olympus trip 35 1967

The Olympus Trip 35 Review: Everything You Need To Know

I’ve worked with many Olympus Trip 35s over the years and I’ve discovered the pros and cons of this brilliant little rangefinder camera!

The Olympus Trip 35 is so popular because it’s very easy to use, it has a great lens and it’s ideal for the novice photographer. Also, the Olympus Trip 35 is one of the only 35mm cameras powered by the sun, making it really handy to take on holiday with you. Since 1967 10 million units have been sold, which is a tremendous amount even today.

If you want to know how this camera compares to others, how much you should be paying, some of its common issues and much, much more then read on!

I’ve worked with a hell of a lot of Trip 35s over the last few years and I like them because they’re really simple. If there’s something wrong with a Trip 35 I usually know it pretty much instantly because they aren’t especially complicated.

I’ve sussed out all the common issues, what can be fixed easily and what spells the end for an individual Trip 35. Usually, it’s lens fungus or an unreactive aperture that means doom for this little camera.

After years of working with them, I took one to the south coast of England to do a full review and I was actually pleasantly surprised by it. As you’ll see throughout the article, there are actually some good pictures that came from this ancient camera.

Some shots were let down by the very real limitations of this camera but on the flipside, due to the brilliant 40mm Zuiko lens, when the exposure is correct, its shots are great.

There are a lot of pros and cons to this camera so it’s well worth reading up on it to figure out if it’s the right fit for you. I enjoyed shooting it more than I expected but it wouldn’t be a camera that I’d rely on regularly.

Olympus Trip 35 Specs

Format – 35mm

ISO – 25 – 400

Battery – Solar Powered Selenium Battery

Exposure – Automatic

Shutter Speeds – 40 – 200

Flash – Hot Shoe

A Brief History Of The Olympus Trip 35

Introduced in 1967 and rolling on until 1984, the Olympus Trip 35 was completely ahead of its time. Sporting a solar-powered light meter in the late 60’s was pretty special.

Of course, Olympus’ market audience was pretty obvious, being named ‘Trip’, it’s kind of spelt out for you. Strong, reliable, doesn’t need any batteries, anyone could use it, that pretty much ticks all the boxes when it comes to a holiday camera.

Incredibly, over 10 million Trips were sold (Up for debate) and of course, they’re still being bought and sold to this day.

How Does The Olympus Trip 35 Battery Work?

The Olympus Trip 35 is powered by the sun using a selenium light meter which is the ring around the lens. This powers the light meter and allows the camera to choose the shutter speed and aperture (depending on which settings you have on). This would have been very unusual in its time but the fact that it’s still reliable today is brilliant.

Is The Trip 35 Lens Good?

Yeah, the Olympus Trip 35 has a pretty good lens but I’ve got to say, there are quite a few drawbacks. The lens itself is a beautiful 40mm 2.8 Zuiko lens, it’s pretty high quality for a camera that feels like a point-and-shoot.

I’d say the main drawback is that the focus is zonal and you only have 4 options. You should be able to see above, there’s a picture of one person, then two, then a group and then a landscape symbol. These are your focus options and it’s basically, 1.5m, 2m 3m and 6m and beyond.

This does limit the camera quite a lot but you’ve got to forgive a 50-odd-year-old camera sometimes.

The focal length is interesting, 40mm is pretty unusual but it’s still just wide enough to take the kind of pictures you’d usually take when you go on your holidays. It’d probably be preferable to have a 35mm lens but beggars can’t be choosers.

The Olympus Trip 35 Compared To The Olympus OM10

It’s worth comparing the Olympus Trip 35 with the Olympus OM10 as they’re currently at similar prices.

The Olympus Trip 35 isn’t that similar to the Olympus OM10, the Olympus Trip 35 is a small point-and-shoot rangefinder and the OM10 is an SLR however, it’s good to see what the Olympus Trip 35 is like in comparison to another well-known camera.

The Olympus OM10 would provide much better shots as it has better quality lenses and more control however, the Olympus Trip is more convenient, more compact and easier to use.

How Much Is The Olympus Trip 35 Worth?

Currently, the Olympus Trip 35 is worth around $100-125 or £70-100. You can of course get the Trip 35 for less if you try bidding for it on eBay or search thrift stores and flea markets but it’s worth trying to make sure that your Trip 35 is all working correctly.

What Kind Of Photography Is The Olympus Trip 35 Best For?

The Olympus Trip 35 is unsurprisingly best for travel-type photography. This camera was made with travel in mind as it’s small, compact, strong, easy to use and doesn’t require any batteries. Otherwise, this is also a good camera for day-to-day use. Photographers like David Bailey championed the Olympus Trip 35 believing that it was an incredibly high-quality camera.

Although the Olympus trip 35 has a great lens it’s not necessarily overly accurate and it’s not easy to focus correctly so despite the fact that it has a 2.8 lens it doesn’t mean it’s very likely that you’ll be able to focus correctly close range and get the most out of that lens.

This is not necessarily ideal for more professional types of photography and is definitely better to be used in day-to-day life and travel photography.

Is The Olympus Trip 35 Fully Manual?

The Olympus Trip 35 has two settings, one is an automatic setting that chooses your aperture and shutter speed for you, it decides between a shutter speed of 40 and 200 and between apertures of 2.8 and 22.

Alternatively, you can decide the aperture and the shutter speed will be decided by the camera. All focusing is manual and all ISO needs to be changed manually.

How To Use The Olympus Trip 35

Olympus Trip 35 is a very simple camera to use once you get the hang of it, until then understanding its limitations can be slightly hard.

If your camera seems not to be working properly try to leave it in the sun for some time to effectively charge its battery.

To open the back of the camera there is a small lever on the bottom of the side of the camera which just needs to be pulled down until the back pops open.

To change the aperture just rotate the ring at the base of the lens, this ring will show numbers from 2.8 two 22. If you want to shoot in automatically then turn it all the way around until the red ‘A’.

To change the ISO you just need to rotate the ring on the outer edge of the lens until you are to the correct ISO.

In order to focus you need to rotate the black ring on the lens. The closest focus mode is portrait mode, then there is middle-range portrait row mode, next, there are people standing further away from you and finally, there is a full landscape mode.

To attach a flash you simply have to slide it into the hot shoe located on the top middle of the prism.

To shoot and wind on you just have to press the shooting button on the top of the camera and then wind the black winder on the back of the camera until you can’t wind it any further.

To rewind the film you must first press the black button on the bottom of the camera to release the film and then wind the silver winder on the top left of the camera all the way back until it feels loose.

Common Faults Of The Olympus Trip 35

As the Olympus Trip 35 is a very old camera it has a number of common faults, hopefully, I can shed some light on these and help you avoid them or potentially fix them.

Commonly the red flag of the Olympus trip 35 will stop working, the red flag usually shows you when the scene would be too under-exposed. The red flag would appear at the bottom of the viewfinder when you are looking through it and would usually stop you from taking a picture if it’s too dark.

Sometimes the lens won’t react correctly to light, this is a great thing to check because if this is happening then it’s not really something that you can stop and it will ruin your photos. If this is happening the only advice I can give is to put it in the sun for a bit to see if this charges your selenium battery.

It’s likely that the light seals have worn away unless you bought your camera from a reputable dealer. You will probably have to replace a small number of light seals just to ensure that you do not get light leaks, this is fairly easy and if you want to find out how to do it then go to this link .

Lastly, the lens may have fungus and if the fungus is internal and it’s not something that would be easy to fix it would be much simpler just to get another one.

Final Word On The Olympus Trip 35

This is a great camera for travel and is certainly a camera to consider using. Personally, it’s not my kind of camera, I prefer more control and this just doesn’t cut it for me!

For a camera of its age, it truly is fantastic, a solar-powered vintage wonder that can still produce some beautiful shots!

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Hey! I've been shooting film for a very long time and throughout all of my 20's it's been my main format. In 2019 I started to buy and sell film cameras and I became a top rated seller on Etsy and eBay. I've built up a wealth of knowledge about different kinds of film cameras and their common issues.

Since I started photography I've produced a number of zines/prints and more recently made a book called 'So Far So Good'.

I started this website in late 2021 with hopes of helping out people who had been looking for similar information to me and so far, I'm really enjoying it.

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Olympus Trip 35 (1967)

This is an Olympus Trip 35, a 35mm scale focus camera made by Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. between the years 1967 and 1984. The Trip was an extremely popular compact camera and is credited as one of the first truly successful point and shoot cameras, ushering in a new age of simple cameras to those who otherwise would never have bought a rangefinder or SLR camera. The Trip requires no batteries and uses a selenium cell exposure meter for programmed auto exposure, but also allows for the option of manually selected f/stops. The Trip came with an accurate metering system, a reliable shutter, and a quality lens which meant that it was both dependable and delivered excellent results for the millions of people using them. Many can still be found in good working condition today, making them an ideal point and shoot for film shooters looking for an easy to use, but high quality, vintage shooting experience.

When you look at the progression of 20th century camera development, you can see some themes surrounding the style and features of cameras that were released in a particular period. Folding and box cameras dominated the earliest parts of the 20th century, Leica and other 35mm “miniature” cameras were all the rage in the 30s and 40s. By the 50s, the Single Lens Reflex began to be the preferred style of camera over the rangefinder, and at the start of the 60s, “electric eye” cameras opened up doors with auto exposure to people who otherwise wouldn’t have been able to (or didn’t want to) shoot high quality and properly exposed images.

It seems that by the end of the 1960s and going into the 70s, the industry was getting the idea that people wanted more compact and easy to use cameras, but without too many sacrifices in quality. Auto Exposure not only eliminated a lot of the guesswork that would have stumped novice photographers, but also meant that the manual controls that are needed to set things like shutter speed and f/stops could be eliminated from the design, making them simpler to produce and cheaper to sell. The prevalence of electronics, both in shutters, metering systems, and viewfinder displays also helped decrease the size of cameras compared to fully mechanical ones a decade earlier.

Of all the major players at the time, Olympus seemed to be the one company who did the most to differentiate themselves in the compact camera market. The half frame Olympus Pen model made it’s debut in 1959 before anyone else was making a serious effort in the compact camera segment. Each of Olympus’s subsequent full frame cameras were smaller than those released by their competitors, and although it wasn’t out yet, the upcoming OM-series SLR would offer a fully featured semi-professional level camera system in the smallest package possible.

In 1968, a new model called the Olympus Trip 35 would make it’s debut to relatively little fanfare. This new camera broke very little new ground, it didn’t have the credentials of the Pen’s designer Yoshihisa Maitani , and none of it’s specifications would have excited semi or professional photographers. The name “Trip” was chosen to suggest the camera’s intended purpose as a vacation camera for people who wanted a capable, yet compact and simple camera.

Originally retailing in 1968 for $59.95, when adjusted for inflation this compares to about $450 today which is right in the realm of what a capable, yet not out of reach camera would sell for today. The Trip had a quality 4-element D.Zuiko lens, fully automatic programmed auto exposure via a selenium meter, and an easy to use focusing system with click stops for Portrait, Group, and Scenery. The camera was only slightly larger than the very popular Pen series yet exposed full sized 24mm x 36mm shots on regular 35mm film.

Throughout it’s decade and a half of production, the camera only saw very minor changes. The two most obvious were the switch from a chrome to a black plastic shutter release button and an expansion of the ASA film speeds from 200 to 400.

In my research for this article, I found very little information about the Trip around the time of it’s release and into the early 1970s. The most prevalent form of advertising was a series of commercials that aired in the UK featuring famous photographer David Bailey and his Trip.

Check out the following commercial featuring Bailey and Monty Python alum, Eric Idle .

It doesn’t seem as though the camera caught on until a few years after it’s release, but once it did, it remained a very popular model being sold until the early to mid 1980s. Many sites on the Internet today suggest that up to 10 million Trip 35s were sold , but based on serial number research, the actual number is probably closer to half that. But even with 5 million units sold, the Olympus Trip 35 remains one of the most successful single models of any camera ever made.

By the time the Trip 35 went out of production in 1984, there were already a huge number of more advanced cameras with more features, yet the appeal of a mechanical camera that worked without a battery and could still deliver quality results is why it stayed around for so long.

Olympus recognized the success of the Trip name and would reuse it in a series of simple auto focus cameras that were in production from 1984 to 2000, but none with the long lived popularity as the original Trip 35.

Today, the Olympus Trip 35 remains a very popular model for collectors and film enthusiasts alike. A combination of a plentiful supply of them that can be found cheaply, good reliability, and an easy to use design that produces excellent results means that almost everyone who uses one, still has favorable things to say about them. This is a model that is highly recommended by many, including me, and one that definitely deserves a place in your collection.

Year of Production

The Olympus Trip 35 was in production for about a decade and a half, and a common question among collectors is when was my camera made? There are a few articles online suggesting that the earliest models have 6 digit serial numbers and the first 7 digit serial numbers appeared in 1971 – 72, but the Olympus Trip 35 Flickr group has a post that suggests the month and year of manufacture can be revealed by a date code stamped on the underside of the film pressure plate.

The pressure plate is easy to remove as it simply needs to be pulled off on one side. Do it slowly so as not to bend the clips, but I was able to get mine off without any damage to it. Sure enough, on the back of mine, I saw the number 26 which suggests mine was made in June 1972. I’ve copied the relevant information from that Flickr group here, and take no credit for this information.

1st Japanese character or letter (in later models) signifying the assembly plant.
2nd number representing the last digit of the year of assembly (e.g. 5 = 1975, 0 = 1980).
3rd number or letter representing the month of assembly, 1-9 for Jan-Sep, X, Y, Z for Oct-Dec.

The Trip 35 was manufactured between 1967 and 1984, so if you are unsure if you have a 1968 or 1978 model, the chrome shutter button is the earlier and the black the later.

Further reading through the discussion in this thread, it appears that later Trips either don’t have this number stamped anywhere, or the numbers that are there don’t make any sense so it’s possible that the later cameras either used a different system, or none at all, but this should at least allow a good number of Trips to be dated.

My Thoughts

How good could it be? This is a simple compact camera from the “electric eye” era with a large selenium meter and a limited number of shutter speeds, after all. There were tons of cameras like this made over the years, so despite the overwhelming evidence that the Trip 35 was something special I had to find out for myself.

For starters, the Trip is small, but not too small. This was a camera that was designed to be packed into luggage and taken on vacation, so portability was factored into it’s size. Of course Olympus already had their well known half-frame Pen series, and the Trip 35 in someways looks like a full size Pen. At a weight of 390 grams, the camera is light enough to not be noticeable when hanging from a wrist strap, but isn’t so lightweight as to feel cheap.

