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Tom Midlands, England
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, November 21, 2004 - 05:20 pm: | 
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I recently picked up a cheap (but good working condition) Olympus 35RC albiet with a damaged front element. Then about a week later I found a physically knackered (but with a mint condition lens) 35RC for a quid in a bargain bin.
Without much knowledge about fixing cameras I've managed to remove the lens of the latter camera (with the help of Rick Oleson's web page)- but can't for the likes of me work out (or find out) how to get into the lens to remove the elements.
Can anyone shed any light on this- if you pardon the pun  |
rick oleson
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, November 22, 2004 - 06:54 am: |
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Geeezzz, I dunno - I never did that. And my 35RC is with my daughter about 2000 miles away...
: ) = |
Tom
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, November 22, 2004 - 02:48 pm: |
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I've worked out how to do it but it has now left me with some newer problems.
1st to all those interested- removing the lens (which is housed in an all in one capsule) involves unscrewing the thin black ring inside the filter thread, then easing out the meter housing- which is a bit fiddly- but it does come out quite easily. Next in line is to remove the three screws which are connected to the lens capsule. Once this has been removed, the capsule can be screwed out- anticlockwise.
The problem now I have is that the rangefinder will now probably have to be readjusted as the three screws holding the lens in were fixed with some kind of epoxy resin.
Does the back element have to be a certain distance from the film plane too?- There seemed to be a bit of play on the thread that holds it once the capsule had been 'unheld' rather than unscrewed.
Any suggestions? Do I have to set anything on infinity or is there an easier way of 'recalibrating' the focus?
Sorry if this is a bit vague- it's easier to show than to write it down!
Tom |
Henry
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, November 22, 2004 - 04:10 pm: |
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Not being familiar with a RC...and not having a picture to look at, I can only guess. It seems that the three screws secured the lens in the infinity position. Not sure I've ever seen it secured that way before. So maybe I'm misunderstanding you.
Usually there is a linkage or lever that connects the focus ring to the focus helix. That, or the focus ring is setscrewed directly to the focus helix like shown in my 35RD article.
To reset the infinity focus one must put a ground glass on the frame rails. (I prefer to use frosted cellophane tape tightly stretched.) Then, with the focus ring on infinity, turn the outer helix untill the image is sharp at the frame rails. The rangefinder should still be calibrated so use it as a "second opinion".
Hope that helps.
Henry |
Henry
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, November 22, 2004 - 04:18 pm: |
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Surfing a bit I see what the RC looks like. It seems more like an Olympus Pen viewfinder camera than it does the RD. Take a look at my Pen EES2 article: https://kyp.hauslendale.com/classics/penees2repair.html
It might help you.
Henry |
rick
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, November 22, 2004 - 09:27 pm: |
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If you can get the lens into place so it focuses at infinity, I can provide the instructions for readjusting the rangefinder if that's necessary.
= |
Tom Midlands, England
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, November 23, 2004 - 04:46 am: |
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I should have added that- yes- the three screws that hold the lens capsule in place also hold a lever that connects the lens to the focussing ring.
I'll try your method Henry as soon as I've put a roll of film through it. I'm assuming that using the current rangefinder settings that I just adjust the position of the capsule (ie rotate it anti-clockwise) so that the smaller screw holes (there are two sizes of screw holes just to confuse us!) match up to the markings I made with the original capsule/screws in place.
Right now I'm getting pretty accurate readings from the rangefinder which pretty much match the distance that the barrel is representing. I'm also assuming that because these units were mass produced, the focus helix is pretty much identical to one another (sods law would probably predict that it's not- but we'll find out!).
Thank god that I never had to carry out this operation when I owned Leica's!!
Tom |
Tom Midlands, England
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, November 23, 2004 - 04:53 am: |
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PS the Pen images do look quite similar- but I think the RC is even simpler!
The frosted cellophane idea is pure genius btw! I was dreading that idea of having to use frosted glass while working on it last night- what a brilliant alternative |
Tom Midlands, England
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, November 23, 2004 - 04:57 am: |
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Rick, can you provide me a link for the rangefinder adjustment that you mention? I'm off to Russia in 2 days time. Albiet for 4 days only- but I've been told that St Petersburgh is notorious for street crime :-/ |
rick oleson
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, November 23, 2004 - 06:52 am: |
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Hi Tom:
Just above the film opening in the back is a black screw head. Remove this screw and reach through the hole for the lateral rangefinder adjustment. Vertical adjustment, if needed (it shouldn't be affected by anything you're doing but just in case it's off...) is a small screw on top of the right-hand mirror mounting. I don't recall if there's an access hole under the flash shoe for this, but it's in about the right place for one. (there are some notes on this on the page you've already visited)
For checking focus, instead of stretching frosted tape across the film gate I put a piece of the tape on a glass microscope slide and then put that on the film rails. I also cut a + in the tape with a razor blade, which makes a good target for checking focus using an SLR with a split image rangefinder.
35rc: http://rick_oleson.tripod.com/index-134.html
focus: http://rick_oleson.tripod.com/index-123.html |
Tom Midlands, England
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, November 23, 2004 - 10:25 am: |
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Henry and Rick,
Thanks for all your great help and ideas. I've just had the test film back from the lab and the results from the new lens are cracking!! For a while I thought I was going to have to readjust the RF (actually I will probably have to adjust the vertical anyway because it is off a bit). But thanks to the wonders of mass production my RC is working wonderfully.
One other thing, I have read through the archives to find that this camera is supposed to lock if the aperture needle goes into the red. This isn't the case on my camera. It seems to fire anyway at around 125th (well that's roughly what it looks like to the naked eye). Do you think that it could have been modified at some point? Or could this be a fault that may need addressing at some point?
Tom |
Reiner
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, December 02, 2004 - 04:22 am: |
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I have had this lock issue with several Olympus 35 cameras, RDs and RCs. It is a quite usual problem and has nothing to do with your modifications. The needle trap mechanisms is under the bottom cap of these cameras as is the meter. The locking mechanisms works in conjunction with the needle trapping. If the needle is not trapped in automatic mode the shutter should be locked.
The whole mechanism becomes sticky over the years. Cleaning with lighter fluid or with rubbing alcohol should do it. It is quite easy to reach from below. |
