olympus trip 35

• 35mm Lenses
• Camera Reviews
• Point and Shoot

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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Five cheap (but very good) film cameras you can buy today, new york city and the half-frame 35mm olympus pen d, the cinematic point and shoot – minolta p’s (freedom vista) review.

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

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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The Olympus Trip 35 – a perfect travel film camera

The Olympus Trip 35 is a compact, battery-free point-and-shoot 35mm film camera known for its ease of use and quality. When it was released in 1968, it was marketed as the perfect film camera to take on your travels.

NOTE: Travel is not recommended at this time. These posts are here to serve as inspiration when we can explore again. Hey there – this post likely contains affiliate links, which means I earn a commission (at no extra cost to you) if you purchase from them. This helps me earn a few dollars to run this website.

Imagine yourself as a traveller in the 1970s . Airlines were becoming more popular than ever, with more and more destinations opening up to international exploration. The Grand Tour of the 19th century had felt a resurgence for the everyday person. You only connected with those back at home by postcard and you took photos on film, waiting to share them once you returned.

With over 10 million units sold during its 16-year run, it would be likely that as a traveller in the 1970s, you would have had (or would have wanted) the Olympus Trip 35. How about today? With film photography becoming more popular again, is the Olympus Trip 35 a worthwhile film camera to take on your travels?

What is the Olympus Trip 35?

The Olympus Trip 35 is what is known as a point-and-shoot camera – one that does most of the work for you. The camera has a fixed 40mm f/2.8 lens. The camera uses just two shutter speeds and a selenium photocell as a light metre.

The Olympus Trip 35 was marketed as an easy-to-use, compact camera to take with you on your travels. They are super lightweight, take regular 35mm film and work with a click of a button.

How does the Olympus Trip 35 work

The Olympus Trip 35 doesn’t need a battery to operate, which is pretty darn cool if you ask me. It uses a solar-powered selenium photocell light metre to automatically set the aperture and select a shutter speed.

First up, the Olympus Trip 35 has an ISO range of 25 to 400, which makes it perfect for a film stock like Kodak Gold 200. You can use (the crème de la crème) Kodak Portra 400, but because that film stock is so expensive, I’d use the cheaper Kodak Gold 200 or Kodak Ultramax 400 in this point-and-shoot camera. You could even try a nice black and white film stock, although I haven’t done that yet myself.

The Olympus Trip 35 just has two shutter speeds – 1/40s or 1/200s, which the camera chooses automatically based on the available light. The camera’s aperture ranges from f/2.8 to f/22, which it also chooses automatically when in “A” mode. You can take the camera into Aperture-priority mode by twisting the aperture ring on the lens, but there’s really no need to.

The camera has a hot shoe where you could sync with a flash, although I’ve not tried that yet.

Lastly, the only thing you really need to think about when using the Olympus Trip 35 is the focus setting. The camera has four focus zones marked by four symbols: portrait, two people, a group of people and landscape. It’s relatively easy to figure out what focus range you need, but if you need more specifications, the focus zones are 1 metre, 1.5 metres, 3 metres and infinity. For most travel photos, you’re going to stick to the landscape focus zone.

Is the Olympus Trip 35 easy to use?

Once you get the hang of it, yes, the Olympus Trip 35 is so easy to use! The first step is to choose your film stock. The ISO ranges from 25 to 400 so you’ll want to choose a film stock in that speed. (Kodak Gold 200 and Ultramax 400 are some of my favourites).

Next, you need to load the film. There’s a small release button on the left-hand side to pop open the back cover. The 35mm film loads in like most other 35mm film cameras. You need to pop the rewinder knob up, fit in the film and push the rewinder knob back in. Then thread the leader part of the film into the take-up spool making sure that the teeth are grabbing onto the perforated part of the film. Tighten the film by using the film advance wheel, making sure the rewinder knob is turning as you crank the film advance. Close the back of the camera and advance the film three times until the counter is at 0.

Make sure you’ve set your ISO to match your film stock. You can do so by twisting the outer ring of the lens.