The overall design of the camera has a very minimalist Japanese look to it. By that I mean, no unnecessary bumps, curves, or protrusions. The top plate is very straightforward featuring a rewind knob with fold out handle, the flash hot shoe, cable threaded shutter release, and automatic resetting exposure counter window. The shutter release on this one is chrome as were all the earlier Trips. At some point in the late 70s or early 80s, the shutter release was changed to a black plastic type, but otherwise looked the same.

Flip the camera over and the bottom has the rewind release button and a centrally located 1/4″ tripod socket. While I always appreciate the inclusion of a well thought out tripod socket, the lack of a Bulb or any shutter speed slower than 1/40 likely suggests that not too many Trips ever saw use on a tripod.

The back of the camera continues with the same squared pattern vinyl body covering from the front and features a rectangular viewfinder window and to the right, the film advance wheel.

This style of rear film advance wheel was a hallmark of most of Olympus’s compact cameras. It first appeared on the original Olympus Pen in 1959 as a way to make the camera as inexpensive as possible and continued with the Trip and the later XA-series of cameras.

Although a cost cutting measure, in reality it works quite well, as two quick left to right swipes of your right thumb across the wheel is enough to advance the film one full exposure while simultaneously cocking the shutter. I can’t honestly say that a film advance lever would have been much faster.

Loading film into the Trip is an uneventful affair. There is a small release on the bottom of the camera’s left side which unlocks the door. Film loads from left to right onto a multi-slotted fixed take up spool.

Despite it’s economy pricing, the film compartment is as good as cameras costing quite a bit more with it’s over sized and dimpled film pressure plate which helps maintain film flatness while decreasing resistance, and even featuring a metal spring on the door to help keep the cassette stable while shooting. In the previous image to the left, you can see this camera’s degraded light seals which like many cameras of the era, needed to be replaced before I could shoot it.

Although lacking a rangefinder or any other kind of optical focus aide, the Trip 35 has a simplified focusing system that uses 4 click stops for various types of photography. At each click stop is an icon which can be seen through a small window from within the viewfinder. The four stops represent the following distances:

Closeup – 1m (3.2 feet)
Portrait – 1.5m (5 feet)
Group – 3m (10 feet)
Scenery – Infinity

Although not visible from this angle, a focus distance scale with marks in meters and feet is on the opposite side of the lens, visible for the bottom in case you don’t like the icons.

Combined with the wide depth of field offered by the 40mm D.Zuiko lens, guessing focus in most brightly lit scenes is very easy and quite a bit faster than had the camera come with a rangefinder.

Also visible from this angle is the aperture scale ring which enables full and partial auto exposure modes. Turning the inner ring to the A position allows the camera’s meter to select one of the two shutter speeds (1/40 or 1/200) and any range of f/stops from f/2.8 to f/22 to get the exposure right. If there is insufficient light to make a properly lit exposure, a red flag will appear in the viewfinder window and the shutter release will be locked.

For flash photography, or those who want a little more control, you can choose partial auto exposure mode by turning the aperture ring to any position from 2.8 to 22. In each of these positions, the auto exposure system is not fully deactivated, it will still measure light output and select an appropriate f/stop up to that point. So for example, if you manually select f/16, and the exposure meter thinks that f/8 is the right choice, that’s what it will use. In this partial mode, the shutter speed is fixed at 1/40 and cannot be changed. If you require a 1/200 shutter speed in manual mode, there are articles online showing you how to open the camera and modify it to do so . Without this modification however, the camera should not be used for fast action shots in manual mode.

Lastly, at the very front of the lens, is a ring for setting the ASA film speed for the meter. Earlier Trips were limited from 25-200, but were later increased to allow ASA 400 film to be used.

The viewfinder is large and bright, showing projected frame lines for the 40mm frame. The frame lines do not automatically correct for parallax, so there are hash marks to indicate the frame at close focus.

In an effort to make the camera as small as possible, the viewfinder is a bit too close to the lens which causes it to protrude into the viewfinder in the bottom right corner.

Below the viewfinder is a peep hole that allows you to read both the selected focus distance and shutter mode at the same time. In the previous two images, the camera is set to Portrait and Auto.

Lastly, when there is insufficient light to properly expose an image, a red flag will appear in the viewfinder window and the shutter release will be locked, preventing you from making an exposure. This could be a problem for people wanting to use faster film as the fastest speed supported is 400 but for most general shots it should be fine.

The Trip is very easy to use and I’ve found it’s best with cameras like these to not overthinking these, and to use them to their strengths, which is exactly how I intended to use it.

For my first roll through the Trip, I loaded in a fresh roll of Fuji 200 and took it with me to the Chicago Bears training camp prior to the 2019 season, and like the Bears season turned out to be, that first roll was a disaster as I foolishly used the camera without replacing the light seals and the entire roll had major light leaks in every single image. Whoops!

Into the repair queue went the camera, and after having a free weekend to replace the degraded light seals with some new ones, I loaded in another roll of Fuji 200 and took some fall pictures with it.

There is a reason the Olympus Trip 35 almost universally receives constant praise and was in production for over a decade and a half. This is an immensely fun and easy to use camera that delivers excellent results, and perhaps shocking to no one, my results were excellent too.

I left the camera in Auto mode for the entirely of it’s first two rolls and tried to use it as closely as possible to how it’s target audience would have. Looking at the images I got, they are all properly exposed, sharp across the frame, and show no signs of optical flaws common in lesser cameras. A tiny amount of vignetting was evident in a few images, but nothing that should bother anyone. As is the case with any lens marked Nikkor or Rokkor. Olympus’s lineup of Zuiko lenses make spectacular images.

The Olympus Trip wasn’t the first at anything except possibly being the first truly capable point and shoot camera and for that, has quickly become one of my favorite cameras in all of my collection. As much as I’d love to tell you that a folding plate camera from the 1920s or some quirky 1950s SLR is going to be my “go to” camera when I want to shoot film, the reality is cameras like the Olympus Trip will get the call far more often than 95% of what’s in my collection.

I could probably come up with a few nitpicks about the camera like for example the cramped viewfinder that is blocked by the lens in the bottom right corner, or being limited to only 2 shutter speeds and not having a true manual mode, but frankly, if Olympus had changed any of those things, it likely would have negatively affected the success of the camera. Having such a simple shutter meant that it was more reliable and cheaper to produce. Had the camera cost even as little as $10 more, less people would have bought it and it likely wouldn’t have been in production for as long. If there were more features it might have not appealed to the entry level consumer like it did.

The Olympus Trip 35 is a perfect example of “less is more” and in this case, it is WAY more. As this article tops 3400 words, I regret to say that I have nothing new to add to the countless number of positive articles about this camera that already exist.

They’re all right. This is a wonderful camera and one I strongly recommend you check out!

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Now I understand why this camera is a consistent good seller on That Auction Site. For your readers who may not know, the letter preceding the name “Zuiko” on Olympus manual focus lenses indicates the number of elements, with A = 1, B = 2, etc etc through H = 8 (found on the H. Zuiko 35mm f2.0 in the OM series, which I think is the most complex prime lens Olympus made). . Early manual focus Nikkors of the pre-AI variety use a similar scheme, but the letters are based on Latin or mathematicians’ designations for the number of elements: T = tri, Q = quadra, P = penta, H = hexa, S = septa, on up thru D = deca.

Thanks for the feedback Roger, perhaps this would make for an article of it’s own as Minolta did it with their lenses too.

First Letter (no. of groups): T=3; Q=4; P=5; H=6; S=7; O=8; N=9. Second Letter (no. of elements): C=3; D=4; E=5; F=6; G=7; H=8; I=9; J=10; K=11; L=12.

For example, the 58mm f/1.2 MC Rokkor – PG contained 7 elements in 5 group

I have 3 Trips and really must rationalise and sell a couple of them

String pull Kodak first successful point and shoot?

Thanks Mike and Roger for the Groups/Elements codes here. I knew Nikon, but not theothers

Great article! There was one change/variant you didn’t mention – the all black model produced for two years between 1968-1969. I have three Trips, one early Chrome button, one later black button and, of course, the Trip Noir, which is my faithful travel companion. I’ve even run some infrared film through it (successfully) – it truly is an exceptionally capable camera.

Mike I’ve had a few trips in my time and found them so easy and fun to use. There is a one thing to look out for when buying one, check the red flag pops up when you cover the meter with your hand indicating insufficient light – if it doesn’t show and the shutter still fires then you may have a problem. Also i thought the apature settings were mainly there for when a manual flash was attached and the user then sets the appropriate f stop for the subject to distance coverage needed.

Am I alone in thinking that the Trip 35 is the full frame version of the Pen EES2? I have both.

Olympus’s design theory back then shared a similar family resemblance across many models. I am certain that was intentional! 🙂

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Olympus Trip 35

The Olympus Trip 35 is a fully-automatic 35mm compact camera , manufactured by Olympus from 1967 [1] to 1984, during which time over ten million units were sold, [1] though this oft-quoted figure is likely to have included later plastic-bodied Olympus cameras with Trip branding, as the original Trip 35 had serial numbers going up to around 5,400,000. [2] The auto-exposure mechanism is effectively solar-powered by a selenium cell surrounding the lens, and consequently the camera runs without batteries. Until June 1978, the shutter button was silver-coloured metal. After that date, all Trips had a black plastic button.

1 Auto-exposure mechanism
3 Viewfinder

Auto-exposure mechanism

With the aperture ring set to "A", the camera operates as a program automatic with a working EV range of 8.32-17.4 at ASA 100. [3] Half-pressing the shutter-release button locks the exposure with both the aperture and shutter speed (of which there are only two, 1/40 and 1/200s) fixed by a delicate but accurate mechanism. As explained by one repair page ,

The combination of aperture and shutter speed that the exposure mechanism chooses depends on the amount of light available. The precise amount of light that triggers a change of the shutter speed is not documented in the user manual, but it is believed to be around EV 13. When brightness of EV 13 or more is detected, the Trip 35 will increase the shutter speed to 1/200 sec in preference to using a smaller aperture, and use a narrower aperture as light levels increase from there, presumably to avoid the diffraction effects that affect all 35mm cameras below f/11. [4] Below EV 13, it will use the 1/40 sec speed and widen the aperture for lower light levels. The camera will refuse to fire if there is not enough light, with a red plastic flag appearing simultaneously in the viewfinder. This mechanism makes it impossible to make the error of shooting with the lens cap in place.

When the aperture is set manually (primarily for flash photography), the shutter speed is set to 1/40th of a second. However, the meter is still active even in this "manual" mode. Setting the aperture manually merely sets the widest permissible aperture, and the auto-exposure mechanism may still choose to set a smaller aperture than this if it sees fit. [4]

Other than this, the camera offers no controls for setting exposure manually, though one can easily set exposure compensation by changing the film ASA dial to a higher or lower value.

The Trip 35 has a 40mm f/2.8 Zuiko non-interchangeable lens, with four elements in three groups. Ken Rockwell suspects this to be a front-element focusing Tessar . [5] This lens has a reputation for being extremely sharp, even in the corners; in Rockwell's tests, Costco-scanned Fuji ISO 400 print film loaded into this camera out-performed a Canon 17-40 f/4 L lens in the corners. [5]

The lens provides simple zone-focusing with 4 cute distance symbols marked on the top-left of the lens. These correspond to the real distance markings on the underside of the lens: 1 meter, 1.5 meters, 3 meters, and infinity. Filter ring is 43.5mm.

The viewfinder is an albada-type, with parallax markings for closer focusing. There is a second, very small window under this, nicknamed the "Judas window", which shows the current aperture setting and distance symbol which are on the lens barrel.

A small red flag will appear in the viewfinder if the auto-exposure mechanism decides there is not enough light and refuses to fire.

This camera's aperture blades (there are two blades) tend to be become sticky over time. Before purchasing an old Olympus Trip 35, ask the seller if the aperture is properly opening and closing at all values (f/2.8-f/22). This can be done by manually selecting each aperture value and half-pressing the shutter button. Otherwise, the lens unit would have to be disassembled and cleaned.

↑ 1.0 1.1 Olympus' history of EE-equipped cameras (archived)
↑ Serial numbers collected by the Olympus Trip Flickr group
↑ Specifications in the user-manual.
↑ 4.0 4.1 See the Trip 35 program graph , and the explanation in this thread .
↑ 5.0 5.1 http://www.kenrockwell.com/olympus/trip-35.htm
Manual available from UCL
Olympus Trip 35 group on Flickr
A modification that allows a 1/200 shutter speed with manual aperture control
Illustrated instructions for repairing a Trip 35
Trip 35 in the Olympus Global History (archived)
This is a trip at Classic Cameras by RaúlM.
Lionel's Olympus Trip 35 page in French at 35mm-compact.com
Olympus Trip 35 on www.collection-appareils.fr by Sylvain Halgand (in French)
Flickr image
Image by rick soloway
Japanese 35mm viewfinder
Image by Michele M. F.
Image by Hans Jan Dürr
Image by vincentnip
Image by Ênio Resende

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Olympus Trip 35 Review – A cult classic point & shoot

8 May, 2013

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I’m certainly not the first and I suspect I won’t be the last to write a little something about the Olympus Trip 35. I have read this camera had sales figures of around 10,000,000. Olympus used the ‘trip’ moniker on a lot of cameras subsequent to the one in question here, so who knows how many trip 35’s were sold? What is clear is that the number is vast! You only need to go on eBay and see how many are for sale at any one time. Just search for ‘Olympus trip’ on google and you will find entire websites dedicated to the things. This camera is a popular little snapper and has been since it hit the market in the late 60’s.

It’s production ran from 1967 through to 1984! It’s popularity was helped along by David Bailey and by the fact that the very simple 40mm lens is exceptionally high quality. It was touted as a camera that could take professional quality images yet is small and very easy to use … No wonder they sold so many!

The name “Trip” comes from the the idea that it was intended as a camera for taking on holiday. I guess this translates to a camera for everyone. And that it really is! This camera is a true point and shoot that even the most inexperienced photographer could use with little chance of failure. This is due to the slightly limited but very simple design and operation. The camera is almost entirely automated for all situations apart from shooting with a flash. Load the camera with a film between 25 and 400iso, set it as such on the dial around the front of the lens and you can let the camera do pretty much the rest.

