Olympus Trip 35 – Vintage 35mm film camera
The Olympus Trip 35 Camera
The Olympus Trip 35 is an interesting and very popular camera. It’s a compact 35mm film camera that was made between 1968 and 1984. According to the Olympus website, 10 million units were made, so it is quite easy to find at camera shops, thrift stores and, of course, eBay. It's simple to operate with a selenium photocell light meter that doesn't use batteries. Just load the film, set the ASA/ISO and turn the aperture to A for automatic. For focusing there are settings for different distances between 1 meter and infinity. The camera has a high quality Zuiko 40 mm f/2.8 lens and a metal body. While it doesn't have a built-in flash, it does have a hot shoe and a PC sync socket for external flash. Unlike modern cameras, the light meter does not communicate with the flash, so you need to set the aperture manually. I would use my Sekonic light meter for this, but you could find the correct aperture by checking the instruction book for your flash.
The camera has two shutter speeds - 1/40th and 1/200th second. You cannot manually select the shutter speed. When in Auto mode, the camera will use the appropriate shutter speed. If you are using flash, it will sync at 1/40th sec. The aperture range for the lens is f/2.8 to f/22.
Olympus Trip 35
I tested out the camera today and it worked great. The first shot I took was a landscape, but I forgot to change the focus to the landscape setting so it was blurry. Luckily, I noticed this and corrected it for the rest of the roll! I was using inexpensive 200 speed Life brand (EasyPix) film from Shoppers Drug Mart, and had it processed at their photo department. For comparison, I also took some shots using my Olympus Pen E-PL1 camera.
From my experience with using the Olympus Trip 35, it was indeed very quick and easy to use. The film was easy to load - it is the same procedure as most 35 mm SLR cameras. Once you have selected the film speed and focus distance, you can concentrate on composition as there are no other settings to worry about. After taking a shot, you must remember to advance the film! If there is not enough light for a proper exposure, a red flag will appear in the viewfinder and the shutter will lock to prevent you from taking an underexposed shot. Also, you must remember to change the focus if your subject changes distance significantly. If you are used to digital and SLR cameras, this will be a little unfamiliar and takes getting used to.
The photos were sharply focused (except for the first one!), and the exposures were excellent. I imported the photos into Lightroom 3.3 from the CD that was provided when the film was developed. I did a little post-processing - mainly tweaking the colours, cropping if necessary and slight adjustments to the levels. I also did similar post-processing with the digital images shot with the Olympus E-PL1. I love the camera and look forward to shooting with it again soon!
"Foggy Morning" shot with the Olympus Trip 35
"Morning Walk" shot with the Olympus Trip 35
"Foggy Vancouver Morning" shot with the Olympus Trip 35
"Boats in the Fog" shot with the Olympus E-PL1
"False Creek, Vancouver" shot with the Olympus E-PL1
Olympus Trip 35
Related Links
If you have an Olympus Trip 35, you can find out the month and year that it was made by checking the date code. The camera shown above has the code ?64, which means it was manufactured in April 1976.
Olympus Trip 35 instruction manual
Ken Rockwell Review of the Olympus Trip 35