Make sure the aperture is set on “A” so that the camera can decide what aperture to use. Once you do that, the camera will decide on either 1/40s or 1/200s for the shutter speed based on the available light.

Next, choose your focus zone. If you’re taking a portrait, use the portrait focus zone, if you’re taking a landscape, use the landscape focus zone. It’s pretty simple.

Then you look through the viewfinder you’ll notice that you can see the lens in the viewfinder. That’s because it’s a parallax viewfinder, rather than a mirror system like you see in most DSLR cameras. The viewfinder in the Olympus Trip 35 has parallax markings, which help you frame up an image when your subject is close to correct for this viewing error.

The second, very small window you see under this (which is called the Judas window – don’t ask me why) shows the aperture session and distance symbol that you’re using.

Once you look through the viewfinder, click the small shutter button on the top right to take the picture.

If a small red flag appears in the viewfinder, it just means that the camera has decided there’s not enough light and won’t take the photo.

Finding an Olympus Trip 35

I think what sold me on the Olympus Trip 35 was how easy it was to use. I had just started my journey back into film photography and I already had the 100% manual Canon AE-1. I wanted something light, enjoyable and fun to use, while still being vintage.

I think I stumbled across the camera while perusing YouTube and thought I’d look it up. I was surprised at the range of cost. Some were selling for over $300 CAD, while others were listed for only $60 CAD.

I learned that people were buying these cameras cheap, replacing the exterior with new leather and reselling them for a lot more, which is why you see Olympus Trip 35s in fun colours. I ended up looking at three Olympus Trip 35s that were for sale but weren’t functional before buying the one I found. There are two major things you need to look out for when searching for an Olympus Trip 35.

First, make sure the aperture blades aren’t stuck. Sticky aperture blades is pretty common in these vintage cameras. You can test to make sure the aperture works correctly by looking through the front of the lens as you change the apertures and pressing the shutter. The aperture blades should change accordingly, opening and closing with ease. If it doesn’t it’s not the end of the world. There are a couple of tutorials on how to fix this online.

Second, make sure the selenium photocell functions. This is key because if doesn’t work properly, the camera won’t metre light properly and your images won’t come out. To test this, you can place your hand in front of the photocell, covering it completely. Try to take a photo, if the red flag appears, it means that it works. If it takes a photo, then it means the selenium photocell isn’t working.

I looked at three different Olympus Trip 35s where the sellers didn’t know if it worked properly or not. I ended up passing on all three before finding one at a camera store in Collingwood that actually worked.

Then I put just one roll of (relatively) cheap film through it and found it worked perfectly.

The tip is to keep a lens cap on it or in a case while not using the camera. Use this handy guide for more tips when buying an Olympus Trip 35.

Why the Olympus Trip 35 is a great travel film camera?

The Trip name is a reference to its intended market—people who wanted a compact, functional camera for holidays.

For me, I think the joy of it is wrapped up in one image I took while on a camping trip in the summer. I was headed out on a kayak on Stormy Lake near Restoule Provincial Park. I wanted to bring my camera, but because I use my camera for my wedding photography business, there was no way in hell I was putting it in a kayak, even if it was protected by a dry bag. I just didn’t want to take that chance. So I put my phone and my Olympus Trip 35 in a dry bag and set off.

I had just brought my film camera out to take a photo when suddenly, a loon popped out of the lake in front of my kayak. I love the sounds of a loon and had heard them often, but I had never seen one so close. I snapped a quick photo of it with my Olympus Trip 35. I didn’t have to worry about aperture, shutter speed and I knew I already had it on landscape focus, so I just pointed the camera at the loon and snapped the photo.

By the time I put down my film camera and picked up my phone to take another photo, the loon had dove back into the depths and when it resurfaced again a few minutes later, it was too far away.

I had to wait another 3 weeks before I saw that photo, and it was even more magical once I saw the image developed.

So why is the Olympus Trip 35 such a great travel film camera?

Hopefully, by now I’ve convinced you that it is easy to use. The camera is lightweight and compact, plus it won’t accidentally take a photo if you’ve got it stashed in your bag. Plus, since it doesn’t need batteries, all you really need to worry about is making sure you have enough film!