The selenium cell based light meter effectively powers the cameras operation. With the camera set to ‘A’, based on the light hitting the meter it will choose the most appropriate aperture between f2.8 and f22. It will also choose either 1/40th or 1/200th for the shutter speed. If the amount of light isn’t adequate for at very least 1/40th and f2.8 it will simply prevent the photo from being taken. It tells you this is happening by popping up a little red flag in the viewfinder. If this happens it is intended that the user attach a flash.

If taken off ‘A’ and an aperture selected manually the meter and the flag are disabled and the camera set to shoot at 1/40th. The assumption is that a flash would be attached and that an appropriate aperture for the subjects distance would be selected. Of course it also means that as long as you are happy shooting a 1/40th you can just choose your own aperture and shoot without the little flag stopping you. This does lead to the camera being used more creatively and outside of the way it was intended but more on that later!

Focusing is achieved by selection of one of four possible preset distances which are denoted by four familiar pictures. A head and shoulders for the closest focusing and a picture of mountains for infinity. The second furthest focusing distance (denoted by three little people) is highlighted in red. The same red as the ‘A’. This is no accident, in daylight set the camera to ‘A’ the the three little red people and you can shoot away with little worry of out of focus images.

This simplicity does make for a very enjoyable shooting experience, but with a little imagination the camera can be used (as previously mentioned) outside of the intended way.

The first little trick is quite an obvious one really. The camera can be tricked into over or under exposing by changing the film speed. Eg 200 ISO film in camera and up to 1ev of under exposure can be achieved by setting it to 400iso. You could of course also dial in up to 3ev of over exposure. An example of where this might be useful would be shooting a backlit subject eg a person stood in front of a window.

Another trick is for low light shooting. When set to ‘A’ low light shooting is somewhat limited. That pesky red flag rears its little head and a 400iso limit is a little low. As mentioned before though, the little red flag can be disabled, and if not using the lightmeter there is no need to worry about what ISO the camera is set to. So as long as you are happy at 1/40th you can put whatever ISO film in you like and manually select exposure with the aperture control. There are in fact many people who do this some of whom post in the Flickr group. It’s not something I have tried since resurrecting the camera… But I’m going to … And will post some shots when I get around to it!

So what’s all the fuss about? Surly there are more highly specified cameras that allow shooting in more circumstances without such limitations. Well yes, but it’s the simplicity that is the charm, combined with a superb lens and the fact that they so rarely go wrong it’s hard not to love this camera!

So that’s the Trip 35, a cult classic, incredibly simple to use, hardy, cheap as chips and packed with charm … Basically, buy one! Use it, love it!

Additional – I have done a ‘Through the viewfinder’ article on this camera which can be found here Through the Viewfinder – Olympus Trip 35

Some useful links: Help with dating your trip Instructions for repairing your trip 35 A possibly useful modification

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Trip 35 and some very cheap film and Connie. on Olympus Trip 35 Review – A cult classic point & shoot

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Hamish Gill replied:

Yeah, thats what I'm saying ... Put 200iso film in and set it to 400 and it will under expose it by 1ev Put 200iso film in and set it to 100, 50 or 25 and it will over expose buy 1,2 and 3ev respectively... Thats right isn't it??

Christos Theofilogiannakos on Olympus Trip 35 Review – A cult classic point & shoot

Comment posted: 16/10/2015

Huh, that's interesting! I didn't know that ... Very clever little cameras really!

Neilson on Olympus Trip 35 Review – A cult classic point & shoot

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5 Frames With An Olympus 35 RC - by Julian Higgs - 35mmc on Olympus Trip 35 Review – A cult classic point & shoot

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Camera Review Blog No. 06 – Olympus Trip 35 – Alex Luyckx | Blog on Olympus Trip 35 Review – A cult classic point & shoot

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Olympus Global Homepage

History of Olympus Products

Olympus TRIP 35

The Olympus TRIP 35 is a full-sized compact EE camera based on the Pen EES. It first went on sale in 1968. The name reflects its suitability as a convenient camera to take on trips. The TRIP 35 became very popular as a camera that combined ease of use, reliability and a low price with superb photographic performance. It remained a best-seller for over the next 20 years since its launch.

Olympus Trip 35: A World-Famous Classic

A world-famous classic, selling millions of units worldwide, that’s the Olympus Trip 35. This means plenty are available in thrift stores, op-shops and across the internet. It’s no wonder then that so many people with a renewed interest in film photography end up with a Trip. What is incredible is that such a cult following has sprung up around them.

The Lomo LC-A’s following loves the quirks of the LC-A. Yes, it’s capable of very sharp images, is amazingly flexible with its almost limitless shutter speeds and the new LC-A+ can achieve very high film speeds. It’s renowned for it’s lovely vignetting, an effect I enjoy very much drawing the observers eye to the middle of each print. However, sometimes you want something more accurate, more lifelike and that’s when the Trip comes in handy.

In short, the Olympus Trip 35 give you the same quality of shot (or better) than a far more expensive SLR would. If you get the focusing right (it’s a zone focus camera so, like the LC-A, you must practice guessing distances before perfect focussing becomes natural) then images can be tack sharp with no distortion of any kind, and only occasionally minimal vignetting.

This makes it a marvelous alternative to a far larger, inconvenient, heavier SLR . The Trip can be carried in a handbag (or man-bag!) easily and like the LC-A be used in a truly fast way. Many rave about the Trip, but it is unfair not to bring your attention to some of the quirks that make it a companion, and not an alternative to the LC-A.

When the Trip was in production, films were not as fast as they are today, this means the ISO settings on the camera are a bit strange, starting at 25 with very minor increments it only goes as high as 400. With today’s films being much finer grain and not as slow the only really useful ISOs are between 100 and 400.

There are only two shutter speeds, 1/200 and 1/40. This means that you will only ever achieve those tack sharp images it’s famous for, in brightish light, shake can be very evident at 1/40. The camera’s lens is quite bright at f2.8, but still, this is not as flexible as the LC-A+ .

Still thinking of buying a Trip? Good. Mine has become one of my favorite cameras and I recommend it. If you do, make sure you check the light meter is working, that the ‘little red flag’ isn’t stuck. One thing you will have to do is replace the seals. After some light leaks (who wants a leaky Trip? Its quality is the point!), I replaced the seals, easy and fast (message me for a contact who makes the kits to do so) and since then I haven’t had a problem.

Even in quite poor light with expired film, the Trip is capable of capturing amazing detail in the grass in the first shot, right to the corners of the shot — one oddity here is the vignetting, I only ever get that with expired film.

Technicalities aside, the one last word I have to say about the Trip is this. It’s beautiful. You simply cannot disagree it’s miniature SLR aesthetics, silver, and black trim… what a pretty thing.

This article was written by Lomographer adam_g2000 . Upload your shots to your LomoHome using the Olympus Trip 35.

written by adam_g2000 on 2012-03-02 #gear #35mm #review #trip #camera #colour #olympus #sharp #lomography #35 #user-review #accurate

trip35snapper , mnoon12 , lizkoppert , martinpruv , twizzer88 , jackpumpkinhead , domo-guy , mialee , pcrlaban , snowybub , lomoeugenio , imanskoi , gdc , tahe87 , crevans27 , neanderthalis , szzs , lomodesbro , clogged , larrywzh , foodeanz , superlighter , wuxiong , arifrodriguez , lighthouse_keeperess , uncle_jay , k_melancholy , alex34 , kuryzu , plasticpopsicle , vgzalez & sidsel .

19 Comments

Nice galleries. It seems like a highly functional point-and-shoot, which is sometimes exactly what you want/feel like (I have a Beirette VSN for that). Good review.

Love the camera.....<:) nice review too...<:)

Dusting mine off right now, nice review!

Now i know how incredible performance that the Tip have...=) thanks for sharing...

@foodeanz I don't think I gave it enough credit, it's easy to maintain and repair, a great all rounder. highly recommended.

ok..thanks for the info..=)

i love mine so much.

I love this camera! I recently bought one and now I'm waiting for results...

Excellent. I would get one if only I could convince my wife to let one more camera in the house....

Bought one on Monday....waiting for it to arrive. This has made me even MORE excited!

Picked up a mint looking (and working) one today for only 20€, really looking forward to using it next week!!! Very nice review!!!

so sad..changed mine twice & still having problem. The red flag kept popping up, refusing to let me take pics.

Bought one saturday! I'll finish the test roll and send it to the lab in the next hour or so.

@franty good luck. @snowybub if you are sure you are operating it properly in the right light, there is nothing to stop you trying to repair it. It would be worth it for the experience! www.flickr.com/groups/olympustrip35/discuss/721576223452371… amongst others.

i using this camera, realh is amazing...! i love it so much!

Nice review. My first roll is just done and can't wait

Very advanced point and shoot without any battery! It is a solar powered light meter which enables a fully auto setup! While at the same time one can have it sort of manual and adjust the aperture and speed ! Takes great photo , super light and easy to carry!

Hi, I like the look of the trip 35 but I'm wondering how to get more vignetting. It's a trait I adore and lean towards more the La Sardina however the glass lense of the Trip does produce much sharper images. Any advice? (New to film)

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Olympus Trip 35 – Camera Review

Josh solomon.

October 3, 2016

As enthralling as photography can be, long days, months, and years spent shooting can wear you out. In the worst case, it can lead to a photographic malaise that can dismantle even the most well-built minds from the inside out. It can render the best shooters incapable of even the simple task of pressing a shutter button. It’s shooter’s block, our equivalent to writer’s block, and it hit me hard over the summer.

I jumped out of bed one morning full of energy, ready to take on the world with my trusty Nikon F and Leica M2. But instead of plunging into a world filled with beauty, intrigue, and possibility, I found my surroundings cold, ugly, and indifferent. The images I tried to form seemed trite and overplayed, and I soon lost confidence in my ability to make a decent picture. Even the storied reputations of my F and M2 failed to inspire me. Every time I peered through their viewfinders I saw nothing but dust in the pentaprism and emptiness between the framelines.

Sufficiently depressed, I decided to stay home and put my cameras on the shelf. And it was while I was lying face down on a pillow listening to the opening lines of Chicago’s “Hard To Say I’m Sorry” that I realized I did, in fact, need a little time away. But I didn’t need a full-on vacation from the hobby itself – no, that would be too drastic. I just needed a change from the manual cameras that sat on my shelf. I needed an easier camera, and I had a feeling one camera in particular could fit the bill – the Olympus Trip 35.

The Olympus Trip 35 is a camera I’d heard a lot about but had never tried myself. Its reputation for ease of use and high quality seemed the perfect cure for my shooter’s block. And if the Trip 35 was the prescription, the Pasadena Camera Show was the pharmacy. There I found a beautiful Trip 35 for an absurdly low price, bought it, and quickly threw it in my bag.

One would think the Olympus Trip 35 would seem out of place next to legendary cameras like the aforementioned Nikon and Leica, but it actually fits right in. This camera, although not as capable as the other two, holds an equally lofty place in photographic history. Just as the F and the M defined the SLR and rangefinder genres respectively, the Trip 35 defined the point-and-shoot game. More impressive still, the Trip 35 actually outsold the Nikon F and the Leica M2 by millions. Take that, fanboys.

Olympus achieved these massive numbers by appealing to the casual shooter rather than pro photographers, specifically focusing on the new generation of moneyed vacationers. Racing from landmark to landmark and airport to airport, these sightseers simply lacked the time and interest needed to learn the boring particulars of photography required to operate a camera. Instead, they required a camera that was simple to use, but sophisticated enough to beautifully capture their memories.

Good design marries aesthetics to functionality, and the the camera gods couldn’t have picked a better company to bring the Trip 35 to life. Olympus’ design house, fresh off the ingenious half-frame Pen F, struck gold again with the Trip. The design is classic Olympus; clean-cut lines and an impossibly small form factor, the Trip wastes no time and gets straight to the point. It’s as well designed as any machine of its day, more impactful when we recall that the Trip came of age in an era where cameras were still fully mechanical, save for the occasional battery powered light meter. Automation seemed a distant (and expensive) fantasy, so when Olympus created a genuine auto-exposure camera out of primitive nuts and bolts, the world took notice. This was in no uncertain terms an engineering miracle.

The Trip 35 accomplishes this sorcery by determining the amount of light that enters a Selenium photo cell surrounding the lens, and choosing a correct aperture based on this reading. The camera then chooses a shutter speed of either a 1/200th or 1/40th of a second and we get a perfect exposure. When the camera’s incapable of making an acceptable exposure, a little red flag shows up in the viewfinder and the shutter locks out. The magic of this system is that it takes all exposure-related worry out of our minds. We don’t have to agonize about aperture, shutter speed, or even battery life, a godsend for vacationers and anxious photo geeks.

But before we experience it, it’s quite easy to question the Trip 35’s simplicity. After all, how accurate could a camera this old and primitive be? And could the lens be good enough for our 21st century eyes? As I drove home from the camera show, my new Trip in the passenger seat next to me, these questions rolled through my mind. I really needed this camera to be decent, if I was to pull out of my photographic death spiral.

Just then, I received a text message from my sister. Can you pick up some pork buns in chinatown? thx. With this, I had my mission; buy some pork buns, shoot the Trip, and see if this ancient camera could walk the walk.

The first thing I noticed was its build quality. Comprised of metal and plastic, the Trip 35 is solid, but never heavy; lightweight, but never flimsy. The only disappointing aspect of the camera’s feel is its film advance wheel. A dinky plastic affair reminiscent of disposable cameras, this lackluster cog is forgivable when we remember that the Trip was built to be a consumer-level camera.

Peering through the viewfinder showed bright frame-lines with tick marks both for up-close shots and for landscape shots. These are helpful in view of the Trip’s lack of automatic parallax correction. Having used fancy Leica , Nikon , and Contax rangefinders renowned for brightness and clarity, the Trip’s viewfinder beats most of them. Its relative simplicity is a nice change from the cluttered and overly complex viewfinders of other machines. The Trip 35 also features a small window in the bottom right of the VF (affectionately dubbed the “Judas Window” by Trip 35 disciples) which shows both the chosen aperture and exposure setting on the camera.

So far, so good. But how was I to determine focus? I quickly realized that the Trip’s a scale-focus camera, which is not ideal for accuracy. But before I started feeling like Olympus left me all alone and helpless, I realized that they were kind enough to provide some handy distance-measuring tools. Settings along the lens barrel show a picture of one person for portraits, two people for pictures of two people, three people for group pictures, and a mountain symbol for everything in the distance, including mountains. I stopped hyperventilating, and realized that, for a point-and-shoot camera, this is more than enough. And for all you nitpickers, Olympus also included precise distance measurements in both meters and feet on the underside of the lens. Phew.

