Olympus 35RC Part II

I made a huge mistake. I sold my Olympus 35RC about six months ago just because it had a sticky aperture and the autoexposure didn't work. The lens and rest of the mechanics on my version were flawless. A few months after I sold it and regret was gnawing at my photography psych, I saw another sitting on the shelf in the local camera store as decoration. The shop owner told me it was brought in many years ago by a customer who wanted to get it repaired. When told there was nothing they could do, he never came to pick it back up. So there is sat, collecting dust. 

It was missing the shutter speed dial and rewind crank, and I suppose the lack of available parts is why they gave up on it .When I asked him how much he'd want for it, he looked at me kind of odd but said "you've been a good customer for the last couple of years. You can have it." Well, the price was right so I brought it home and put it on my shelf thinking I would use it for parts when I got a nice minty version someday. 

Well, one fine day I was surfing my favorite site (eBay) and what should I see... A Buy-It-Now auction for an Olympus 35RC shutter dial and rewind crank. WHAT THE HECK. The seller was in Jerusalem  and wanted $5 plus another $5 for shipping. The order was placed and the waiting began. Now in my mind, Jerusalem is an amalgam of Indiana Jones, the Nativity, and Terrorism Today. I pictured my little package coming across the world by way of red dotted lines and taking months to get here. Happily (disappointingly?), a little FedEx box arrived 4 days later with my parts. It took me about 3.5 minutes to attach the parts using a modified paper clip to get the assembly done and my camera was ready for a test. I loaded it up with a roll of Walgreens Fuji 400 Super film and burned through 27 frames.

We have a great tree in our front yard for filtering sunlight on bright sunny days. The color is a little wonky (film, lens, scanning?) but this is my favorite from the roll.  It could have something to do with the subject.

What the Flare! I put the sun behind Jack to see how the lens coating on the 42mm Zuiko would handle it. Not well, although Lomography enthusiasts will love this effect. I'm pretty sure there is an App for this effect.

Super Model Kathryn. Wanted to do a little testing of the auto exposure so I set the shutter speed to 60 and fired this shot. I like shutter speeds of 60 when I am doing portraits with normal length lenses. There is no reason what so ever for this. I just like the number 60. I don't remember what the aperture came to, but I think it was like 11 or 16.

Two stops faster on the shutter speed. (1/250th) and you can clearly see the effect. The aperture should have been around 5.6 or 8. The background is nicely defocused, but Kathryn is also not quite as sharp. There is no way of knowing if it was me or the lens, but if I could get sharp focus at 1/60, I am assuming I could at 1/250 as well. The other question is whether there is a focus change when the aperture changes.

After the Sun Set. This was about 15 minutes after the sun went over the horizon. The shutter speed was 1/60th and I do not remember what the aperture was, but judging from the background, I'm guessing 5.6 or so. Very nice sharpness and contrast.

Overall, I still love this camera. My $10 repair (including shipping) got the camera up and running, however, the last two frames were ruined because the film advance blew right through the end of the roll. Also, there was some very unpleasant noises produced during the manuel film rewind. I don't know about that. 

I'm not sure this lens is as sharp as my first copy. It is still pretty good, but it's pretty good for a $10 dollar investment. I put prints from my first copy on the counter next to prints from a Leica ASPH 35mm and there was no discernible difference. I doubt there would be any problem telling which was which with this camera. Of course, it could be because the rangefinder is slightly off, or because the coating on the lens is not as pristine, or because this is Walgreens film and not Ektar 100. I really won't know until I put some more film in and try it out. The good news is that this is an experiment I enjoy.