Olympus C-AF – aka Cylon As F*&^

Posted: 23/09/2023 - Updated: 23/09/2023

Summary

My second camera, which I used a lot for quite a few years….and still works :)

 

Year of release

1981 – the year Ronald Reagan and the Pope were shot (not at the same time), NASA launched the Space Shuttle Columbia, IBM launched the first microcomputer, Prince (now King) Charles married Lady Diana Spencer … and I was happily coding on my VIC-20, snapping pictures with the Kodak Instamatic 155X – until the Cylon appeared!

 

The picture doesn’t do it justice!

Specs:

Film or Pixels	35mm – which was for me a step up from 126
Auto or Manual	Auto – pretty much everything
Lens / Aperture	A lovely Olympus D Zuiko 38mm f/2.8
Shutter Speed	Auto – no manual control (apart from messing with ISO speeds – more ISO equals under exposure, less ISO equals more exposure +/- I’ll do a post on it)
Self Timer	Nope
Viewfinder	Quite small, but does the job – viewfinders are overrated anyway – no diopter
Film Advance	Manual with a lovely film winding lever, single throw
Film Retract	Manual rewinding with a top windy-spinny thing (you can see in the picture)
ISO / ASA	25 to 400 – manually set
Flash	Yes, with a switch at the front – which I used to be able to hear charge the capacitor but either it doesn’t (but the flash still works, even though the indicator light doesn’t light up – and I can’t hear the capacitor charging, but that could be me and my failing hearing - or the constant tinnitus just masks it)
Power / Battery	AA x 2
Weatherproof	no
Dimensions	127 x 90 x 65mm
Weight	382 g - 438g with batteries

Lens

It’s a lovely lens, but the knobbly bit around the front is just for show, it doesn’t do anything apart from something to hold – but with a lens that small, why would you?

Viewfinder

No diopter adjust. Square in the middle to indicate the focal point, frame marks around the edges, big bright red LED for underexposure warning – but you can still take a shot – it doesn’t shot-block you.

 

Pros

It’s a lovely camera to just point and shoot, and I used for many many years

Cons

lack of controls, and is quite large for a P&S, otherwise awesome

Rating

It’s good, and I still love using it – Pixels and Megapixels date, film never does – it’s always 35mm

Film or Pixels / Storage

35mm film – which you can still get

Ergonomics

it’s big and chunky

Buttons and Controls:

Top	Film advance lever, shutter release with a remote screw fitting (no self timer) and the film rewind windy-spinny thing – and a big bright light for the flash when charged
Bottom	Film release to rewind, battery cover/slot – which is really hard to open, tripod socket – but it’s really off centre! Why oh why did they put it there?
Front	Switch to summon the flash – I waited but The Flash didn’t appear :( oh, and the super bright red Cylon light
Sides	Camera strap lugs
Back	Lever to open the back

Ease of use

Really easy – point and click (notwithstanding the blinding red light!)

Image Quality

Quite good – I got some nice pics over the years with this

Image Samples

Final thoughts

I really like this camera, used it a lot

Video

it doesn’t do video, unless you consider 36 frames of click-wind to be video

Shutter Sound

Really nice – but you need batteries – no manual override – I’ll make a recording.