Once shooting the Trip started to shine, and I was easily able to focus on exactly what matters most in photography – composition. From the first frame I found myself joyfully snapping away at whatever tickled my fancy, even though I didn’t know what aperture values and shutter speeds the Trip 35 was choosing. Frankly, I didn’t give a damn. All that mattered to me was finding different angles, new ways to play with light, and how to capture Chinatown’s unique charm. It felt like with each and every frame, the Trip was dissolving my shooter’s block more and more, and I wanted to just keep shooting.

So the little Olympus and I danced through Chinatown’s colorful landscape, happily snapping away. In no uncertain terms, it was the most fun I’d ever had with a camera. Even though the heat of the afternoon beat on my shoulders and the sweat sizzled on my brow, the Trip 35 and I ran through the city without a care in the world. The streets led us to the door of a steamy Chinese restaurant, then a pile of steaming pork buns, then back to the equally steamy interior of my car. I didn’t care how long the journey took or how much fluid I lost in that heatwave. It seemed like I sweated out my shooter’s block, and I eagerly raced home to deliver the buns, and develop the film.

But something was nagging me about the camera the entire way home; the focus issue. Had I gotten the focus correct for every shot? How was I to trust those markings? How could I possibly live without a focusing aid? Anxiety began to rear its head again and I had to stop myself from speeding over to a one-hour photo lab to assuage my fears. I gripped the steering wheel tight and told myself to trust the Trip. Besides, I still had a job to do. These pork buns weren’t going to deliver themselves.

After delivering and munching on said pork buns with my contented sibling, I decided to get the roll developed and scanned. My fears were partially founded. Some of the shots, especially photos of close subjects or darker scenes, came back fuzzy due to a combination of my poor distance estimation and the nature of the Trip’s exposure and focus systems. While the Trip automatically helps achieve sharp focus by selecting a smaller aperture for greater depth-of-field, this is only possible in bright light. As things get dark, the ability to shoot at a smaller aperture quickly disappears. In these situations it can be really difficult to nail correct focus. One minor consequence of this is that shooters with an affinity for portraiture and those sweet bokeh balls will probably be disappointed by this camera.

But expecting creamy bokeh and close range performance from the Trip 35 (or most point-and-shoots for that matter) is like expecting a ‘93 Honda Civic to outpace a Tesla Model S. It just won’t happen, and trying will lead to frustration. But just like that Honda, if you regard the Trip 35 as a reliable machine good for an occasional joyride, it will never disappoint. The Trip 35 is capable of a great many things , but we must be careful to recognize and respect its own limits.

When we get the focus right, the Trip’s fantastic 40mm F/2.8 Zuiko lens delivers in spades. The lens is a front-focusing Tessar type lens, which means that it’s very simple and very sharp, and it retains this sharpness edge to edge without chromatic aberration, spherical aberration, or any kind of distortion due to its simple optical formula and Olympus’s masterful execution. The lens’ quality even overcame the limitations of expired film, and ended up giving me some great results.

For whom is this camera best suited? First and foremost, the Trip 35 might just be the perfect camera for the casual photophile. Olympus built this camera to document the daily adventures of the everyman, and the Trip does this beautifully. And for experienced shooters, the Trip 35 can be a great way to break free of shooter’s block, or inject our shooting with something fun and carefree. It emphasizes the art of composition rather than the cold calculations of exposure, but even more importantly, it reminds us to relax, have a pork bun, and not take ourselves too seriously.

Want to try the Trip 35 for yourself?

Buy it on ebay, buy it on amazon, shop b&h photo’s vintage gear, follow casual photophile on facebook and instagram.

[ Some of the links in this article will direct users to our affiliates at B&H Photo , Amazon , and eBay . By purchasing anything using these links, Casual Photophile may receive a small commission at no additional charge to you. This helps Casual Photophile produce the content we produce. Many thanks for your support. ]

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Camera Review
film camera
olympus Trip

Josh Solomon is a freelance writer and touring bassist living in Los Angeles. He has an affinity for all things analog. When not onstage, you can find him roaming around Southern California shooting film and humming a tune.

29 comments

Very nicely done.

Great review of the Trip! This is the camera that lured me away from Lomography and the whole low-fi aesthetic. While the metering system is somewhat primitive and the zone focusing can be imprecise, especially in low light, it’s obvious that all the money and work went into the lens. In the right circumstances it’s absolutely tack sharp. Once I started getting sharp images from my Trip, the Lomo LC-A+ and the Holga started looking a lot less appealing.

The Trip definitely has some big limitations but on its own terms it’s a great camera.

Here’s my Trip album on Flickr to get an idea.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/21156896@N07/sets/72157645739914959

Thanks for adding your Flickr album. It’s great for people to be able to see what these cameras can do in varied situations.

Thanks so much! Those images are fantastic; they really showcase what that lens can do. Funny you mention the LC-A+… ?

Thanks! The LC-A+ was the camera that got me back into using film after an extended dalliance with digital photography. I used it really heavily for about 2 years before becoming curious about other cameras. The fact that the Lomo is also a zone focuser made it very easy for me to switch to the Trip and the XA2.

Great write up Josh, and really nice album Neilson! I had to do a double take on some of those shots, especially the close up portraits, realizing that you had used a Trip.

I agree, what a great review and some fine shots on that flickr gallery. I’ve just bought my 50th Olympus Trip 35 and am steadily rebuilding them from head to toe. I’ve posted some reviews and other helpful reviews on my site https://trip35.co/

Great pictures from the Trip. You got to love these little cameras!

The Trip 35 was *made* for landscapes and group photos in good light outside. It’s really dang good for those things. For everything else, not so much! But like you, on a day when I’m just out and about shooting stuff, I find the Trip 35 to be big fun.

My last outing with my Trip 35: https://blog.jimgrey.net/2015/04/20/olympus-trip-35-revisited/

If I ever get on an airplane again I think I’ll be bringing this camera… We’ll see. Josh and your post have helped convince me. Thanks for sharing.

Great review of one of my favourite cameras and one of the best free cameras I’ve ever been given. The quality you can get from this little package has always astounded me, this is an example taken with just bog standard Poundland special film (Agfa Vista 200) https://the6millionpman.wordpress.com/2016/09/30/cardiff-bay-sunset-3/

And yet again I confess to being an Olympus fanboy.

Beautiful colors and range on that.

Great article Josh, and thanks for publishing it James. There wasn’t a link, but I started the Olympus Trip 35 users group on Facebook, here is the link. P.S. A few famous photogrpaphers in the group.

http://www.facebook.com/groups/OlympusTrip35

Hey my friend! Thanks for commenting. We did include a link there, it’s in the third to last paragraph where it says the Trip is “capable…” etc.

And for anyone down here in the comments, do check out the FB group. Amazing talent there shooting with all kinds of Trips.

The Trip Flickr group is worth checking out too. Lots of good stuff there.

https://flic.kr/g/5jsssh

Great write-up! I have three of these and, while I’m by no means a great photographer, I do love the pick-up-and-go nature of the Trip 35. For those who are interested, I spent an entire day refocusing the lens on one of mine;

https://teeritz.blogspot.com.au/2014/04/re-focusing-lens-on-olympus-trip.html

Almost drove me nuts!

That post is scary. You’re a brave man.

Bought a Trip after reading a recommendation by Ken Rockwell. At the time I thought I only ever needed one camera – an FE – and I had one. However, the Trip is great for other things. As you say, the pictures are so sharp. And its so easy to use.

I love my Trip 35. Fantastically sharp lens and incredibly easy to use! The zone focusing took a bit getting used to and I do still occasionally misfocus, but when that happens I embrace my inner William Klein. Also, my copy came with a lens cap and zipped up in a bag so the selenium is not at all worn out and the AE is spot-on. I actually trust shooting slide film in this camera more than any of my all-manual cameras!

Hi! Thank you so much. I am seriously considering to buy a Trip. I want to go traveling and bring a good camera. Do you think this one will do? And some people say it’s not really for taking photo’s in the dark/on parties. Are they right?

Thanks again 🙂

Hey Nikki! The Trip is the perfect camera for travel and casual outdoor shooting IMO, but it does suffer in low light without a flash. A little compact flash will help, and it does have a manual aperture override for accurate flash exposures.

If you’re going to be spending lots of time indoors I would suggest either picking up a cheap P&S with a built in flash, or upgrading entirely to a compact SLR/fixed-lens rangefinder with a fast (f/2 and under) lens for low-light shooting without a flash. Hope this helps!

Hello Nikki, I am the Admin of the Olympus Trips 35 Users Group, I recommend you join to get advice, and there are trustworthy sellers in the group.

See the website link below my comment

I’ve recently picked up aTrip 35 and have been very pleasantly surprised by the ease of use and picture quality. I even tried some low light close shots and had better results than I expected. Tip #1: use 400 speed film to increase versatility. You get more depth of field in any situation and therefore more focussing accuracy. You will also hold off the “red flag” for a stop or two. Tip #2: learn how to guesstimate the zone distances as accurately as possible. If you’re shooting close-up in lower light try to nail the actual distance e.g. set the lens on 1 meter and try to be 1 meter away. Use a tape measure at first so you can see what the distances look like. As the light falls or distances get closer then more accuracy is required from the photographer. Tip #3: remember that you can press the shutter button half way down to lock the exposure. Meter off a mid-tone then recompose and shoot. This will help with back lighting and other tricky light. Tip #4: try to shoot within the limits of the design and you will get good results. The Trip 35 was meant for family holidays and a whimsical approach to photography. If you require critical focussing or metering the Trip was never really designed for that. Enjoy!

Hi, Josh. Great writing. I enjoyed reading your review and laughed so much at the pork bun adventure! Thanks!

Thirty-seven years of shooting film and the Trip 35 was a camera I’d always ignored for being ‘too simple’. I spotted one in a local charity shop last week that was cased, boxed and in lovely condition and I got it for next to nothing. I ran half a roll of FT-12 ASA50 cinema film through and the results were far better than I expected. I started out on Olympus all those years ago (still use them) but I’m a bit ashamed of myself for ignoring this little gem. My 8 year old is just starting to take an interest in photography and this is going to be ideal for her.

Thanks for a great review and for pointing out a couple of little features I hadn’t spotted.

Quick pedantic note: In virtually everything I’ve seen online about the Trip 35, there’s one thing that nobody ever seems to say:

The Trip 35 is essentially the full-frame version of the earlier half-frame Pen EES and EES-2.

I had an EES-2 and it was a great shooter for an inexpensive camera. It worked exactly the same way as the Trip: the selenium meter around the lens chose one of two shutter speeds or raised a red flag if there wasn’t sufficient light; it had a four-icon zone focus lens; there was one manual speed for flash along with adjustable f-stops when not in Auto. Of course, the Trip had a different focal length lens to produce a full-frame image, but I suspect it’s of a very similar design to the EES-2’s. And note that the Trip 35’s top plate includes the EES-2’s hot shoe, along with the back cover/rewind knob from the Pen series (and frame counter from the Pen F series), and the viewfinder is essentially the same as the EES-2’s.

My point is: the Trip 35’s super-successful design wasn’t actually new, the camera was scaled up from the already successful Pen EES series.

Thank you… Now I’m on my way for fun an Mindfulness 🙂 A very brilliant text who give me interests and energy. Thank you 🙂

Just bought one, trying it out tomorrow. I would suggest to buy a tripod and a self-release cord, set it to A and just set for the distance. I used to carry a 110 film camera back in 1977 and was taught photography back in 1981 from a WW2 vet. Warhol used a Pentax 35afm because he could set a high iso without flash.

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Why the Olympus Trip 35 is a Classic Camera Worth Owning

David Johnson | April 14, 2023

History of the Olympus Trip 35

Design and build quality.

Zone Focusing

Light metering, easy to use.

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Olympus Trip 35 – A Fully Mechanical Vintage Point and Shoot Camera (Review)

May 31, 2022

Cool to see a new review of the old analog Olympus TRIP 35 (here on eBay) ! Analog Insights writes:

In today’s episode, Jules, Paul and I review the Olympus Trip 35 – a beautiful, compact 35mm viewfinder camera with built-in selenium light meter, an excellent 40mm f/2.8 Zuiko lens and an automatic exposure mode. The camera was first introduced in 1967 and built until 1984. According to most online sources, about 10 million units were produced in these 17 years, yet this number is likely to include later plastic versions with some form of Trip branding. Looking at the actual serial numbers, it is more likely that Olympus built around 5.4 million units of the Trip 35. Paul is also known as Trip Man (https://www.tripman.co.uk), selling refurbished classic Trip 35 cameras and accessories online out of England. He is a true authority and thus my perfect guide to this wonderful little camera. I cautiously reached out to him asking whether he would be available for a conversation via Zoom and he decided to spend a short spring vacation here in Munich. We used the opportunity to take the Trip 35 out on a photo walk in Munich’s Westend district shooting Ilford Pan 400 on a cloudy day. Paul could use the Trip 35 here in Munich as it was originally intended – as a light, easy-to-use travel camera that lets you explore the world, focus on your subject and nothing else. I also took the camera out together with Jules on a photo walk around dusk in a former industrial area. To match the beautiful golden light, we shot a roll of Kodak Gold 200 rated at ISO 160 and got some excellent results as well. Let’s get started and learn more about the Trip 35.

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Explorer, Wanderer, Photographer

Camera review blog no. 06 – olympus trip 35.

When it comes to cult cameras, I don’t think any company can compete with Olympus for the sheer number of models that have gained cult status before the current wave of point-and-shoot madness. You have the Mju (µ) aka Stylus, Stylus Epic, the entire XA line, and then there’s this camera, the Trip 35. When it comes to sleek and stylish cameras not to mention easy to operate and compact the Trip 35 has all of that in spades. And it probably helped catapult the camera to fame with the support of David Bailey . My own journey into the Trip 35 started with the Film Photography Podcast, during their August 2010 episode where the Trip 35 was mentioned. Well, this during the early days of my return to film I hopped on eBay and immediately bought myself one. And I soon realised what a great camera the Trip 35 is, easy to use, pocketable, and you didn’t have to think too much.