Olympus Trip 35 sample photos

So far, I’ve put four rolls of film through this camera and I’ve loved how it turns out every single time. The camera is so light, it fits in my waist bag, and makes shooting a breeze. I can’t wait to take this on my next photography adventure! Here are some sample photos from the Olympus Trip 35.

Love film photography? Join Grainery.

I’m pretty new to film, but I’ve absolutely LOVED this new app called Grainery . It’s Instagram-inspired but focuses solely on analog photography. It’s really new, the actual app for iPhone and Android is still in development, but the website works perfectly. And it’s free! Plus, the guy who is developing it is super grassroots and is planning to keep it ad- and algorithm-free.

If you are looking to upgrade to Grainery+, it’s only $3/month, which helps support the developer. (Not sponsored, just something I genuinely LOVE.)

If you love film photography, then what are you waiting for! Join Grainery and follow me @mywanderingvoyage . It’ll be fun!

Love beautiful photos?

I’ve launched a print shop!! After a couple of years of imposter syndrome, I finally launched my own print shop and I am stoked to share it with you!

You can hang up your favourite prints in your home, get a canvas print or even print on metal! Check out the Print Shop now!

Want to know when a new print collection drops and get exclusive discount codes? Sign up for the Print Shop list and you’ll be the first to know!

Olivia Rutt

Olivia Rutt is the travel writer and photographer behind My Wandering Voyage, a travel website helping working millennials find time to travel. She shares insight in trip planning, travel inspiration and photography tips. Olivia hails from southern Ontario, Canada where she works in the media industry between travels. Follow Olivia on Instagram where she shares her travel photos, or catch up with her on Facebook or Twitter.

Further Reading...

What’s in my camera bag? Camera gear for travel photography

The ultimate guide to improving your travel photography with a smartphone

Against the Grain: A Journey Back to Film Photography

Mywanderingvoyage.

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Olympus Trip 35: Perfect for Trips

A classic camera with legendary status, makes taking SLR quality photos a breeze and is the perfect camera for taking out, a real grab and go camera.

After sorting out my box of negatives, I found some from when I first started film photography and back then I shot with colour film, whereas now I’m purely black and white.

I picked this camera up on ebay after hearing many many good things on flickr and reading reviews here. I can’t remember how much I paid, but it wasnt much, around £7 I believe. My sister has recently bought one for a trip (that word is going to be used a lot in this review). She’s going on and cost her £18, I think this increase in price is due to the fact more people are realising just how good this camera is.

When my camera arrived, I did all the rudimentary checks you should do with a Trip 35 and that’s half depress the shutter to make sure the aperture blades are moving freely and make sure that the famous red flag rises in the viewfinder. When not enough light is available in “A” mode, simply do this by looking through the finder and cover the lens and press the shutter. The camera passed all the best and was ready to go.

Here are the specs for the Olympus Trip 35 you probably know them already:

Focus: Manual by scale, visible through viewfinder. Lens: 40mm f/2.8 Olympus D. Zuiko, 4 elements, three groups. Close Focus: 2.9’ (0.9m). Diaphragm: two bladed, diamond-shaped, stopping down to about f/22. Shutter: 1/40 or 1/200, automatically selected. No bulb setting. Meter: Selenium cell around lens. (automatically incorporates any filter factors.) Exposure: Program automatic (A) and fixed-aperture for flash. Note: if you chose a large aperture for flash and work in bright light, it stops down accordingly but keeps the shutter speed at 1/40. Film Speed: Third stops from ASA 25 – 400, except ASA 32. Filter Size: 43.5mm screw in. Flash: Hot shoe and PC terminal. Size: 4.912" W x 2.861" H x 2.269" D (124.77mm W x 72.67mm H x 57.62mm D). Weight: 13.77 oz. (390.5g).

Anyway, the following weekend me and my girlfriend and her friend went to Leeds, England. I took the Trip 35 with me, it fit nicely into one of my larger pockets due to the lens, and was easy to carry. I found the camera great to use on the street and hardly anyone notices it and if they do, they look intrigued. Here are some of the results from Leeds.

