film, not the other way around. It's best to read up on these things by doing a search on various sites, and checking the archives here for any links to instructions. A good place to start when you have questions about the operations of a specific camera is the Butkus site, where you can find many instruction manuals. http://www.butkus.org/chinon/

PF

 

[Sid836]

There is no such problem on the 35RC. Manual does not state anything about it and my old trusty Oly never had any problems and I have changed the shutter's speed before and after cocking it many-many times.

 

[DerekMiao]

Thank you very much! I just ordered one from Ebay 🙂 Really looking forward to this classic camera.

 

[Doug]

...I was told that I have to set shutter speed before advancing film on many rangefinder cameras, which sounds very disappointing.

For some (old-tech) focal plane shutter cameras (not necessarily just RF), in which the shutter speed dial rotates during exposure and then again as you recock the shutter... Then one sets the speed after the shutter has been cocked. The uncocked shutter dial generally won't correctly line up the speed marking with the index mark then anyway...

Now I'm going beyond my knowledge here, but with old leaf shutters it may be necessary to set slow clock-work speeds before cocking in order to apply the needed energy when cocking... but I leave it to the more experienced to correct me as needed.🙂

Enjoy your 35RC! I used mine for motorcycle touring because it was so compact, yet the quality is excellent.

 

[benlees]

Thank you very much! I just ordered one from Ebay 🙂 Really looking forward to this classic camera.

You'll love it. I just got one and it is really quite lovely!

 

[Jack Conrad]

You'll love it. I just got one and it is really quite lovely!

Any photo's to share? 🙂

 

[benlees]

You know how nice the camera is! Unfortunately I haven't done much with it. Just a little distracted driving!



rff 8 by Ben Lees, on Flickr

 

[farlymac]

HEY! Both hands on the wheel! Cool shot though. And being winter you got the salt runs on the truck frame.

PF

 

[Jack Conrad]

Haha... That's actually a pretty cool shot.