Camera Specifications Make: Olympus Model: Trip 35 Type: Zone Focus Format: 135 (35mm), 36x24mm Lens: Fixed, Olympus D.Zuiko 1:2.8 f=40mm, 4 element/3 groups, f/2.8-f/22 Shutter: Leaf Shutter, 1/40″ or 1/200″ Meter: Selenium Cell, EV 8.32 ~ EV 17.42 @ ASA-100, ASA-25 – ASA-400 Year of Manufacture: 1967-1984

Background During the 1960s Olympus had dumped most of its resources into the production of two items, the first being the iconic half-frame SLR the Pen F and secondly the D.Zuiko lens design. Both being the brainchild of noted designer Yoshihisa Maitani. Maitanai did not have anything to do with the Trip 35 project, but the design of the camera certainly took its feel and style from the Pen F. But unlike the half-frame Pen, Olympus wanted to design the camera around the full-frame 35mm film, that is 36x24mm. Their overall goal was a camera that could be taken on family holidays that anyone can operate. The camera was built around the D.Zuiko lens offering good optical performance. For Olympus, they wanted to bring a simple top-performing camera to the market that would make photography accessible to all without having to carry around accessories like light meters. They wanted full auto-exposure out of the Trip 35 and achieved this using a selenium cell around the lens element. First, they simplified the automatic shutter having only two speeds, 1/200th or 1/40th of a second, then using a trapped needle system to use the light reading from the selenium cell that would dictate how far a traveller would open the camera’s aperture. Released in 1967, Olympus engaged in an aggressive marketing campaign using noted British photographer David Baily as the spokesperson for the camera. The only change to the Trip 35 during the production run saw the chrome shutter release replaced with a black plastic release in 1978. By the time production ended in 1984 over ten million cameras were sold.

Impressions You can certainly see the minimalist ethos in the Trip 35 design, but not overly done that the camera looks cheap. Because the camera is certainly not cheap in any aspect, it is a well-designed layout and you can certainly see the effect that the Pen F had on the designs of Olympus at the time. The general design is not cluttered for such a small form factor, the top plate having only the shutter release and rewind knob, the film advance is a thumbwheel and the aperture controls are located on the lens barrel. And everything is in the right place making it a great camera for snaps and quick action when you don’t want to do much in the way of thinking. The viewfinder is big and bright with clear lines to help with composition complete with parallax correction. What is also fun is the big selenium cell around the lens, a rather iconic look for similar cameras of the era, but there are filter threads so that the camera meters through the filter accounting for filter factor without you having to think. And the focusing, while done zone style, is easy to understand and clicks with each so that you don’t suffer from accidental bumpage or creep. Plus you don’t need to worry about carrying a big bag or heavy strap, the Trip 35 fits easily in the pocket without having to worry too much.

Experiences To put it simply the Trip 35 is a fun camera to shoot with, and because of its compact size makes for a good companion when you already are packing a large camera. Often I would carry it with me when I was out shooting with a 4×5 which took up a lot of time and space, but with the Trip 35, I had something simple that took up no room at all. And while the camera did offer some level of semi-automatic control, I ran the camera fully automatic and never had to worry the selenium meter never failed me on an exposure. I could also easily carry the camera without knowing I had it on me and could slide it into the pocket. It took every condition from cold to warm, snow to rain without missing a beat. The viewfinder as I mentioned previously is big and bright and never had an issue with bad composition thanks to the frame lines. As for focus, it took a while for me to figure out the zone focus, but this was also my first zone focus camera and I had mostly worked with SLRs or Rangefinders. The shutter is a little difficult to hear, but having that subtle sound makes it easy to do street photography, and the thumbwheel advance while having a long travel isn’t overly long, and being plastic doesn’t dig into your fingers in the cold weather. And both loading and unloading film is a simple process.

Optics Here is where the Trip 35 shines. The lens is the iconic D.Zuiko, designed by Maitani as a lens that could deliver the same quality that he found in the lenses he used on his Leica IIIf. The D.Zuiko is a Tessar design, that is a four-element in three group design. This particular design went into several Olympus lenses including the ones for the Pen F and eventually the OM series of SLRs. The result is that you get sharp images with lovely contrast, plus it works well with both colour and black and white films. The 40mm focal length is perfect for a pocket camera, it’s not too wide to make holiday snaps look weird, but not too long to have dad fall off the edge while getting that family group shot. Plus the lens is decently fast with the widest aperture at f/2.8 and stopped down to f/22 to ensure everything is in focus for those grand vistas. Honestly, unless I messed something up, I don’t think I ever got a bad image out of the camera.

Lowdown Like many of my early camera acquisitions as my collection and toolbox grew the Trip 35 soon became relegated to the top shelf, which is where my low use cameras go. But don’t take this as a bad thing, the Trip 35 is and remains a fantastic camera that provided me with several excellent years of use. And like many of my cameras it to went on to serve another photographer who lost his own black release Trip 35 and was most pleased to get a chrome release model. If you are in the market for one, the only thing to watch out for is a dead selenium cell, once it’s gone, the camera is basically toasted, as a repair is both difficult and hard to get. The best practice is to have some sort of lens cap to protect the cell. Thankfully the Trip 35 has been unaffected by the crazy prices of point-and-shoot cameras today with most going for 50-150$ for working examples. And if you do get one, don’t worry, it will serve you well.

Further Reading Don’t just take my word on the Trip 35, you can check out the reviews by other awesome camera reviewers! 35mmc – A Cult Classic Point and Shoot Olympus Trip 35 Mike Eckman Dot Com – Olympus Trip 35 Review Down the Road – Operation Thin the Herd: Olympus Trip 35 Kosmo Foto – Olympus Trip 35 Review Canny Cameras – Yet another Trip 35 review Casual Photophile – Olympus Trip 35 Review Photo Thinking – Olympus Trip 35 A Holiday Camera Camera Go Camera – Olympus Trip 35 Review

And if you want to read more about the man who made Olympus, check out the great article on the Casual Photophile on Yohihisa Maitani !

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How To Use The Olympus Trip

April 28, 2023 By Cameras By Max

The Olympus Trip is a super popular camera among beginners to film, so here is our guide on how to use this awesome little camera, and some tips on how to get the most out of your Olympus Trip.

Olympus Trip 35mm film camera in wood covering in front of a plant

What is the Olympus Trip?

The Olympus Trip 35 was introduced in 1967, and discontinued in 1984, which is considered a long production run for a 35mm film camera. Over ten million Olympus Trip cameras were sold in this time.

Many people wrongly call the Olympus Trip a rangefinder camera, however we would classify it more as a point and shoot with zone focusing.

What features does the Olympus Trip have?

The Olympus Trip is really easy to use, and has some cool features that set it apart from other point and shoot 35mm film cameras.

Zuiko coated 40mm f/2.8 lens : this lens is sharp, and the wide aperture makes it versatile in a lot of situations.
Automatic settings : the Olympus Trip has two shutter speeds and aperture from f/2.8 to f/22.
No batteries needed : the Olympus Trip is powered by the selenium meter around the lens. This is also what receives light and tells the camera which aperture is needed.
Red flag feature : when the camera does not have enough light to take a photograph, a red flag appears in the viewfinder.
Zone focusing : the Olympus Trip has four focus settings depending on how far away your subject is from the camera.

What are the different parts of the Olympus Trip?

The top plate.

The Olympus Trip top plate is very simple. The camera features are easy to find, making it an ideal camera for beginners. Below is a labelled diagram of the camera.

Olympus Trip 35 35mm film camera top plate nomenclature

On the left of the top plate is the rewind knob (more on that later). In the middle is the flash hotshoe, used for mounting hotshoe flashes to the camera. The shutter button is the small black button on the top. On some models of Olympus Trip, this button can be silver. The small panel on the right is the shot counter that displays the number of shots you have taken.

The Olympus Trip lens holds most of the key settings for the camera , such as the ASA, focus, and aperture.

The ASA dial is set to match the roll of film that you put in the camera. For example, if you are using Portra 400, the ASA setting is set to 400.

The focus settings are simple, and known as zone focusing. There are four zones to choose from. We go through them in more depth later on in this article.

The aperture settings are only used if you are using flash. Otherwise, the camera is set to "A", which allows the camera to choose the aperture and shutter speed automatically.

The Bottom Plate

There is only one function on the bottom plate of the Olympus Trip 35: the rewind button. (And the tripod mount, technically.)

Rewind button on the bottom of the Olympus Trip 35mm film camera

The rewind button is pressed when you are ready to start rewinding your film.

How To Load Film In The Olympus Trip

Loading film takes some practice, but it is really easy when you get to grips with it.

To load a roll of film in the Olympus Trip, first you have to open the back of the camera. To open the back of the camera, pull down this small silver tab, shown below.

How to open the back of the Olympus Trip camera

Once you have the back of the camera open, you can load your roll of film. To load the roll of film, pull the rewind knob up. The roll of film goes in with the top of the canister (the part that sticks out) at the bottom of the camera. See the image below.

When the canister is in, as shown above, you can pull the film leader across the camera to reach the other side.

Pull the film leader across the length of the camera

The rewind knob being put back down will lock the canister in place as you pull the film across. In order to lock the film onto the film spool in the camera, it has to go partly into one of the slots, and the notches at the bottom of the spool have to go through the sprockets on the film (the holes).

In order to be able to advance the film across the camera, you have to fire the shutter . You can do this by pointing it at a bright light or by setting the aperture setting to one of the numbers.

I recommend firing the shutter, and advancing the film (with the advance thumb wheel) twice before closing the back, so that you can make sure the film is definitely loaded correctly. As you get more confident, you can fire the shutter less times and therefore get more photos on your roll of film.

How To Take Photos With The Olympus Trip

Now you have loaded your roll of film, and closed the back of the camera, you are ready to start taking photos!

The first thing to check is that your ASA is set to the same speed as your roll of film. For example, Portra 400 is ASA 400. Or Kodak Gold is ASA 200.

Close-up of the Olympus Trip 35mm film camera ASA dial

When looking through the viewfinder, you will be able to see your frame lines, and the focus setting that the camera is set to. The viewfinder of the Olympus Trip does not show you where the focus is set, just which symbol you have the lens set to.

View through the viewfinder of Olympus Trip 35mm film camera

When the lens is set to "A", the camera will choose the shutter speed and aperture for you manually. If the image you are trying to take is too dark, the red flag will come up.

You can override this by setting it to one of the numbers instead, but be aware that these are intended for a flash to be used with it. By setting the Olympus Trip to a number on the lens, it reduces the shutter speed to 1/30 - that's one thirtieth of a second. So you will need to have a steady hand when doing so.

How does the film counter on the Olympus Trip work?

When you first load your roll of film, it may look as though the film counter is not moving. It takes two or three shots for the shot counter to move to the number one.

The back of the camera needs to be closed in order for the shot counter to start working.

The counter shows the amount of images you have taken, not how many you have left.

How do I focus the Olympus Trip 35?

The Olympus Trip focus settings are simple, but take some getting used to. There are four settings on the camera. The symbols for these are found on the black part of the lens, as shown earlier in the article.

The symbols are as follows:

Symbols for the Olympus Trip 35 focus settings

The Olympus Trip has four focus settings . The viewfinder view does not change as you change the focus settings, so you need to know which setting is correct for how far away your subject is. Luckily, this is not hard.

The first setting has the symbol of one person. The first setting is used for close-up photographs , where the subject is less than 1 metre away.

The second setting is of two people, which is to be used for subjects from 1.5 to 3 metres away.

The third setting is a symbol of three people. This setting is used for subjects that are between 3 and 6 metres away.

The final setting is a symbol of a mountain, which is used for anything beyond 6 metres away.

If you ever forget these numbers, they are engraved on the underside of the lens (opposite to the symbols on the top).

How does the Olympus Trip 35 red flag feature work?

The purpose of this Olympus Trip feature is to stop you from taking a photograph that is not exposed enough and therefore will not be visible when developed.

When there is not enough light in your image, the red flag will pop up in the viewfinder. You will clearly be able to see it if you are looking through the viewfinder. It also blocks the shutter button from being pressed.

Red flag feature inside the Olympus Trip viewfinder

Can I use the Olympus Trip at night?

Yes, you can.

The easiest way to do this is to attach a flash to the top of the camera.

Attaching a flash to the top of the camera is easy and most flashes can be used on the Olympus Trip. It has a standard flash hotshoe on the top of the camera.

Here is an example of a flash that can be used on the Olympus Trip:

When using a flash on the Olympus Trip, there are different settings to use. These are the aperture numbers on the silver barrel of the lens closest to the camera.

The aperture you use needs to be read off of the meter table, which is usually displayed on the back of the flash unit.

How to use a flash on the Olympus Trip 35

You can read more about using the Olympus Trip at night here .

How To Rewind Your Film

Congratulations, you've finished your roll of film.

How can I tell if the roll of film is finished?

You will start to feel some resistance when trying to advance the camera. Do not force it, as you will snap part of the mechanism.

If you are using a 24 exposure roll of film, you will have reached the 24th shot. The shot counter should show the number 24, or near to that number. The same applies for a 36 exposure roll of film, as this will show the number 36. Sometimes you are lucky and get 37 or 38 shots out of a roll of film.

When the film will not advance any more, the film is finished.

How do I take the roll of film out?

On the bottom of the camera is your rewind button. Push this button in. It should stay in after you have pressed it once.

You can now use the rewind knob to rewind the film into the canister. Turn the knob clockwise.

Using the Olympus Trip 35 rewind knob to rewind film

Rewinding the film usually takes around thirty seconds of rewinding. You will feel when the film comes off of the spool at the end, because the rewind knob will have less resistance. Keep rewinding it until you feel certain that the film is back inside the canister.

You can now open the back and take the film out.

Back of the Olympus Trip 35mm film camera

That's just about everything you need to know about the Olympus Trip 35 35mm film camera! We really recommend this camera for beginners, so we hope you have a great time using it and create some lovely images.

I think my Olympus Trip is broken; what should I do?

A lot of Olympus Trip 35mm film cameras have never been serviced in their lifetime. Because they are holiday cameras, a lot of them have sand in the mechanisms.

We highly recommend getting your Olympus Trip serviced if it hasn't been used in a while.

Maintained, these cameras can last many years, however when they have been left for decades, they can develop a few issues, such as stuck aperture blades, stuck shutter, non-functioning light meter, etc.

All of our Olympus Trip services and repairs are very affordable, so definitely consider sending it to us before deciding that it doesn't work, or putting it back in a drawer.

Shop our full range of Olympus Trips and accessories here:

Find out more about the olympus trip here:.

Different colours of Olympus Trip cameras

Featured Camera: The Olympus Trip 35

Can You Use the Olympus Trip At Night?

