Olympus 35 ED
The Olympus 35 ED is the last of the Olympus "35" rangefinder cameras. Produced between 1974 and 1978, the ED is an attractive little camera, bearing a very strong resemblance to its better-known sibling, the 35 RC. Unlike the RC, the Olympus 35 ED does not feature any manual exposure controls: exposure is completely determined by the camera's built-in program.
The Olympus 35 ED features a 4-element Olympus D.Zuiko 38mm f2.8 lens, which is a bit wider than the 42mm lens found on the RC. It accepts 43.5mm filters. One interesting feature of the ED is that the camera's leaf shutter can fire at a top shutter speed of 1/800th, which is especially fast for this type of camera. The camera is powered by two A640 cells and cannot operate without battery power.
While exposure is fully automated, the 35 ED uses a traditional manual rangefinder mechanism to focus. The viewfinder has 0.55x magnification and features bright line framing with parallax indicator marks and a central, square focusing patch. The lens will focus down to 0.9 meters.
The camera's other features include a hot shoe, PC terminal, and self timer. The ASA range is 25-800.
In use, the Olympus 35 ED handles much like its more famous brother, with the notable absence of shutter or aperture control. When the shutter release is depressed halfway, an orange illuminating light pops up in the viewfinder to confirm battery power. In fact, a small orange square on the top plate and a small orange circular window next to the "Olympus" script also illuminate. The circular window features an "atomic" symbol in this illuminated window, as if to project the modern, atomic-era sophistication of your camera purchase to your subject.
The Olympus 35 ED is a great choice if you need a compact, well-built rangefinder camera with automated exposure control but enjoy the process of manually focusing on your subject. These are not common cameras -- if you come across a working one, pick it up!
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