Anyone Still Shooting With An Olympus Trip 35?

[tyrphoto]

I've got a line on an earlier mint one with metal shutter release (instead of the later models with the plastic releases). I won't know the exact year of production until I get it in my hands and take the back plate off to check. I'm assured that the aperture blades don't stick, the selenium cells are still in good order and that the metering works fine.

I figured it'd be a nice, compact, fun film camera to play with especially since I'm going to be going on a short trip around Korea in about a month. A few destinations spots where I wanted to revisit as well as some new spots I haven't been to yet. And the best part is that it costs no more than a Holga/Lomography camera.

 

[ManofKent]

Nice. I had one a few years back but the metering died. The lens was very good and with slow film was capable of decent results.

 

[phigmov]

The Trip 35 is a great camera - almost foolproof. Its usually the first I'd recommend to someone looking to get back into shooting film.

I picked mine up from this guy before I realised they were actually fairly common and cheap (although the custom coverings were an added drawcard)

http://www.tripman.co.uk/www.tripman.co.uk/info.php?p=2&cat=283495

If you pick one up, don't forget to post in the film-thread or Amins Film-Forever sister-site !

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[tkbslc]

I bought one a few years back, but I guess it had a sticky shutter or aperture because all my photos were extremely blurry from slow shutter. I tried to fix it and made it worse. Eventually tossed it.

I think a good smartphone and film simulation has replaced the experience I was looking for anyway.

 

[phigmov]

One thing to watch is that it only has two shutter speeds - 1/40 & 1/200

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympus_Trip_35

I tend to use cheap B&W or Colour Negative film @ 200 or 400 - seems to work fine with sufficient exposure latitude in the film processing. My experiments with slide film did give some overly dark images when there was inconsistent lighting.

Still, its relatively cheap & simple with a great lens - you can give it to complete newbies or kids and they can't get much wrong with its operation.

 

[tyrphoto]

Just picked it up this afternoon. As described, it was in nearly mint condition with the metal shutter release. A quick test showed that the aperture blades are working fine, exposure works with the red flag popping up if the lens is covered. Took the back film pressure plate off to see the dating and is marked as being manufactured in June 1970 which makes the camera exactly 45 years old. Came with the original Olympus leather camera cover but unfortunately no lens cap. No big deal, I'll just get a 43.5mm to 46mm step up ring and buy a spare Olympus lens cap. In the meantime, I'll just keep the camera covered up when not using it so that I don't wear the selenium cells out needlessly.

Didn't have time to get some film today so I'll do that sometime this week. Gonna try a few different rolls of film and see how the camera does with those films.

- Kodak Ektar 100
- Kodak Portra 400
- Fujifilm Pro 400H
- Kodak T-Max 400
- Kodak Tri-X 400

Should be fun playing around with this. In the meantime, a little camera porn.

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[eteless]

Just picked it up this afternoon. As described, it was in nearly mint condition with the metal shutter release. A quick test showed that the aperture blades are working fine, exposure works with the red flag popping up if the lens is covered. Took the back film pressure plate off to see the dating and is marked as being manufactured in June 1970 which makes the camera exactly 45 years old. Came with the original Olympus leather camera cover but unfortunately no lens cap. No big deal, I'll just get a 43.5mm to 46mm step up ring and buy a spare Olympus lens cap. In the meantime, I'll just keep the camera covered up when not using it so that I don't wear the selenium cells out needlessly.

I wouldn't worry too much about wearing them out, it takes a lot to kill them and it's more a usability than a lifetime issue. Selenium cells exhibit lag when going from a bright area to a shady/dark area as they have some amount of memory and adjust the exposure down as quickly as needed. As they age this issue can get worse, it's only a problem in extremes as under normal conditions being a stop out won't matter with negative film.

The trip 35 sensor is a large semi circle which is uncovered or covered as you change the ISO which is where most of the problems occur with metering. Only a tiny amount is shown using slower speed film so the meter can be inaccurate (if only a 1cm area of the ring on the outside of the lens is used and it has direct sunlight but the scene does not or something like that), using higher speed settings generally results in correct exposure however as more of the sensor is shown and it has more voltage to work with(also any error becomes smaller due to the increased signal). In dark conditions there is a decrease in the voltage as the cells are not completely linear (so in dark conditions the cells can not meter the scene despite the camera being able to take a workable exposure).

They're generally more than accurate for neg film however, fantastic little cameras.