Rejoice! Finally got an RC!

[shadowfox]

Someone here once asked me, why, despite all the Oly RFs that I collected, I do not have an RC... which is one of the most common ones out there.

Well, the reason is because I don't think I can live with spending $50 on the bay to get one. So I set a goal to get one for less than $10 total.

Along came Rich Silfver, generous guy as he is, he said that I can have his RC for free as part of the deal I made with him. He said it's free because it has a problem with the self timer arm. Needless to say, I thanked him. A lot 🙂

When it arrived, I held the RC in my palm. Wow, tiny, robust, and smooth levers, it's not mint, but it has a Sunny-16 "cartoon" taped on the back. Cute!

Y'all probably know me by now, I don't care a whit if the meter is running or not, I don't even bother to check it. Most importantly the shutter sounds decent at all speed, the aperture dial works, if a bit cramped, thus hard to turn with my pudgy fingers.

... and then the self timer arm. Yep, it's removed, alright, the usual two dot screw that holds it against the camera is gone. Upon closer inspection, I notice a piece of broken screw stuck inside. Bad, i thought! but I can live with it.

The next day, I remembered that I have a spare 35 DC body that is beyond repair internally, I was hoping that the self timer screw size is the same as the one on the RC.

And it is! breaking out my meager tools, I started poking at the broken screw stud trying to get it to rotate (it's one of those left-hand screws). After about 5 minutes, something gave inside and I can rotate the tiny broken screw out of the well. After that, it's just a matter of replacing the self-timer arm and screw it into the body.

Voila!

good as new 🙂

Photos from this camera will follow.

 

[jesse1dog]

Love the tool kit!
But don't see the glass or bottle!
Camera feels right doesn't it?
I'm trying various ploys on getting the aperture ring more manageable. At present I have a small turned knob 'embedded' at the bottom!!!!
More to be posted if I think it works well!

Enjoy your camera - does it need a reseal?
j

 

[shadowfox]

Yes, this is one instance where the aperture dial should be on the outside of the lens, not close to the body like that.

OOh, that's a neat idea, to put a knob, let me know how it goes.

 

[clintock]

You gotta get the meter going! That's how to 'fix' the hard to reach iris dial.

To use an RC:
With the meter working, put it on "A"

Point the camera at somethin '18%' and in the same light as your subject.

While looking through the finder, press the shutter button until the aperture needle stops moving, pointing to a number. If you want a bigger or smaller number, let up on the button a little, and reach with your left hand over to the shutter dial. Turn the shutter to a new speed that gets you the aperture you wanted when you press the shutter button again until the needle stops.

Once it's pointing to what you want and stopped, then compose while holding the shutter button just like that, locking the exposure.. finally take the pic..

Sounds complicated, but not really.. When outdoors, point down to concrete or grass and do all the above.. Plus you only have to adjust the shutter almost never, as you can't really tell what the iris is set on anyway if it's more closed than 5.6 and/or the subject is more than a few meters away.

The aperture ring on the RC is mostly just a decoration. It's the exposure lock feature of the shutter release that is the killer feature of that little camera.

 

[jesse1dog]

Picture

Picture

Is this of interest?

It's a small turned knob fitting into a 1/16th diam drilled hole in the aperture ring. The knob is epoxy resined (Araldite) in place.

It's much easier to move the ring but possibly could be better if slightly longer and not so large - possibly!

The camera is my 'spares or repairs' eBay buy so I feel I can use it as a mechanical learner. The recovering is a piece of green leather bought locally as an offcut. I learnt a lot from cutting it to size and glueing it on. The final result is 'interesting' but not really good enough. The leather was too thick but it does feel really nice. When I get round to it I have some other offcuts to try!

 

[shadowfox]

You gotta get the meter going! That's how to 'fix' the hard to reach iris dial.

To use an RC:
With the meter working, put it on "A"

Point the camera at somethin '18%' and in the same light as your subject.

While looking through the finder, press the shutter button until the aperture needle stops moving, pointing to a number. If you want a bigger or smaller number, let up on the button a little, and reach with your left hand over to the shutter dial. Turn the shutter to a new speed that gets you the aperture you wanted when you press the shutter button again until the needle stops.

Once it's pointing to what you want and stopped, then compose while holding the shutter button just like that, locking the exposure.. finally take the pic..

Sounds complicated, but not really.. When outdoors, point down to concrete or grass and do all the above.. Plus you only have to adjust the shutter almost never, as you can't really tell what the iris is set on anyway if it's more closed than 5.6 and/or the subject is more than a few meters away.

The aperture ring on the RC is mostly just a decoration. It's the exposure lock feature of the shutter release that is the killer feature of that little camera.

Interesting, Clint! so that's why even without a battery, when I push the shutter release, the meter needle slides all over the numbers in the viewfinder.

Hmm.. the whole process does sound complicated, but I guess it won't hurt to try it once. If the meter is working.

 

[shadowfox]

Is this of interest?

It's a small turned knob fitting into a 1/16th diam drilled hole in the aperture ring. The knob is epoxy resined (Araldite) in place.

It's much easier to move the ring but possibly could be better if slightly longer and not so large - possibly!

The camera is my 'spares or repairs' eBay buy so I feel I can use it as a mechanical learner. The recovering is a piece of green leather bought locally as an offcut. I learnt a lot from cutting it to size and glueing it on. The final result is 'interesting' but not really good enough. The leather was too thick but it does feel really nice. When I get round to it I have some other offcuts to try!

Thanks, Jesse, this gives me another idea... hmm need that rubber can opener.