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Article written by: Max

Max is the owner of Cameras By Max. They work full-time repairing and refurbishing all the 35mm film cameras you see on the website. Their favourite camera (at the moment) is the Olympus XA, and their favourite city in the world is Edinburgh.

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Olympus Trip 35
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The Trip 35 is a fully-automatic 35mm compact camera , manufactured by Olympus from 1967 [1] to 1984, during which time over ten million units were sold. [1] (This oft-quoted figure is likely to have included later plastic-bodied Olympus cameras with Trip branding, as the original Trip 35 had serial numbers going up to around 5,400,000.) [2] The auto-exposure mechanism is effectively solar-powered by a selenium cell surrounding the lens, and consequently the camera runs entirely without batteries. Until June 1978, the shutter button was silver-coloured metal. After that date, all Trips had a black plastic button.

1 Auto-exposure mechanism
3 Viewfinder
4 Common failure and fix
5 References

Auto-exposure mechanism [ ]

Other than this, the camera offers no controls for setting exposure manually, though one can easily set exposure compensation by changing the film ASA dial to a higher or lower value.

The Trip 35 has a 40mm f/2.8 Zuiko non-interchangeable lens, with four elements in three groups. This lens has a reputation for being extremely sharp, even in the corners. The lens provides simple zone-focusing with 4 cute distance symbols marked on the top-left of the lens. These correspond to the real distance markings on the underside of the lens: 1 meter, 1.5 meters, 3 meters, and infinity.

Viewfinder [ ]

The viewfinder is an albada-type, with parallax markings for closer focusing. The windows are made of plastic. There is a second, very small window under this, nicknamed the "Judas window", which shows the current aperture setting and distance symbol which are on the lens barrel.

A small red flag will appear in the viewfinder if the auto-exposure mechanism decides there is not enough light and refuses to fire.

Common failure and fix [ ]

Although Trip 35 units are considered to be well-built and mechanically reliable, many vintage units are experiencing a similar symptom: stuck or sticky aperture.

Identification of misbehavior: On a normal Trip 35, the aperture hole must automatically retract to minimum f/22 whenever shutter button is not pressed. Set the lens to different manual aperture setting and press the shutter, the aperture bore should open to different size accordingly and retract to minimum as soon as the shutter button is depressed. If the aperture does not respond, get stuck somewhere in the middle, then the aperture assembly has a lubrication problem.

The following webpage described the remedy in detail: http://www.thermojetstove.com/Trip35/ . However, there are a few steps that can be improved.

1. It's not necessary at all to open the upper cover to take out the aperture assembly. Keeping the top cover in place has 2 advantages: improved handling and what's more important, top cover is the best position to draw reliable referencing dots which is explained later.

2. When disassembling upper cover, it's not necessarily at all to have the rewind crank removed. simply lift the handle and rotate, and screws will expose.

3. Since focus in this model is done by rotation of screw type front lens element, positioning is absolutely crucial and messing up will be very painful. The online article documented this step however is confusing. The detailed steps should be as follows:

1. Remove the outer ring while having the focus ring set to infinity ('Mountain') 2. Use a marker pen to mark the position of 12 o'clock on plastic edge of front lens. This dot is temporary and shall be removed in step 4. For accurate matching, it's best to use a ruler to mark another spot on metal top cover in a line along the diameter. (Call it 1ST DOT for reference) 3. Rotate the front lens fully clockwise till the bottom(in the article, the term 'the whole way' is really confusing and caused big trouble for me). Then, again using a ruler, draw another dot on metal top cover (2nd dot) along the center and the marked spot on front lens, . 4. Remove the mark on the front lens. 5. When reassembling front lens, first double check the focus ring is in position of infinity, then screw the lens in fully clockwise to the bottom. Draw another dot on the lens edge along 2nd dot and lens center. Let's call it 3rd dot. 6. Rotate the lens counter-clockwise until 3rd dot is aligned with 1st dot. 7. Reinstall front ring, be sure to insert the extend directly into the pit in focus ring, tighten 3 screws and make sure outer ring (With Olympus Zuiko Made in Japan mark) rotate symmetrically with focus ring.

Follow this procedure, factory-level focus accuracy should be retained after a lubrication maintenance.

References [ ]

↑ 1.0 1.1 Olympus' history of EE-equipped cameras
↑ Serial numbers collected by Flickr group
↑ Specifications in the user-manual.
↑ 4.0 4.1 See the Trip 35 program graph , and the explanation in this thread .
Olympus Trip 35 - Sample Images
Olympus Trip 35 Users - Facebook Group
Salerno's Olympus Trip 35 age identification page.
Jim Simon's Trip 35 page
Lionel's Olympus Trip 35 page in French at 35mm-compact.com
Olympus Trip 35 page at Retrography.com by Simon Simonsen, Denmark
Manual for Olympus Trip 35
Olympus Trip 35 group on Flickr
A modification that allows a 1/200 shutter speed with manual aperture control
Illustrated instructions for repairing a Trip 35
Olympus Trip 35 short intro and use with Kentmere 100 film
Trip 35 in the Olympus Global History
This is a trip at Classic Cameras by RaúlM.
Video Manual by Shawnee Union
Olympus Trip 35 Instruction Manual in English.
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I’m a New Zealander who has been living in London since the mid-1990s, shooting film seriously since the year 2000. Kosmo Foto was launched in 2012 and has since become a film brand, with the release of my first films Kosmo Foto Mono 35mm (2017) and Kosmo Foto Mono 120 (2019).

I’m doing everything I can to promote film photography in the 21st Century, and help it survive and thrive. If you want to write something for Kosmo Foto, please drop me a line at [email protected].

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Olympus Trip 35 review

In 1967, the Human Be-In at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco marks the start of the Summer of Love and the hippie movement. In the UK, the BBC transmits its first programmes in full colour. And the first Saturn V rocket – the one that will transport the first humans to set foot on the Moon – takes off for the first time from the launchpad at Cape Canaveral.

Something else launches this year too. It is chunky-yet-compact 35mm camera with a fixed lens and few frills, made by the Japanese photographic giant Olympus. It is nothing less than a revolution in photography.

The Olympus Trip 35 is aimed at the most amateur of amateurs; the kind of people who take their camera on the annual two-week holiday, and are unlikely to take the manual along with them. It is a camera that’s designed to document days of sun and sand and surf – and make those pressing the button confident that they’ve got the shot.

It is 50 years since the Olympus Trip 35 was born, a half-century that saw it become one of the most popular film cameras ever made. The Trip 35 was in production for 17 years, the last of them only coming off the assembly lines in 1984. It’s believed that more than 10 million of them were made.

The Trip 35 was not particularly novel when it appeared – it was, cosmetically at least, very similar to another Olympus camera, the Pen EES . The Pen EES was a half-frame camera using 35mm film (and giving the photographer 48 images of a 24-frame roll of film, or 72 off a 36-frame roll), a diminutive snapshooter with a large selenium meter cell arranged around the lens.

With the half-frame format starting to fall out of favour thanks to the cheapness of colour film, Olympus’s designers decided to build a cheap, tough little compact small enough to stick in a jacket pocket and able to be used by almost anyone – as long as you pointed the right end of the Trip at the subject – that Zuiko 40/2.8 lens the camera’s built around – you should be able to get a properly exposed picture out of it.

So if it was so simple, why did the Trip 35 make such an impression?

“I the in the UK the TV advertising campaign that featured David Bailey and a host of British actors in the 1970s has a lot to do with it,” says Dr Michael Pritchard, the director-general of the Royal Photographic Society , who wrote the book A History of Photography in 50 Cameras . “The ads are still fondly remembered by a generation who grew up at that time and the tag line “David Bailey? Who’s he?” has entered the language even if a generation doesn’t know it’s origins.

“That said, the Trip was a competent, well-made, camera and it found a ready market amongst amateurs who were increasingly travelling on package holidays and wanting a reliable, compact camera capable of producing good result. With the resurgence of interest in film, coupled with nostalgia, there’s a generation now wanting to buy the camera again and use it.

“In some ways the camera wasn’t exceptional, but Olympus’s marketing on TV and in print at the time was both extensive and clever, although ultimately the camera was competent and produced good results which made it popular.”

The Trip 35 was light and compact but robust, thanks to its mostly metal construction. This was a camera intended to be taken out into the great wide open, so Olympus’s designers made it relatively tough. Drop a Trip 35 on your big toe and you’re more likely to need to go to a doctor than a camera repairer.

It’s that robustness that’s also part of the Trip 35’s longevity, says Paul Lamb, who repairs and sells Trip 35s through his site, Trip Man .

“I think the Trip is the equivalent of a VW Beetle – a camera for all the people. It was so well built and so simple to use, but returns such great results, it has earned the label ‘cult camera’.

“Olympus built this camera for people to take on trips with them – it was small enough to take anywhere but strong enough to survive the average person’s adventures.

“The recipe of strong build with a high quality 40mm Zuiko f2.8 lens ensured sharp images were easy to obtain. The automatic exposure with the built-in light meter was a stroke of genius.”

There’s another reason the Trip might have been popular – unlike more sophisticated cameras, it didn’t need any batteries.

“The camera works without batteries, so it can go anywhere and won’t let you down,” says Lamb.

The David Bailey ad campaigns certainly helped, but Lamb says something even simpler might have been a big factor was another big reason behind the camera’s astonishing success.

“I think word of mouth has something to do with the great sales too – if your friend uses one and loves it, they’ll be the best advert for the camera – the results also speak for themselves. The Trip 35 seemed to beat the competition too – no other compact 35mm lasted this long in production.”

The Trip was the ideal travelling companion. The timing was just right – Paul Lamb, Trip Man

The Trip was also helped by a major societal change – cheap air travel to sunny places, especially in Europe. The arrival of cheaper flights to sunnier climes in the 1960s and 70s meant more and more people were able to take their holidays abroad. Tourism exploded.

“This was at a time when people had a bit more disposable income and time and were starting to travel further afield,” Lamb says. “The Trip was the ideal travelling companion. The timing was just right.”

The Trip 35’s specs underline its simplicity. But this was not a camera intended for portraits in low-light or freezing split-second sports action. The Trip 35’s mission was to capture holiday snaps – and for this it was spot on.

“I would argue that it was a forerunner of the point-and-shoot cameras – starting with the Konica C35AF from 1978,” says Pritchard. “These were incredibly popular in the 1980s and 1990s which used electronics (as opposed to the Trip’s mechanics) to control settings, and added auto-focusing, film advance and built-in flash. These really took the concept of the Trip and pushed it further with new technologies, which digital has since taken further.”

Lamb finds the Trip 35 is still in demand, even some 30 years after production stopped.

“We buy a camera every day pretty much,” he says. “Almost without exception, some work is needed to bring the camera up to a standard that is fit for me to sell. I am fussy about the cosmetics; I don’t like cameras with dents or bad scratches and it must have a good clear lens and viewfinder.

“Often we see dented filter rims where someone has dropped it. We have lots of spares so can change any dented or badly marked parts. The leatherette was pretty hard-wearing, so most are usable, but some are dirty and these cameras really benefit from a new set of leathers.

“All cameras of this age need new light seals. They go all sticky and probably leak light. Some Trips have had a hard life but still work! They have a bit of patina, which I don’t mind. Funnily enough, the most common problem is aperture blades sticking shut. This is just from lack of use.

“Thankfully it is an easy fix and we take the lens apart anyway to clean inside. The shutter nearly always works. It was simple, with just 2 speeds, 1/40 and 1/200, so less can go wrong.”

So what’s it like to shoot with?

The Trip 35 was designed to be as simple as possible. Instead of a rangefinder focusing system, it uses a zone focus viewfinder system; the lens can be set to one of four different distance settings according to how far away the subject was. The cartoonish little symbols – a stick figure, two groups of stick figures, and then a far-off mountain – were a guide to help you keep the Trip 35’s lens focused in the right place.

The Trip 35’s shutter only has two speeds – 1/40 th and 1/200 th – but the key to its ease of use lies in its simple, battery-less automatic exposure system. The Trip 35’s lens has a full range of apertures from f2.8 to f22. When the shutter button is pressed, the Trip chooses any aperture that will work with it’s preferred speed of 1/200 th . If that doesn’t work, it will try and match them to 1/40 th . That doesn’t work? A little red flag pops up in the viewfinder window to tell you that a picture can’t be taken, and the shutter button locks – which means you won’t waste frame of film.

Olympus stripped out everything that wasn’t strictly necessary (the camera only meters up to 400, which is as as fast as consumer film was back in the day), making a camera that was intuitive and easy to use. But one thing they didn’t scrimp on was the lens.

The Trip 35’s lens is sharp – really sharp. The Trip 35 was one of a bunch of compact Olympus cameras – like the 35RC and the 35SP – boasting fantastic lenses.

The Trip 35 is almost ridiculously easy to shoot with; the lack of rangefinder or SLR-style focusing means that, as long as you’ve got a reasonable eye for distance, you’ll most likely get acceptably sharp photos. The Trip 35 excels in good light.

Should you want to over-ride this “computer says no” approach, you can. Take the camera off the A setting, and choose your required aperture – the Trip 35 will snap away at 1/40 th . Hopefully, that will result in a well-exposed shot – you won’t know until the film is developed. It makes sense to do what most Trip-toting tourists would have done back in the day – load it up with negative film and shoot it in good light. If you want to add filters, you won’t need to compensate, as they’ll sit right over the selenium meter. However, because this is a viewfinder camera, you won’t see the effects of the filter through the viewfinder (worth bearing in mind if, for instance, you put a yellow filter on with black-and-white film and then use a roll of colour afterwards).

The filter size isn’t standard, either – like some of Olympus’s other compacts, it takes the slightly eccentric 43.5mm mount. Thankfully, so many Trip 35s were made the filters are still relatively common.

There’s nothing automated on the Trip 35, so rewinding the film is the usual manual rewind via a crank handle and a button on the bottom of the camera.

I’ve shot a good dozen or so films with the Trip 35 over the last few years, taking it out on trips to the South of France and recently to India and Sri Lanka aswell.

The Trip 35 isn’t a replacement for a decent SLR, nor is it a high-end compact like the Yashica T4 or the Contax T2 (but then neither does it sell for upwards of £250 on the secondhand market, either). But it’s a fantastic summer travel camera, perfectly suited for street photography in good light. Pair it with 100 or 200-ISO print film in strong sunlight and the Trip will default to 1.200 th and as narrow an aperture as it can, making exact focusing unnecessary – perfect for shooting on the street. And the 40mm lens, considerably wider than the perspective of the human eye, gives a nice wide view of the world.

