Olympus Trip could be the new cool camera

In the UK, the Daily Mail newspaper has an accompanying magazine on Saturday. This week's had a camera feature which was in two sections - film and digital. To the paper's credit the film section was given equal space to the digital section.

In the film section there were the usual suspects such as Holga, Dianna and a couple of Lomos. The camera judged 'Best Buy' with a score of 9/10 was the Olympus Trip.

The feature was illustrated with a red covered, refurbished camera from http://www.tripman.co.uk

Also featured with an equal score of 9/10 was a Leica M7! I assume it missed out on the 'Best Buy' award due to its slightly higher price!

Red re-covered Olympus Trip: http://www.tripman.co.uk/70131/info.php?p=3&pno=0&pid=1120925&cat=31913&ack=9&search=&sought=

Another source of refurbished Trips: http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Alchemic-P..._W0QQcolZ4QQdirZ1QQfsubZ2861434QQftidZ2QQtZkm

I recently bought one from the above eBay seller and have nothing but praise for his customer service and communication. I previously bought one from a local sale but its auto aperture was not working and I couldn't get it to work reliably. I liked the feel and size of the camera though so I ordered one from the seller above. I sent him some of the parts from my first camera to use as spares.


Steve.

I have 5 "Trips" all purchased from yard sales.Two of them have working meters,the other 3 default to 1/60th of a second.I found a web site that shows a simple operation you can perform to increase the default shutter speed to 1/200.I'll try to find the page and post it.

I have 2 non working Trips, I came across a page showing how to repair them it seemed relatively easy.

Ian

Interesting article. My brother-in-law, a web designer in London, still uses a rather large clunky olympus compact (can't remember the model), and gets constant comments on how cool his camera is. Could this be a small 'retro camera' resurgence? I'd better get my OM-1 out of the loft...

Olympus Trips have been cool for quite a while! Elderly Brits will recall the TV commercials from the 1960s in which, variously, a harassed press photographer played by comic actor George Cole or as in the following
http://www.flickr.com/photos/heliophile/2285003557/
a wedding photographer played by Brian Pringle resent the ease with which an interloper is taking pix with an Olympus Trip. "Who do you think you are? David Bailey?" they sneer. Their sneers fade when they realise it IS none other than DB himself.

The main problem with old, unused Trips is the auto aperture system gets stuck in the fully closed position, usually due to lubrication oil on the blades. They usually just need a good clean to get them to work. However, getting to them is a bit complex.

There are some very good instructions here: http://www.thermojetstove.com/Trip35/

I followed these and successfully got my aperture system working - until I replaced the middle lens element. Then it stayed fully open most of the time!

The Trip's exposure system is quite clever. The aperture is lightly spring loaded in the closed position. There is a lightmeter with a moving needle which you cannot see. As you press the shutter button a plate moves and makes contact with the needle pushing it onto a rear plate. As the first plate is angled, the position of the meter's needle dictates the amount of movement and, therefore, the extent to which the aperture opens. There is a second similar mechanism which decides the shutter speed (1/200 or 1/40).

In my opinion, the genius of the design is in the 'manual' settings for use with flash. These still use the auto aperture and provide protection from over exposure. e.g. If you have a flash fitted and you decide (based on the scale on the flash) that at the distance you are using it, you need f5.6 then that is what you set on the dial. However, if the meter decides that there is enough ambient light to expose properly at f8 then it will not open any further than f8. The flash then becomes a fill light rather than the main light. If there is not enough ambient light then the aperture opens up to your chosen setting.


Steve.

I think that's always been the philosophy with Olympus, they come up with very stylish amazing innovative products, but sometimes they just don't catch on or they are too unreliable. I have a whole cupboard full of Olympus kit but stopped using it as it always managed to stop working at critical moments.

Steve Smith said:

The main problem with old, unused Trips is the auto aperture system gets stuck in the fully closed position, usually due to lubrication oil on the blades. They usually just need a good clean to get them to work. However, getting to them is a bit complex.

There are some very good instructions here: http://www.thermojetstove.com/Trip35/

Click to expand...

I had the same problem with the Olympus Pen EES I bought recently. The procedure looks identical. The Pen is a half frame 35mm and has the same features as the Trip. I got mine going and tested it. I get 72 exposures from a roll. They are neat little cameras.

John

nemo999 said:

Olympus Trips have been cool for quite a while! Elderly Brits will recall the TV commercials from the 1960s in which, variously, a harassed press photographer played by comic actor George Cole or as in the following
http://www.flickr.com/photos/heliophile/2285003557/
a wedding photographer played by Brian Pringle resent the ease with which an interloper is taking pix with an Olympus Trip. "Who do you think you are? David Bailey?" they sneer. Their sneers fade when they realise it IS none other than DB himself.

Click to expand...

I remember the the TV commercial for the Trip that said " so simple to use, even James Hunt, can use one "

Love your Trip!