Olympus 35 SP

[joe7]

i'm interested with this RF camera,but i need to know a few things before i decide to get one.

1)is the metering of this RF is TTL(through the lens) type or outside the lens?

2)can i have the full manual control,because i only saw auto function for the Olympus 35 SP on the internet.

3)any comments on its lens?

the only RF that i ever used is Yashica Electro 35,which belong to my friend..which a bit pain to me,because it's only have the auto,not manual,and the meter is outside the lens..so most of my exposure is under/overexposed,as i can't compensate the exposure for an auto camera,i shoot mostly at night in a lowlight.
thanks in advance.

[RH Designs]

You can find a pdf of the instruction manual here. The 35SP has both auto and manual exposure plus a spot meter, but it's not TTL. I believe the lens is highly regarded although I've not used one myself.

[Lanline]

Yes, there is full manual control.
The lens on the SP is very sharp. The meter is not TTL. I never even used the built in meter, I always use an incident meter. Personally, I think it is a better camera than the Electro 35 - due to the full manual control.

[Vincenzo Maielli]

The meter work also in manual mode, but only with EV indications, though is simple convert in time/aperture settings. The meter work both in centre-weighted and spot readings. The other comparable cameras (Canonet G-III QL17 or Minolta Hi-Matic 7s II) work in manual mode but without the working meter.
Ciao.
Vincenzo

[Michael W]

Great camera, excellent lens. As noted the meter is not TTL, if you look at that beautiful photo of one, the metering is done through the small window at the top right corner of the camera. One thing to be aware of is that there is no on/off switch; if that window is uncovered the meter will be constantly registering light & running down the battery. It was intended to be kept in a camera case when not in use, if you don't have a case you might improvise something like I did, a strip of black elastic ribbon that covers the window when not in use.
The camera takes the old mercury batteries but works well with modern hearing batteries and some kind of spacer. The metering works in a couple of stages, first you look in the viewfinder window & there is a needle at the top that relates to an EV scale, eg the needle might point to 13. You then transfer this number to the lens, where the aperture & shutter settings are next to each other with a tiny window that shows the EV. So in this case you'd adjust the shutter and/or aperture until 13 showed in the window as your starting point. This works perfectly well but if you have a hand held meter you might find it just as easy and not have to bother with the batteries.