Olympus Trip 35

<p>Hello everyone,</p>

<p>I just bought this beautiful little camera at an auction site for the equivalent of 9 dollars. Had to clean it and repair the stuck aperture leaves, following online instructions. But I think it was worth it. I loaded Superia X-tra 400 and had fun! I thought I'd post a few samples for the record. I know that some of us (including me) when buying an old "worthless" camera off an auction site would first like to see what pictures can be taken with such and such model. The flickriver.com site is good for that, too.</p>

<p>For those who don't know, Olympus Trip 35 is a very compact camera (fits easily into my coat's pocket) with automatic exposure but no need for battery. The only thing to remember before taking a picture is to set focus using simple "zone" system (i.e. pictographs denoting various distances from the subject).</p>

<p>In my opinion after the first roll, focusing needs a bit of getting used to. I found myself turning the camera upside down and using the meter scale instead, but I believe it's just a matter of practice.</p>

<p><img src="http://podstawczynski.com/zdjecia/Image0008.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<p><img src="http://podstawczynski.com/zdjecia/Image0009.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<p><img src="http://podstawczynski.com/zdjecia/Image0010.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<p><img src="http://podstawczynski.com/zdjecia/Image0025.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<p><img src="http://podstawczynski.com/zdjecia/Image0027.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<p>Great Photos Adam! I also have an Olypus Trip 35 with a working meter! I keep it loaded in the glovebox of my car. The lens on mine is crazy-sharp! I, too flip the camera to read the distance, but just as on my Chaika II, I found the symbols do impart distance. Each figure is meter. Without running down and checking, let me see if I remember. The one person is one meter (three feet). The one big and one half sized person in 1-1/2 meters or 4-1/2 feet. Three people is three meters or 9 feet and the mountains are infiniti. The flash setting /distance/aperture compensator works great. My only complaint is once in a while the camera chooses the slower 1/40 shutter speed when I'm trying to capture motion.<br>

It's a really cool solar-powered camera!</p>

My Trip 35 has a foot/meter scale on the other side of the lens. The click stops coincide with metric scale but there is a foot scale with settings of 3,4,7,15 and infinity. And as a bonus the icon scale can be seen through the auxiliary viewfinder. The fixed 1/200 shutter speed helps insure sharp pictures.

<p>The film advance looks funny. Is it just a dial?</p>

<p>Brian, yes, it's just a dial. And it works surprisingly smooth. At least for someone raised on a Zorkij.</p>

<p>although there were poorly made cameras made and most of them no longer function.<br>

but many of the older cameras, with a little TLC work extremely well. and are capable of results as good as or better than new camera.<br>

Of course most of these are before DX coding, auto focus and auto ex[posure. You have to use your brain instead.<br>

Kodak passed thru the era of alternate films such as 126 disk 110 and advantax and 35mm survived.<br>

Week after week we read stories of great photos from older cameras. what is the surprise.<br>

I expect it, and I am still happy to read each posting.</p>

 

<p>For me it's hard to call those pictures Nice or Beautiful in term of optical quality. They are not that sharp and the colors look bad. But maybe with different or fresh film Your Trip will shine. I am glad that You like this camera. I owned one and got nice, very sharp pictures with saturated colors.<br />The secret is probably in the simple lens construction with only four elements. It works most of the time.<br />The thing that I didn't like was the shutter lock in low-light situations. Yes, I could switch for manual f2.8 but I think with 1/40 speed camera still can capture some light and camera don't need shutter-lock mechanism.<br />Ken Rockwell got very interesting article about Trip 35 and his samples look really great, worth reading.<br /><strong>Once I compared my Olympus Trip (early model with metal shutter button) against Voigtlander Vito BL</strong>. Voigtlander (model with 2.8 Skopar) wins hands down delivering even sharper pictures without ANY distortions and better colors. <strong>I didn't care for distortions, nothing major, 'till I saw the same pictures from Voigtlander.</strong> My jaw dropped and I sold Olympus.<br />Olympus Trip35 is a nice camera, for high quality snapshots, for me more like an everyday notepad than camera for vacation.</p>

<p>Take care, M.S.</p><div></div>

<p>Here's a nothing shot on Kodacolor Gold200 from my Trip 35.<br>

Sharpness is usually decent I find.<br>

Colors too, at least not when in full sun.</p><div></div>

<p>Maciek and Jim, excellent sharpness to your samples. Mine is nowhere near, but that's probably because my Trip did not step aperture down anywhere further than 4 I think, and because my scans are bad. Good to see there are more people enjoying this small camera. As for your Voigtlander, Maciek, I'll watch out for bargains on auction sites, and maybe will give it a try sometime!</p>

 

<p>Adam, I think your pics are just great, and I wouldn't get too bogged down in discussions about sharpness or the lack of it. I really like the muted colour, and the drab winter atmosphere your photographs evoke. The pic with your young model placed at the side of the frame is great, and the one with the 'phones could have come from one of my folders. Please keep posting...it's nice to see a fresh eye on the forum.</p>

<p>Thank you Rick! No, I'm not worried about sharpness. And I do like my images just as they are, I'm glad you do too. Sharpness in itself is not my goal in photography, nor do I like razor-sharp images (I feel a bit of uneasiness when looking at them, similar to that experienced when holding a very sharp knife). The view on sharpness in photography is, in my opinion, a matter of personal aesthetics, and as such is difficult to either agree or disagree with. It is but one of the tools (albeit important) used to build a photographic image, just as light and color are.</p>

<p>But I am still amazed, when looking at the above samples from Maciek and Jim, at just how sharp such an inconspicuous-looking tiny camera can be. Skilled use of that available lens sharpness is a different matter.</p>

<p>Adam, I believe that any camera should be flawless like a good tool and posted my picture to show that <strong>Your tool is of high quality, it may just need some CLA.</strong> But it's true, Your pictures looks very interesting, looks different for shure, I would love to have that kind of images, with muted colors in summer! You're right, Flickr site is the best resource with all the tags and groups :) Did You read Ken Rockwell's article? Just search for ,,Rockwell Olympus Trip" interesting article, especially for those shooting on film:)<br />Voigtlander Vito BL is a different beast, I love this camera because of WONDERFUL pictures and build quality. (I can post some samples from comparision:) Happy shooting!</p>

<p>M.S.</p>

<p>I posted a little about the Trip 35 <a rel="nofollow" href="http://thephotophile.blogspot.com/2010/03/olympus-trip-35-cult.html" target="_blank">here at my blog.</a></p>

<p>I like using the trip 35, cos its so small you can just put it in your pocket at times when its not conveneint to take your SLR's out with you, for general stuff the focus zone below the infinity one is great, has good depht of field, the only problem I have is I tend to get camera shake because its so small to what im used to using. There is a guy here in the U.K. The trip man (just google it) who rebuilds them with various unique coverings. I took this image 'Chess in the rain' with my trip 35 on the above described zone focus setting. You have to see the actual print to appreciate how sharp it is, some res is lost in scanning. Iv had good results in low light aswell, just put it on f2.8 the meter will still work and stop the aperture down if needed.</p><div></div>

<p>Trip 35 Friends,<br>

I just purchased a Trip 35 at auction. Meter seems to be working, shutter is fine, apertures working.<br>

My only concern is a very, very lose zone focus ring. I own several zone focus cameras and I'm worried this zone focus ring is broken.<br>

I the Olympus Trip 35 zone focus ring supposed to be very loose? I turn it and it doesn't seems to be engaging anything. Can anyone give some advice? Thanks.<br>

Richard</p>