And those who might be put off by the heavy vignetting from other viewfinder cameras like the LOMO LC-A might find the Trip 35 more appealing – get your focus right, and the pictures are very, very sharp indeed.

After all – 10 million Trip owners can’t be wrong.

* Olympus’s official profile of the Trip 35

* Daniel J Schenider’s comprehensive write-up of the Trip

* Streetshooters profile of the Trip 35

* Lewis Collard’s review

* 35mmc’s in-depth profile of the Trip

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I'm a New Zealander who has been living in London since the mid-1990s, shooting film seriously since the year 2000. Kosmo Foto was launched in 2012 and has since become a film brand, with the release of my first films Kosmo Foto Mono 35mm (2017) and Kosmo Foto Mono 120 (2019).

‘Decisive Moment’ exhibition celebrates London film photowalks - 22/04/2024
Rare Soviet Zenit-5 space camera under hammer this June - 16/04/2024
Single Frame: Mr X - 14/04/2024

Favourite Cameras: Olympus Trip 35

If you equate simplicity with refined design, the Trip will appeal to you. Once you’ve loaded the film, the only control you have to adjust is the focus, leaving you free to concentrate on the composition. The camera chooses the f/ratio and shutter speed based on lighting conditions. If there isn’t sufficient light, a red flag pops up in the viewfinder and the shutter release is locked. It’s fool proof. What’s more, you never have to worry about batteries running low since the Trip doesn’t use them — the camera’s selenium-cell metering system runs on daylight.

On the camera's top panel you'll find the shutter release button and an unusually clear exposure-counter window.

The Trip has only two shutter speeds: 1/40 and 1/200. These in combination with the f/2.8 to f/22 aperture range cover a span of 8 1 / 3 stops which, with the right film, takes care of scenes shot in bright sunshine to those photographed in well-lit interiors. I suspect the slightly odd 1/40 shutter speed was chosen because the lens’s focal length is 40mm. A well known rule-of-thumb states that the slowest shutter speed most people can hand hold is the inverse of the lens’s focal length. Of course, it could be the other way around too — the 40mm lens could have been chosen to match the 1/40 shutter speed.

One very useful feature the Trip has that many point-and-shoots lack is the ability to lock in the exposure with a half-press of the shutter release. This is handy when you’re dealing with a subject that is strongly back lit. You meter off the subject, half-press the shutter release, then re-aim to get the composition you want. I also like that you can see the focus setting in the viewfinder window.

Most of the Trip's controls are found on the lens housing. From front to back, these are the ISO (ASA), focus (indicated with icons on top and actual distances under the lens), and the aperture/Automatic dial.

Even though the Trip is fully automatic, you can engage basic exposure compensation by adjusting the ASA-ring at the front of the lens. For example, if you’re using ISO 200 film and want to add a full stop of exposure compensation, simply set the ISO to 100. Easy. You can also invoke a limited kind of manual control by moving the aperture ring off “A” to one of the “for flash” aperture settings, but you have to keep in mind two things. First, the shutter speed defaults to 1/40 in this mode. Second, the camera will stop the aperture down to whatever it thinks it needs, regardless of what you dial in. For example, if you set the aperture to f/5.6 but the camera thinks it needs to be at f/16, f/16 is what you’ll get. However, if you select f/5.6 but really need f/2.8, you’ll get f/5.6 and end up underexposed by two stops. This is why it’s usually best to leave the camera on automatic and use the ISO dial in those rare instances when you want to override the camera’s metering system.

With most cameras, you’d choose the ISO of the film based on the expected lighting conditions. With the Trip, things are a bit different because it has only two shutter speeds. This means that when you pick your film, you’re in effect also deciding where along the EV scale you’re going to position your 8 1 / 3 -stop exposure window. So, let’s suppose you’ve chosen ISO 200 film. The Trip’s fastest shutter speed (1/200 second) and smallest aperture (f/22) will work for scenes up to roughly 2 / 3 stops brighter than EV 15, which is equivalent to the illumination on a bright, sunny day. You have a little headroom there so you won’t be badly blowing your highlights if parts of the image are brighter than that. At the dim end of the range, the camera has a maximum lens opening of f/2.8 and operates at 1/40 second. That gets you about 1 / 3 stop above EV 7. Not bad.

Rear view of the Trip. Note that film advance is accomplished with a thumb-dial, rather than the usual lever.

What happens if you use ISO 400 film instead? At the dim end of the range you can now reach down to EV 6 1 / 3, but you effectively lose 1 EV at the bright end. Fully-sunlight scenes will potentially be one stop overexposed even when the camera is at its fastest shutter speed and smallest aperture. Given the latitude of print film, this probably isn’t fatal, but if you shoot slides, it’s a concern. Still, if low light figures in your plans and you don’t find the extra grain of ISO 400 objectionable, this might be the best choice.

But what if we go the other way and use ISO 100 film? Compared to ISO 200, you’ll get marginally finer grain (which might be important to the kinds of photography you do), but you’ll lose capability at the dim end of the range while gaining meaningless headroom at the bright end (the camera will still fire at 1/200, but the aperture will open up to f/16 instead of f/22). In effect, your 8-stop window shrinks to a useful range of only 7 stops since there’s really not much to shoot that’s as bright as EV 17! With slower films, the problem gets worse — you lose even more capability in dim light and make relatively meaningless gains at the bright end of the range.

So, for slide film, ISO 200 is probably ideal. For print, 200 is still a good choice, but if shooting in dimmer situations is important to you, then 400 might be better. One thing to keep in mind with ISO 400 is that you lose out on the opportunity to use the camera’s ISO adjustment for negative (decreased) exposure compensation since the Trip can’t be set for ISOs greater than 400. You can still invoke positive exposure compensation though by dialing in a lower setting.

The Trip 35's size compared with that of another Olympus classic, the OM-2 compact SLR.

I find using the Trip liberating. There’s very little to think about — you just aim, focus, and shoot. It really is a fun camera to carry around and its sharp lens delivers great results. While it’s not terribly versatile, it does what it’s meant to do very capably. I think for street photography it has a lot to recommend it. The camera’s metering system works well and it’s rare to blow an exposure so badly that the shot can’t be salvaged. Even when I use slide film, the Trip works like a champ. Pretty much the only mistake you can make is failing to set the focus, but even that isn’t fantastically critical unless you shoot in subdued light.

Of the two Trips I own, I think the expensive one set me back $12. You can easily pay more than that on eBay, but if you frequent thrift stores, you’re likely to come across one for cheap eventually. (Check to make sure that the red flag pops up when it should — there are lots of broken units in circulation.) Probably the worst thing about the Trip is that you might bump into someone who thinks you spent several hundred dollars for one of the new digital Olympus Pen cameras. If so, have fun telling them your camera is an advanced full-frame model, but cost only as much as a cheap lunch.

For a more comprehensive overview of the Trip, check out Ken Rockwell’s excellent essay here . And if you really want dive deep into the Trip universe, spend some time on the Flikr Olympus Trip 35 group .

My friend Dave in conversation. (Camera: Olympus Trip 35; Film: Kodak T-MAX 100)

Sunset from Tower Point regional park. (Camera: Olympus Trip 35; Film: Kodak Ektar 100)

For more of my camera reviews, click here .

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If you're the proud new owner of a vintage Olympus Trip 35 film camera, you're in for a treat! This classic piece of photographic history is perfect for capturing memories with a unique analog touch with ease. In this guide, I'll walk you through the step-by-step process of using your Olympus Trip 35, complete with images and important precautions to ensure you get it right every time.

Expand the relevant guide:

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Loading film into the olympus trip 35:.

Step 1: Choose your film

Select your preferred 35mm film roll, keeping in mind that the Olympus Trip 35 is compatible with ASA/ISO speeds ranging from 25 to 400.

Popular film brands include Kodak, Fujifilm, and Ilford. This post I wrote might be useful: Buying 35mm Film - A Complete Guide

Step 2: Set the film speed and set the camera to manual for film loading

Set the appropriate ASA/ISO speed for your film using the dial located on the front of the camera, near the lens.

Set ISO on Olympus Trip 35 and Set to Manual F Stop

Also turn the aperture ring to any manual f number against the red line so that it isn't set to 'A'. The shutter can now be released regardless of light conditions.

Step 3: Open the camera back

[Image 2: The Olympus Trip 35's back lock tab]

Locate the back cover lock tab on the bottom of your Olympus Trip 35. Pull it down and the camera back should pop open.

Step 4: Insert the film cartridge

[Image 3: Film cartridge being inserted into the camera]

Lift up the rewind knob and insert the film cartridge into the film chamber on the left side of the camera, making sure the tip of the film is pointing toward the take-up spool on the right side. Then push the rewind knob back down into the roll of film (sometimes needs a wiggle or slight rotation to go all the way back down).

Step 5: Engage the film leader into the take-up spool

[Image 4: Film leader inserted into the take-up spool]

Pull the film across the camera and insert the tip securely through and into a slot on the take-up spool. Advance the film using the wind-on wheel.

Step 6: Align the film perforations

Ensure that the film perforations are aligned with the sprocket teeth on both sides of the film.

This ensures the film will advance smoothly when winding.

Step 7: Close the camera back

Close the camera back tightly. The camera back should click shut, indicating it is securely closed.

IMPORTANT: Never open the camera back before fully rewinding the film, as this can expose your film to light and ruin your photos. Make sure to rewind the film completely after taking all 24 or 36 frames before unloading it.

Step 8: Advance film to '1'

Keep winding film and releasing the shutter until the film counter points to "1". This ensures the unexposed part of the film is ready for your first photo.

IMPORTANT: Watch the rewind knob when you wind the camera on ; it should start to rotate at the same time as you wind, indicating that the film has been taken up correctly - this is key, if this is not happening after a few shots then it probably means that the film has not been securely engaged by the take-up spool and the loading process will need to be repeated.

Step 9: Set the camera back to "Automatic" and get ready to shoot!

Turn the aperture ring until the 'A' mark is aligned with the red line in front of the viewfinder (click stop).

Your Olympus Trip 35 is now loaded with film and ready to capture amazing photos.

Taking Photos with the Olympus Trip 35:

How to take photos with the olympus trip 35:.

Step 1: Ensure the camera is wound on

This gets the shutter ready and primed to take a photo.

Step 2: Set subject zone focus distance on the lens

The Olympus Trip 35 has 4 settings which equate to focusing zone distances away from the camera (shown on the underside of the lens barrel):

🧍‍♀️Close focus ≈ 1 meter. This setting is used for focusing on anything ~1 meter away from the camera, be it close headshots or other close up details.
👥 Portrait ≈ 1.5 meters. Used for focusing on anything ~1.5 meters away from the camera, for example portraits or capturing wider details in the photo.
👯 Group ≈ 3 meters. Focusing on anything ~3 meters away from the camera, eg. full length body shots/group photos.
🌄 Scenery ≈ 5+ meters. Focusing on everything 5+ meters away from the camera, great for landscapes or subjects far away from the camera!

Step 3: Ensure aperture ring is set to 'A'

For 99% of situations in good light without a flash, it's best to leave the camera set to the red 'A'.

This lets the camera's solar powered meter set the exposure settings automatically and ensures a good exposure.

Step 4: Compose the photo using the viewfinder

Use the projected frame lines to see the area that will be captured in your photograph. There are hash marks to indicate the change in frame at close focus.

Step 5: Take photo by pressing shutter button

There should be a small click as the shutter fires - indicating a photo has been taken! 🙌 If instead a red flag appears in the viewfinder, this is a warning that there is not enough light in the scene for a proper exposure.

You can manually disable the red flag low light warning and take a photo anyway in low light by setting the aperture to '2.8'.

Towards the end of the roll it is important to not try to wind on the camera hard when you start feeling quite a lot of resistance or cannot wind on further - this signifies that the roll is finished, but if pushed too hard at this stage can result in the film snapping in the back of the camera.

Unloading Film from the Olympus Trip 35:

Step 1: Check the film counter

Once you've taken all the photos on your film roll (either 24 or 36 frames), check the film counter to ensure you've reached the end.

[Image 10: Film counter indicating the last frame]

Towards the end of the roll it is important to not try to wind on the camera hard when you start feeling quite a lot of resistance - this signifies that the roll is finished and if pushed too hard can sometimes result in the film snapping in the back of the camera.

Step 2: Press rewind button in

Find the small black button on the base of the camera and push it in to disengage the film from the winding mechanism and allow the film to wind back into the film canister inside the camera.

Step 3: Rewind the film

Press the rewind button located on the bottom of your Olympus Trip 35. Then, turn the rewind knob clockwise to rewind the film back into the cartridge. Keep rewinding until you feel the tension release, indicating that the film has been fully rewound.

Step 4: Open the camera back

Following the same steps as when loading the film, locate the camera back lock tab on the bottom of your Olympus Trip 35. Pull it outwards to open the camera back.

Step 5: Remove the film cartridge

[Image 13: Film cartridge being removed from the camera]

Pull up the rewind lever and lift the film cartridge out of the film chamber.

Step 6: Store and develop your film

[Image 14: Film cartridge ready for storage or development]

Place the film cartridge in a light-tight container to protect it from light exposure. Take or send your film to a lab for development or develop it yourself using the appropriate chemicals and techniques.

Shop The Olympus Trip 35

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How to determine the age of an olympus trip35.

The serial number on an Olympus Trip 35 camera does *not* give you a precise date of manufacture. The only way to tell is to open the film compartment and carefully remove the pressure plate on the back of the door (this is quite easy. It simply slides free from its locating pins) and look for a code on the back of the pressure plate. The code consists of 3 characters: 1st Japanese character or letter (in later models) signifying the assembly plant.

2nd number representing the last digit of the year of assembly (e.g. 5 = 1975, 0 = 1980). 3rd number or letter representing the month of assembly, 1-9 for Jan-Sep, X, Y, Z for Oct-Dec. for example; N1Y = November 1971 Of course the TRIP 35 was manufactured between 1967 and 1984, so if you are unsure if you have a 1968 or 1978 model, the chrome shutter button is the earlier and the black the later.

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MIA > Archive > Mandel

Ernest Mandel

De gaulle’s trip to moscow.

