Wow..VERY impressed with the Olympus Trip 35!

[rpavich]

I kept reading about all of the Trip 35 love and wanted to see what the hype was about. Also, my wife is not a photography nut and leans more toward the "I just want to take pictures" side rather than the other more technical side.
So, with both of those ideas floating around in my head I bought a silver one off of ebay; it was fully reconditioned down to the chassis. Cleaned, adjusted and collimated. I was willing to pay extra for that peace of mind because I didn't want to mess with a camera, I wanted to shoot with it.

Well color me very pleasantly surprised! We took possession of it yesterday and while we were out running errands and having lunch we shot a roll just to make sure that all was well.

Yikes..this thing really gets the exposures spot on and even though it's a zone focuser, it seems to nail the focus much of the time. We only had two pictures out of 32 that were obviously out of focus and that was due to user inexperience.

What a great user experience for a vacation snap shooter. Sometimes I just want to take pictures and not futz with apertures or shutter speeds...I just want to capture memories...and this beast does it in spades!

I also snagged a rare black one for me from the Tripman.uk. That's not here yet but if it's anything like this one I'll be one happy camper.

PS: I generally shoot black and white but I'm going to run a bunch of color through both cameras next year when I visit my mom way across the country in CA. I found a place online that will develop C-41 and provide 4x6 or 3.5x5 prints for about $4.25 a roll. (Including shipping) I've used them before and they do print real wet process prints, no inkjet here.
The address is:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/35mm-film-1...e-with-Index-Print-of-each-roll-/111253164951


here are two samples:

 

[flavio81]

I share your enthusiasm. It is really a great camera.

 

[Frank53]

It's a simple camera, but the results are great.
I have one on which the mechanism that prevents under exposure (red flag in the finder) does not work.
That's were the real fun starts
You can take pictures in all kinds of circumstances.
Regads,
Frank

 

[rpavich]

It's a simple camera, but the results are great.
I have one on which the mechanism that prevents under exposure (red flag in the finder) does not work.
That's were the real fun starts
You can take pictures in all kinds of circumstances.
Regads,
Frank

VERY nice!

 

[k.hendrik]

D.I.Y. kit : http://www.firstcall-photographic.co.uk/tetenal-colortec-c-41-rapid-negative-kit-1-litre/p6690

 

[rpavich]

D.I.Y. kit : http://www.firstcall-photographic.co.uk/tetenal-colortec-c-41-rapid-negative-kit-1-litre/p6690

I have the chems to develop C-41, i just don't want to. I don't see the point without the end result being prints, and im not set up for printing color.

 

[Theo Sulphate]

That's a difficult scene with the two girls, yet the exposure is perfect. It looks great.

Was the negative exposure spot-on or did you have to experiment in the darkroom?

 

[Frank53]

That's a difficult scene with the two girls, yet the exposure is perfect. It looks great.

Was the negative exposure spot-on or did you have to experiment in the darkroom?

No, not really spot-on, but all important information is there. For me in a scene like this only the midtones count.
Regards,
Frank

 

[albada]

The photo of the girls has vignetting on both right corners. Would that be from a hood?

Would anyone be interested in knowing an easy way to modify the Trip 35 to fire only at 1/200? I figured out and photographed such a modification that only required removing the camera's top cover, which is less work than other methods on the Internet. A few weeks ago, I posted a link (www.idarmethod.com) to a modification to give you manual control of the camera's two shutterspeeds; this 1/200 mod would be much easier, and I'm thinking of adding it to my website.

Mark Overton

 

[sabredog]

I used my Trip 35 as my only camera for the Christmas break this year. Looking forward to seeing how it performs.

Seeing the results from your camera, I cannot wait to finish the roll and have processing done.

 

[Frank53]

The photo of the girls has vignetting on both right corners. Would that be from a hood?

Would anyone be interested in knowing an easy way to modify the Trip 35 to fire only at 1/200? I figured out and photographed such a modification that only required removing the camera's top cover, which is less work than other methods on the Internet. A few weeks ago, I posted a link (www.idarmethod.com) to a modification to give you manual control of the camera's two shutterspeeds; this 1/200 mod would be much easier, and I'm thinking of adding it to my website.

Mark Overton

No, that's not the hood, it's just me experimenting, trying to create a certain atmosphere.
There is another version thats more like the negative here
https://instagram.com/p/BNEhCqnAzqh/
Regards,
Frank

 

[Theo Sulphate]

...
There is another version thats more like the negative here ...

Nice. The exposure was more than good enough to give you something to work with. I like the higher contrast way you printed the first image.

