Ray Moth wrote:
>...The Olympus RC, RD and 35SP seem to be ideal for my
>purposes, at least on paper, but what are they really like?
>
The RC and RD have the same body shell, the 35SP has a bigger one. The RD
feels much bigger though, because the lens/shutter barrel is wider (takes
49mm filters, the RC takes 43mm) and obscures a chunk of the viewfinder. All
three take the PX625 mercury cell - don't risk an alkaline with any of them.
There's no way to switch off the meter of the SP other than by enclosing it
in a case or box.
I've never even seen a 35SP but have owned an RC since the mid '80s and it's
probably been my most used camera. I had an RD on a week's approval and
returned it because the meter needle was sticky, but I was disappointed with
it generally. The few pics I took with it weren't as good as those from the
RC but it may have been dropped. )The RC's Zuiko produces pics on a par with
anything I have for the OM.) Shutter and aperture rings on the RD are close
together making it fiddly, whereas the RC's shutter dial is on top of the
camera where a non-OM focal plane shutter dial is conventionally located.
You can sort of use the RC's meter for manual use by selecting 'A' on the
aperture ring and looking at the aperture read out in the viewfinder while
depressing the shutter release halfway, then transferring the reading to the
aperture ring. There's an excellent Flashmatic link, where you select the GN
of a simple flashgun and the aperture stops down as you focus closer. It
synchronises at all speeds and for social occasions in particular it'd be my
preferred set up. The nearest I've had to a mechanical fault with the RC is
a neck strap lug coming loose and I fixed that myself.
It's fallen back in the pecking order this last year though, following the
purchase of a Retina IIIc (mainly for its '60s nostalgia value) and a Pentax
Espio 928, my only (working) autofocus and still currently available camera,
bought for the pocketability of its 28 - 90mm zoom lens.
Regards,
Keith Berry (Birmingham, England)
keith_r.k.berry@xxxxxxxxxx
http://homepages.which.net/~k.berry
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