My new 35RC

[jaypolaski]

I just received my RC the other day, redid the seals and cleaned out the RF and went out today. I have yet to see the results, but as far as shooting went, this was the first time I was able to grab shots this easily without anyone paying me any mind. It was incredible! No one seemed to even notice, and the shutter? Wonderfully quiet. I'm smitten.

As for handling, I really have no complaints. I was able to manipulate the controls as needed, even when up to my eye. The Shutter and aperture readouts are a bonus. To compensate for any possibilities of problems with the aperture ring, I'd adjust while it was at my side, based on sunny 16 and the shadows of the areas I was headed to. No big deal. I also noticed that at F22 focused at 7' you get maximum DOF with everything from 3.5' to infinity in focus, so even if the patch was small (which it really isn't) I'm guaranteed to have my shots in acceptable focus for street work.

Once cleaned, the viewfinder was wonderfully bright and contrasty with a clearly defined RF patch. I did find that the corrugation to the brightline reflector was transferred to the brightlines which made it weird, but not unusable.

All in all, I see this gem going everywhere with me, and with the going rate on eBay of 30-50 USD, I'd happily recommend everyone try one out. If it's not for you, I'm sure it's for someone who'd be more than willing to take it off your hands. I think I'd even rate this higher than the legendary Canon QL17. A bit smaller, better handling and tons of fun.

Yeah, that's about it. A classy looking, great shooting manual RF camera. Can't wait to dig into the custom leathers available.

[owenreading]

Yup, I totally agree. I have an RC in almost mint condition with the hood and the original velvet-style soft case. The lens is sharp, it feels well built and the focusing is quick and simple. It's a camera to take with you everywhere. I do find that the rangefinder patch can be a bit tough to find sometimes, especially in low light, but this isn't really a low-light shooter, with a minimum of 1/15 and an f/2.8 lens. It's a shame, because the viewfinder is much better than my other rangefinder, a FED-4 (quite a beast, certainly the opposite in terms of construction to the RC) which has interchangeable LTM39 lenses and could take a nice f/1.5 lens. Except the viewfinder is appalling. Made worse by my glasses. Oh well. Good luck with your RC, I'm hoping to get some good pictures with it over the summer.

[iml]

My favourite carry-around camera. I love it so much that I bought a second one as a backup :-)

Ian

[BennyBoy]

I just got my first one yesterday and I'm smitten, needs resealing (kit on order), a good clean inside, and a new right side strap lug but otherwise everything works. Meter seems about right, tested versus my sekonic, so I have high hopes - of course this first roll through could be ruined by leaks but we'll see :)

[dancing wayang]

owen - that's strange. on my RC the patch is absolutely crisp. i got a yashica GSN the other day and find that the viewfinder and patch in particular are quite dim and difficult compared to the RC.

[owenreading]

@wayang - it's quite possible that I'm just being picky. I tend to find that the patch isn't as strongly yellow in bright light as my FED and is a bit smaller as a fraction of the viewfinder. I haven't really tested out many other RFs, so I don't really know what to expect.

However, the FED viewfinder is pretty terrible (like peering through a porthole into murky deep water), and I'd take the 35RC over it any day. Most of the time it isn't a problem, and the camera otherwise is wonderful.

[Kat]

Owen, is the little square in front for the RF clean? I found that even cleaning it and the VF externally can help a lot.

[owenreading]

It is a bit grubby, good call. I'll give it a clean at some point, or maybe get the whole viewfinder CLA'd when I finish the current film.

[jaypolaski]

No need to give it the full CLA. I found that cleaning the front and rear glass and the RF patch did 95% of the clearing up. I only saw minor results with the full breakdown. Clean that little window and you'll be amazed. That one had the greatest effect.