 

[rpavich]

I used my Trip 35 as my only camera for the Christmas break this year. Looking forward to seeing how it performs.

Seeing the results from your camera, I cannot wait to finish the roll and have processing done.

Looking forward to it!

The second roll that i just dev'd last night was just as impressive.

 

[macfred]

My flickr friend Andrew does some remarkable work with his Trip 35 :
https://www.flickr.com/search/?sort=date-taken-desc&safe_search=1&tags=olympustrip35&user_id=109048156@N07&view_all=1

 

[rpavich]

My flickr friend Andrew does some remarkable work with his Trip 35 :
https://www.flickr.com/search/?sort=date-taken-desc&safe_search=1&tags=olympustrip35&user_id=109048156@N07&view_all=1

Thanks for the link!

 

[cooltouch]

I agree, the Trip 35 is an impressive little camera. I have one of the "rare" black ones I picked up for a song several years ago.

A few shots taken with mine. The film was some expired Plus X, ISO 125, developed in D76:

 

[rpavich]

I agree, the Trip 35 is an impressive little camera. I have one of the "rare" black ones I picked up for a song several years ago.


A few shots taken with mine. The film was some expired Plus X, ISO 125, developed in D76:

Well...if your's was a song, mine cost a full opera! (sad to say) but I didn't want to take chances on a fixer-upper with hidden issues.

 

[G1DRP]

I used to be a canera technician, so I bought a couple of Trips and gave them a CLA. They are excellent cameras for grab shots and the lens is magnificent!

 

[rpavich]

I used to be a canera technician, so I bought a couple of Trips and gave them a CLA. They are excellent cameras for grab shots and the lens is magnificent!

Maybe we should delete this thread...the prices will go up if we keep this up!

 

[sabredog]

I picked mine up about two months ago from a local bloke for a very reasonable price. I took it immediately to my preferred camera repairer for new light seals and to replace a missing strap holder. That effectively doubled the price of the camera but it was still a very good price total. Best was that the camera repairer told me it was the best Trip 35 he had seen in ages. Very happy now.

 

[rpavich]

While I am waiting for my black one to arrive, I snagged a "not tested" one from ebay for $9.00. It just arrived and it's in very good shape with only two obvious things wrong.

1.) There is a small dent on the filter threads area.
2.) The red flag was "sluggish" so I opened up the top and cleaned out the flag area and made sure that the meter was working (it was) and it's pretty close to fine now; it still is slightly stubborn (you have to half press a couple of times to make it come up if it's going to.)

I'm hesitant to strip it down further just yet, maybe after my other black working trip comes then I'll delved deeper into the issue.
Putting a roll of kentmere through it now to check.

 

[TripRevivalist]

I'm clearly a little late to this thread. Sorry about that. Since owning an Olympus Trip 35 in the 70s and 80s, I started re-acquainting about 18 months ago and loved it so much it's now become something of an obsession. I now own approximately 50 of the little beauties and am slowly rebuilding them from top to toe.

I'm based in Sydney and sadly even beaten up, mistreated Trips sell for $100+ on ebay and the like. That said, I'm managing to find them all over the world and can eek out a small profit if I do things carefully. COVID-19 seems to be creating a slightly heightened interest in film cameras - giving some extra pleasure and purpose to walks around our Cities - but this also means the cost of old, un-restored cameras are rising too. Ho hum.

Please have a look at what I'm up to at https://trip35.co/ and if you're shooting with a Trip perhaps I can share the odd image on my Instagram page? You'll find me at https://www.instagram.com/triprevival/

While I can't take on any individual Olympus Trip restorations, don't hesitate to get in touch if you're after particular parts or advice.

Enjoy your Trip! Robert

 

[MattKing]

You don't want to read this, but for some purposes this shot is titled "$2.14" because that is what I spent for the Trip 35 camera that took it a few years ago:

 

[sabredog]

Still use the original Trip 35 I bought three and a half years ago. Superb camera.

 

[TripRevivalist]

You don't want to read this, but for some purposes this shot is titled "$2.14" because that is what I spent for the Trip 35 camera that took it a few years ago:
View attachment 245953

Ha! Seriously, I'm so happy when I hear that people buy, good, used Trips...and you obviously have. The ones I worry about are the cameras that look nice and shiny on ebay and the like and are variously described as 'working, but not tested with film' or 'worked well when my Granddad put it in the attic' ... and then turn out to have mould in the lens or other issues. Sadly around one in eight that I buy turn out to be good for parts only.

Keep shooting Matt!