Source: From World Outlook , 29 July, 1966, Volume 4, No. 24, Paris and New York City Written: July, 1966 Translated: by World Outlook Transcrition & Marked-up: by David Walters for the Marxists’ Internet Archive 2009. Public Domain: Creative Commons Common Deed . You can freely copy, distribute and display this work; as well as make derivative and commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet Archive” as your source, include the url to this work, and note any of the transcribers, editors & proofreaders above.

[The following article has been translated from the July 9 issue of the Belgian left socialist weekly La Gauche.]

“As to alliances, we would think that they ought to be constructed ‘in three stages’: a Franco-Russian treaty procuring a first degree of security; the Anglo-Soviet pact and an agreement to be concluded between France and Great Britain constituting a second degree; the future pact of the United Nations, in which America would be a capital element, crowning the whole and serving as the ultimate recourse.” It was in these terms that Charles de Gaulle in December 1944, at the time of his first trip to Moscow, defined his concepts concerning European security, according to his Memoirs. (Volume III, p. 83, “Livre de Foche” edition.) Many things indicate that he has not changed his mind twenty-two years later. Wasn’t his second trip to Moscow designed to advance this concept?

Those with a more dour outlook will immediately object. The head of the Fifth Republic had something much more Machiavellian in mind. What he is aiming at is the predominance of France in Europe, or at least Western Europe if he is unable to extend it “from the Atlantic to the Urals.”

Since France doesn’t have the necessary economic weight, it must neutralize the drive of German industry through military superiority and diplomatic ruses. Hence it has two interests in common with the Kremlin—to block the Bundeswehr from getting nuclear arms and to break the American grip on “little Europe.” Thus the trip to Moscow was a power play against Washington and Bonn.

No doubt these analysts are right on the long-range aims of the general. But the nature of things is such that the designs of men—no Tatter how imbued with their own “grandeur”—are not at all sufficient to shape the destiny of the world. This is determined by the relationship among the big social forces. More than once in history, the diplomatic maneuvers of a power that was too weak have ended in serving the ‘big ones” despite the best intentions in the world. Didn’t this happen once again with the trip to Moscow?

Thus in the United States, the most cunning, like the servile tools of the (Johnson administration, carefully refrained from denouncing the general. “De Gaulle in Moscow served the United States despite the United States,” said some. ‘He worked for the whole West,’ others said approvingly. In Bonn, after weeks of glacial chill, the barometer of Franco-German relations again points to “fair weather.”

The truth is that de Gaulle, contrary to the groundless fears of some, did not betray his West German class brothers any more than he did his Polish class brothers at the time of his first trip.

In December 1944, Stalin dangled a “good, firm alliance,” real support against the Anglo-Saxons, in return for immediate recognition of the Lublin committee. But de Gaulle was not deceived. This would moan betraying a perhaps ‘democratic’ but certainly bourgeois Poland in behalf of a perhaps despotic but certainly noncapitalist Poland. And he did not want to take responsibility for an act contrary to “honor and honesty.” (Memoirs, Volume III, p sa.)

In June 1966, Brezhnev and Kosygin dangled an offer of just as real support against the United States, even genuine political leadership in Europe. In exchange they asked for recognition of the German Democratic Republic; that is, “of the two German states.” Be Gaulle brusquely replied that there could be no question of recognizing this “artificial construction. And with that rejoinder the serious conversation came to an end. The balance was nothing but decorations and fine talk.

Of course, the differences between Paris and Washington, between Fans and Bonn, are real in relation to the political future of our continent, its relations with the United States and the best strategy to follow to block the rise of the anti-imperialist and anticapitalist forces in the world.

Be Gaulle seeks a Europe freed largely from American supremacy. He seeks an Atlantic alliance on the basis of equality between North America and a Western Europe combined under his guidance. He favors a more supple policy, with regard to the USSR, which in his opinion should be definitively separated from China and the “extremists” among the revolutionists of the Third World, through some indispensable concessions.

He holds that it is necessary to “relax” the tensions to be able to resolve the questions in dispute, such as the reunification of Germany, while the Americans and the Germans of Bonn maintain that without this reunification no real relaxation is possible in Europe. But at bottom, they all defend a common cause—the cause of Big Capital. They all seek to hold back the enemy—socialism and the peoples of the Third World who are rising and seeking to break out of the capitalist world market. They all seek refuge under the “nuclear umbrella” of the Pentagon, without which they cannot counterbalance Soviet military power on the European continent (if anything confirms this, it is the explosion of the ridiculous French nuclear device in Polynesia which amounts to nothing in face of the power of the USSR). The means may differ, the aim is the same.

In this respect the Soviet Union represents something else again. The means are perhaps the same, but the aim is entirely different. Thus treaties on mutual consultation can be concluded—even by means of a direct telephone line!—treaties on technical cooperation, or whatever cultural and commercial exchanges are desired; the fundamental opposition between the interests of the French bourgeoisie and the Soviet leaders will by no means make it possible to form a genuine alliance in the present world context.

The Soviet leaders are aware of the weakness of the present Communist parties in Western Europe (for which they are in part responsible). They are aware of the temporary stabilization of caitalism in this part of the world (which they largely contributed to). From this they draw the conclusion that it is necessary to return to a policy that seeks to ‘exploit the interimperialist contradictions,” as before the second world war. They commit an error in believing that de Gaulle is ready to follow them into a tÃªtei-tÃªte, when he seeks in reality only to increase his power and prestige within the Atlantic Alliance

The French Communist leaders would obviously make a still greater error in concluding that the time has come for an ‘agonizing revision” of their political orientation in France, as in 1935 or 1944.

It is true that the policy of the USSR places them before a cruel dilemma; they no longer know if they should applaud or complain when the Soviet crowds cheer the person who remains, until proved otherwise, the fiercest and most dangerous class enemy of the French workers. If they oppose him, they are tempted to make an alliance with de Gaulle’s pro-American adversaries like Nollet and Nitterrand—and then the capitals of Eastern Europe are not very contented. And if they approve, what remains of their role as an opposition in France? There remains the socialist perspective which stands in complete opposition to the politics of de Gaulle; but the leaders of the French Communist party do not think this is any more “realistic’ than do the Social Democratic leaders of the SF10, or even the technocratic ideologists of neocapitalism.

That will the practical results of the trip amount to? The American Newsweek summarized the situation as follows: “At least he will have succeeded in engaging the Russians in a new diplomatic dialogue with the West.” That puts it in a nutshell. At a time when the intensification of the American aggression against the Vietnamese people makes a public dialogue between Moscow and Washington more difficult, de Gaulle is playing, objectively, the role of go-between for the Atlantic Alliance as a whole Thanks to him, the head of one of the capitalist states in this alliance has been acclaimed by crowds in the Soviet Union. For the first time in many years they have been shown a face of capitalism which their own leaders now say is benevolent, attractive, peaceful, full of good intentions toward the peoples of the world.

Pravda in connection with this trip, talks about an ‘irreversible process.” Let them beware of certain processes, which while still reversible, bode nothing good for the USSR. By attending mass in Leningrad, de Gaulle, like a good politician, was already prepa:ing for his coming trip to Poland. Rumania, ceaselessly increasing its trade with the West, already told the Russians in Bucharest that it would like to see the Warsaw pact modified just as de Gaulle wants to modify NATO. Decidely, if things are in movement, thanks not a little to the general, not everything is stirring in favor of socialism and not everything is stirring against the interests of American imperialism.

Back to the Ernest Mandel Internet Archive

Last updated on 7 February 2009

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Olympus Trip 35
The Olympus Trip 35 is a 35mm compact camera, manufactured by Olympus. It was introduced in 1967 and discontinued, after a lengthy production run, in 1984. The Trip name is a reference to its intended market—people who wanted a compact, functional camera for holidays.
The Olympus Trip 35 Review: Everything You Need To Know
The Olympus Trip 35 is so popular because it's very easy to use, it has a great lens and it's ideal for the novice photographer. Also, the Olympus Trip 35 is one of the only 35mm cameras powered by the sun, making it really handy to take on holiday with you. Since 1967 10 million units have been sold, which is a tremendous amount even today.
Olympus Trip 35 (1967)
Olympus Trip 35 (1967) This is an Olympus Trip 35, a 35mm scale focus camera made by Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. between the years 1967 and 1984. The Trip was an extremely popular compact camera and is credited as one of the first truly successful point and shoot cameras, ushering in a new age of simple cameras to those who otherwise would never ...
Olympus Trip 35
The Olympus Trip 35 is a fully-automatic 35mm compact camera, manufactured by Olympus from 1967 to 1984, during which time over ten million units were sold, though this oft-quoted figure is likely to have included later plastic-bodied Olympus cameras with Trip branding, as the original Trip 35 had serial numbers going up to around 5,400,000. The auto-exposure mechanism is effectively solar ...
A cult classic point and shoot
With the camera set to 'A', based on the light hitting the meter it will choose the most appropriate aperture between f2.8 and f22. It will also choose either 1/40th or 1/200th for the shutter speed. If the amount of light isn't adequate for at very least 1/40th and f2.8 it will simply prevent the photo from being taken.
Lomopedia: Olympus Trip 35 · Lomography
Lomopedia: Olympus Trip 35 15 28 Share Tweet. Introduced by Olympus in 1967, the Trip 35 is a 35 mm compact camera that was made and marketed for travelers who wanted something handy and functional to take photos with during their holidays.
Olympus TRIP 35
The Olympus TRIP 35 is a full-sized compact EE camera based on the Pen EES. It first went on sale in 1968. The name reflects its suitability as a convenient camera to take on trips. The TRIP 35 became very popular as a camera that combined ease of use, reliability and a low price with superb photographic performance. It remained a best-seller ...
Olympus Trip 35: A World-Famous Classic · Lomography
Upload your shots to your LomoHome using the Olympus Trip 35. Ignite the legacy of a fascinating but forgotten scientist, Ibn al-Haytham, and become a master of light with this unique lens designed for spherical aberration control on full-frame mirrorless cameras. The Nour Triplet V 2.0/64 Bokeh Control Art Lens empowers you to craft enticing ...
Olympus Trip 35
First and foremost, the Trip 35 might just be the perfect camera for the casual photophile. Olympus built this camera to document the daily adventures of the everyman, and the Trip does this beautifully. And for experienced shooters, the Trip 35 can be a great way to break free of shooter's block, or inject our shooting with something fun and ...
Olympus Trip 35
In today's episode, Jules, Paul and I review the Olympus Trip 35 - a beautiful, compact 35mm viewfinder camera with built-in selenium light meter, an excelle...
Why the Olympus Trip 35 is a Classic Camera Worth Owning
The Olympus Trip 35 was introduced in 1967 and was in production until 1984. It is a 35mm film camera that gained immense popularity during the 1970s and 1980s. Even though it has been more than 30 years since its production stopped, it is still considered a classic camera by many film photographers. In this article, we will explore why this ...
Olympus Trip 35
In today's episode, Jules, Paul and I review the Olympus Trip 35 - a beautiful, compact 35mm viewfinder camera with built-in selenium light meter, an excellent 40mm f/2.8 Zuiko lens and an automatic exposure mode. The camera was first introduced in 1967 and built until 1984. According to most online sources, about 10 million units were ...
Camera Review Blog No. 06
Released in 1967, Olympus engaged in an aggressive marketing campaign using noted British photographer David Baily as the spokesperson for the camera. The only change to the Trip 35 during the production run saw the chrome shutter release replaced with a black plastic release in 1978. ... Olympus Trip 35 - Olympus D.Zuiko 1:2.8 f=40mm ...
How To Use The Olympus Trip 35: The Full How-to Guide
The Olympus Trip 35 was introduced in 1967, and discontinued in 1984, which is considered a long production run for a 35mm film camera. Over ten million Olympus Trip cameras were sold in this time. Many people wrongly call the Olympus Trip a rangefinder camera, however we would classify it more as a point and shoot with zone focusing.
Olympus Trip 35
The Trip 35 is a fully-automatic 35mm compact camera, manufactured by Olympus from 1967 to 1984, during which time over ten million units were sold. (This oft-quoted figure is likely to have included later plastic-bodied Olympus cameras with Trip branding, as the original Trip 35 had serial numbers going up to around 5,400,000.) The auto-exposure mechanism is effectively solar-powered by a ...
Olympus Trip 35 review
The Olympus Trip 35 (Pic: Michael Gatchell/Wikimedia Commons) In 1967, the Human Be-In at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco marks the start of the Summer of Love and the hippie movement. In the UK, the BBC transmits its first programmes in full colour. And the first Saturn V rocket - the one that will transport the first humans to set foot on ...
Favourite Cameras: Olympus Trip 35
The Trip has only two shutter speeds: 1/40 and 1/200. These in combination with the f/2.8 to f/22 aperture range cover a span of 8 1 / 3 stops which, with the right film, takes care of scenes shot in bright sunshine to those photographed in well-lit interiors. I suspect the slightly odd 1/40 shutter speed was chosen because the lens's focal ...
How to Use The Olympus Trip 35: A Complete Guide
How to Take Photos with the Olympus Trip 35: Step 1: Ensure the camera is wound on. This gets the shutter ready and primed to take a photo. Step 2: Set subject zone focus distance on the lens. The Olympus Trip 35 has 4 settings which equate to focusing zone distances away from the camera (shown on the underside of the lens barrel):
How to determine the age of an Olympus TRIP35
2nd number representing the last digit of the year of assembly. (e.g. 5 = 1975, 0 = 1980). 3rd number or letter representing the month of assembly, 1-9 for Jan-Sep, X, Y, Z for Oct-Dec. for example; N1Y = November 1971. Of course the TRIP 35 was manufactured between 1967 and 1984, so if you are unsure if.
PDF Olympic Games
Olympic Games
Hopkins Covers Stalin
From The Militant, Vol. V No. 35, 30 August 1941, p. 5. Transcribed & marked up by Einde O' Callaghan for the Encyclopaedia of Trotskyism On-Line (ETOL). Hopkins Investigates Russia. The significant meeting between Roosevelt arid Churchill was preceded by the sudden trip of Harry Hopkins, Roosevelt's present alter ego, to Moscow. Hopkins ...
Ernest Mandel: De Gaulle's Trip To Moscow (July 1966)
Source: From World Outlook, 29 July, 1966, Volume 4, No. 24, Paris and New York City Written: July, 1966 Translated: by World Outlook Transcrition & Marked-up: by David Walters for the Marxists' Internet Archive 2009. Public Domain: Creative Commons Common Deed. You can freely copy, distribute and display this work; as well as make derivative and commercial works.
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See 13 photos from 144 visitors to Olympus Moscow.

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Olympus Trip 35 (1967)

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