Tag Archives: trip

Olympus Trip MD

Junk Camera Finds, , , , ,

This camera has been in my cupboard a while so I am not sure quite where it came from. The reason it took me a while to get to it…it was covered in gunk from the bag. The edging on the bag just melted and ended up all over the outside of the camera. Yuck. Once I cleaned it off the camera I washed the bag too. Then replaced the seals as they had also turned to mush.

 

For a popular camera line, there is surprisingly little about this version on the net. This German site has the most technical information. From that site I gathered the shutter speed is fixed at 1/100th and changing the film speed changes the aperture. Apart from changing the film speed, there is nothing to this camera, a simple point and shoot. There is a red light in the viewfinder if the conditions are too dark. I used a 400asa film and it nearly always lit up.

The test roll below confirms its issue…they seem underexposed. There is no metering at all, the red light just acts as a warning to use the flash. You really have to judge the conditions by light experience and knowledge. Remember the speed is 1/100th and use the sunny 16 rule. The camera is fine in bright light, but then move the film speed up or down if the conditions change.

 

I took the camera around Ghibli Museum..not inside as no cameras are allowed…and then to the giant Godzilla head at Hotel Gracery. Despite the exposure issue, the images do see quite sharp. I didn’t know about the lack of metering and I am tempted to try it again with my own film speed advice. But really, I didn’t love the camera and it seems a bit of a waste of film. I much prefer the original trip or even the AF.

Keep or sell: given to a friend due to moving countries.

 

 

 

 

Olympus Trip AF

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I love the Olympus Trip, so when I saw this one for $3 I didn’t even think about it, mine. This trip was released in 1984.

This one needs two AAA batteries to run the flash and the light meter. If there is enough light a green indicator shows in the viewfinder and the shutter works. The camera selects one of two speeds, either 1/85 or 1/120, which is not much of a choice really. There are also two choices of film speed which can be set on the side of the lens. It really is a camera of TWO.

The lens has a cover, which was really stiff on this example. I tended to leave it open while I was walking around with it as it was a pain to move the position. The film wind and rewind is manual.

Here is my test roll.

Well, the exposure is spot on even with the difficult backlighting of the windows. I took this camera on a location walk for the movie “Your Name“. Luckily I took another camera because this one has obvious haze…though not obvious when I loaded the film. Would I buy another version of this camera? No, I much prefer the original, it is far superior, though I only have this hazy version for comparison.

Keep or Sell: I put it in the bin.

Fed 50

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I love the Olympus Trip, I love old Russian cameras. So what would be more perfect than a Russian Olympus Trip. Viola, the Fed 50. It was based on the trip, but started it’s production 2 years after the trip was discontinued according to this great website. This is not a junk find, I looked for it after reading about it on a website that gave a list of cool cameras to look out for (which I can’t find now). This was on it, and on eBay at the same time…sold!

It looked pretty clean and the light seals seemed ok.

So, how was the camera? It felt great, a nice weight. It has a selenium meter so doesn’t need batteries. This one seemed to work fine as I tried it in a few situations without the film and the shutter worked and the speed or size of the aperture changed. It has a 38mm lens that goes from f2.8 to f16. The shutter speeds are 1/30 to 1/650 on automatic.

The interesting part is the focusing. It has a range finder, but doesn’t click between the distances. That means you can be a little more precise when guessing the distances as you can move smoothly between the usual settings. Though it did take a little getting use to for me. In the end I set it either to infinity or close and then moved the distance in or out depending on my subject. That helped when trying some street photography.

So did it work? How was the film? Firstly, I could not find the developing times for the film, so in the end I just used the same times as for fuji acros 100. Secondly, I thought I had forgotten to take off the lens cap on many of these shots, so I was very pleased to see them actually on the film….the developing times worked, phew.

Here is my first roll from it and my first roll of Oriental Seagull 100.

Well, the first few shots were taken as soon as I got the camera, then I caught a terrific cold and didn’t go out shooting. Then two weeks later, from the bridge picture onwards, I used the camera all in 24 hours. Oh and by the way, the shrine is Sengakuji and those are the 47 Ronin graves.

I love the camera, I love the film. I hate the slow light leaks and the fact I have to change the seals.

It has a really nice quality to it and at infinity is really sharp. But there seems to be something inside or on my scanner. I am not sure which. Some of the shots had a furry blob at the top. You can see it in this shot, but I digitally removed it from other places it occurred.

IMG_20160622_0016

The fact it was only on a few shots makes me think it was the scanner plate. I have since cleaned that carefully.

I recommend this camera not only for the novelty value, but the utter coolness of it and the shots.

Olympus Trip 35

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I love this camera. And why do I love it exactly? Because when I was little I saw this advert and even then I wanted to take photos. I thought only if I had this camera I could be a proper photographer.

 

Even though I already have a fully working one in my collection I couldn’t leave this in a junk bin, it just felt wrong, a betrayal. I think I will always buy them if I see them there.

This camera was made from 1967-1984. After 1978 the shutter button was changed from a silver metal button to a black plastic one. That meant this one was pre-1978. The best thing about this camera is that it is fully automatic and needs no batteries. The camera is solar-powered by a selenium cell that sits around the lens. If there is too much or too little light a red flag appears in the viewfinder. If you find one in a junk bin then check this feature by cocking the shutter and covering the cell. If you can take a photo then there is a fault. This is a common issue and could be mechanical or the selenium cell might be exhausted. Usually it is mechanical and there are fixes on the net. So it depends on how handy you are with a screwdriver as to whether you buy it. This one worked perfectly. So why was it it the junk bin? Take a look…

 

Can you see it?

There should be a hot shoe on the top of the camera. I didn’t think it would be a major issue plus I rarely attach a flash to this type of camera, preferring a point and shoot with a built in flash. So I covered the screw holes with a piece of light seal foam. I didn’t think the holes would cause a leak, I just thought the foam looked ok and felt nice to touch. The light seals inside were ok.  So this one can only work on the ‘A’ for automatic, no thinking required…oh apart from the zoned focusing. You have to estimate which to chose from four. 1 meter, 1.5 meters, 3 meters, and infinity. The first two can be a little tricky as you can see from the shots below. Only the closer shots were out of focus.

My beautiful picture
My beautiful picture
My beautiful picture
My beautiful picture
My beautiful picture
My beautiful picture
My beautiful picture
My beautiful picture
My beautiful picture
My beautiful picture
My beautiful picture
My beautiful picture
My beautiful picture
My beautiful picture

The camera worked great. So, keep or sell? Neither, I gave it to a friend with a roll of film. I have one already and it is a great camera. Maybe now my friend will give my spiderman camera back??