Complete newcomer - Olympus 35 RC bought.

Wrecker59 said:
Then, when I have thrown half of the prints away and wondered what the heck made me even contemplate this, I'll post one or two of the less rubbish ones for you all to poke fun at.
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Great! Can't wait!
 
Wrecker59 said:
The camera isn't quite here yet. It's on its way (as is the film) but I fear that batteries are going to take a little while.
Then, when I have thrown half of the prints away and wondered what the heck made me even contemplate this, I'll post one or two of the less rubbish ones for you all to poke fun at.
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F&C are used to seeing all results and know things can go wrong and even have a thread "101 ways of ruin a roll of film" plenty of cock ups we have all made even though some have been using film for over 60 years. :eek: Mind you some are the fault of the camera not operator, so it's important using a camera you can trust as you can't see what you have taken straight away.
 
So...I have the camera, the batteries and film. It seems to already have a roll in it (the numbers are increasing on the counter window so I assume that's why?)
It's beautiful thing, it has a dent in it and one of the loops is missing but that's not an issue to me.
Now. Can anyone tell me how to check if the thing is working please?
 
Wrecker59 said:
So...I have the camera, the batteries and film. It seems to already have a roll in it (the numbers are increasing on the counter window so I assume that's why?)
It's beautiful thing, it has a dent in it and one of the loops is missing but that's not an issue to me.
Now. Can anyone tell me how to check if the thing is working please?
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I wouldn't assume that there is a film present just because the frame counter counts - most cameras will do this when empty. Try rewinding the film without pressing the release button - if the rewind crank turns freely, there is no film inside.
 
Quite right! None in there! Just as well, the "pictures" I took were very experimental.
 
john.margetts said:
I wouldn't assume that there is a film present just because the frame counter counts - most cameras will do this when empty. Try rewinding the film without pressing the release button - if the rewind crank turns freely, there is no film inside.
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Open the back, fire off the shutter at all speeds from slowest to fastest while looking through camera at a window, listen as well. That should give a good idea if the shutter is working reasonably well.

I WAS going to suggest the following, but there might be some risks in it... "Not sure if there's a manual mode, but if there is same configuration on B, change the aperture and make sure it opens and closes appropriately." Anyone comment?

Is the lens removable? If so, stop it down and flick whatever button it is that causes the aperture to close to taking position. It should be really fast, but sometimes you'll see it take a longish time to close. Not sure how you'd do this if it's a fixed lens...

Otherwise it's a question of sticking a cheap, fresh film in and fire away at box speed...
 
Everything seems to work. I'll chuck a film in and see what happens!
 
Took a few shots this weekend. The focus dual picture thing doesn't seem to work but I read that these can wear out. The advance seems a bit graunchy, I'll see how the film turns out before worrying about if it is a problem. Fingers crossed. Really enjoyed using it, and I'm eying up more cameras already!
 
Wrecker59 said:
Took a few shots this weekend. The focus dual picture thing doesn't seem to work but I read that these can wear out. The advance seems a bit graunchy, I'll see how the film turns out before worrying about if it is a problem. Fingers crossed. Really enjoyed using it, and I'm eying up more cameras already!
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It is fun, I went from planning to get one old film camera to having seven in a very short space of time.
Graunchy could mean it hasn't grabbed properly on the spindle when you loaded the leader into it. I had that happen on my first roll through my little Belmira. If it gets to a point where it feels like it doesn't want to wind on any more you can either open the back in a dark bag and respool it on the spindle or just hit the rewind button and manually rewind the film into the canister and accept you won't get all the frames exposed.
Fingers crossed you get a whole roll shot and some fab pictures.
 
moggi1964 said:
It is fun, I went from planning to get one old film camera to having seven in a very short space of time.
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I can relate to this very much!
moggi1964 said:
Graunchy could mean it hasn't grabbed properly on the spindle when you loaded the leader into it.
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That's my concern, that the ratchet is slipping or similar and the film isn't advancing at all. A mechanical repair might not be the worst scenario though.
moggi1964 said:
Fingers crossed you get a whole roll shot and some fab pictures.
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That's greatly appreciated, thank you!
 
I'd avoid using the self timer - they tend to break more than anything else for some reason.
I'm not sure how prone this Olympus is to this common problem.
Anyone know?
 
kendo1 said:
Anyone know?
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Quite a bit I think. When I was buying mine there were a *lot* that had missing timer handles. So many so that when I customised it and removed the timer handle I bagged it for later sale on fleabay.
 
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Thank you @moggi1964

The timer seems to work perfectly, but it's not a feature I can see me using much anyway. A lot of the Oly 35's seem to be missing the levers as mentioned earlier.
 
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Sad days.......
I had the first film developed and out of the 36 exposure roll, I got around 6 images. I think the advance on the camera doesn't work too well.
It finished showing 36 exposures on the indicator. Possibly the gears are rounded off?
Pretty sad about it really, first camera, first film. Nice roll of Ilford 5 wasted and the pictures I was bursting to see!
Bought form a shop, I have emailed them. Lets see if they stand by their products.
I'll upload one of the scans when I get my hands on a laptop with a CD player.

I DID buy an X700 though. It seems to be working wonderfully and I'm over the moon with it so far. Fingers crossed I get more than a handful of pictures out of this one.
 
That's a shame Neil. I hope the X700 works out ok. I suspect it will.
 
Sorry that didn't work out, better luck next time!
 
I bought a pretty little Welta Belmira and got 3 frames from 72 . She now sits on the shelf and what she cost in purchase and lost images she makes up for in glamour.

Pop your RC on the shelf and enjoy your 700 (my 7000 produces lovely pictures).
 
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I have an old Zeiss Ikon Derval sat on a shelf. I'd sooner have a small camera to use to be honest! It is a beautiful thing though.
 
Wrecker59 said:
I have an old Zeiss Ikon Derval sat on a shelf. I'd sooner have a small camera to use to be honest! It is a beautiful thing though.
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Those old cameras are great, but they really need quite a bit of experience to use.
 
Yes, I thought the better of going down that particular rabbit hole!
 
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