For my next roll, I decided to experiment a little. I used a roll of self redscaled film. It was iso 200 so I rated it at 50. Here are some results.

Overall, this camera is great and one everyone should own. Over 5 million were made so you will be able to pick one up, put any film init and it will perform fantastically. My two favourite things about it are the fact it doesn’t use batteries and well, it’s amazing zuiko lens. I believe the meter is accurate enough to use slide film and it is very consistent. Thanks for reading, keep shooting.

written by brandkow93 on 2012-05-17 #gear #street #review #colours #colour #olympus #olympus-trip-35 #david-bailey #sharp #redscaled

zorki , lizkoppert , spookydirt , joshuadleach , thepolaroid , foodeanz , alex34 , cloudishballon , chib3h , gengorou , concrete-monstaz , tomkiddo , wuxiong & neanderthalis .

Really wanted one of these for a while but told myself I couldn't buy any more cameras :/

I'm quite fond of this camera, i have never seen one with a lens cap!

@street_smile , I've got one with cap, recently brought from the auction: ic.pics.livejournal.com/romson/2316906/74569/original.jpg The logo has changed slightly since 1970, so possibly it's original cap.

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Olympus Trip 35: Every bit as good as its reputation

I didn’t just stumble on the Olympus Trip 35. I knew all about its excellent reputation as a sharp, simple camera with a good pedigree.

I’m fairly certain I first heard of the Trip 35 on the the Film Photography Podcast some years back, when the hosts were going through a bit of an obsession with the little powerhouse.

It’s the 1960s equivalent of a point and shoot — much more than a box camera, but almost as hands-off as can be. Set the ISO and the focus range, and fire away.

I mentioned the Trip 35 back in February , and discussed a little about production numbers and dates, etc. The important parts are: black ones were only made for a couple years and tend to command much higher prices, especially in good shape — but they’re the same as the silver ones underneath the enamel.

Description

The Trip 35 is a small camera, just a little larger than the later Olympus 35RC , and fairly lightweight. It still feels good, though, in line with many other cameras of its era. Though it has some plastic in it, it is primarily a metal camera with all that vintage solidity.

Being a product of an era when high standards of quality seemed to apply across the board, it’s a whole lot better than one might expect today based on the quality gulf between high-end and low-end, which started to broaden noticeably in the 1970s and is now rather abyssal. The lens is exceptionally sharp, the auto-exposure system is at the top of its class, and the viewfinder is bright and accurate.

The lens is a 40mm f/2.8 D.Zuiko — a four-element design that bests a lot of the Trip 35’s direct competitors’ three-element lenses. While it’s not as fast as some of the f/1.9 and f/1.7 lenses in the pack, the sharpness is tough to beat.

The light meter uses a selenium photovoltaic cell, with a large light-gathering matrix surrounding the lens. The Trip 35 requires no batteries to operate, but if the meter dies, the camera will not function in auto mode.

The auto-exposure system features only two shutter speeds — 1/200 second and 1/40 second. In auto mode, it hunts through apertures at 1/200 in an attempt to make a proper exposure, and then slows down to 1/40 to continue the hunt if necessary. If a proper exposure isn’t possible at 1/40 second and f/2.8, a translucent red flag will pop up in the viewfinder. Otherwise, the exposure is made.

Looking through the viewfinder, you’ll notice a simple brightline frame with some parallax correction marks. It’s not huge, but it’s big enough, and it’s bright enough, too. Below the main viewfinder is a tiny prism that adds a view of the markings on the control rings on the lens barrel so you can see the aperture and focus.

On the lens barrel you can set the film speed (from ASA 25 to 400) by turning the 43.5 millimeter filter ring, and also the aperture for flash mode. The aperture ring has an “A” for auto mode, and the rest of the fixed aperture settings are meant to pair with the subject distance to match a flashgun’s guide number. When a manual aperture is selected, the shutter is locked at 1/40 second. The shutter can be permanently modified to stay at 1/200 , but this will limit the camera’s low-light abilities.

The third setting on the lens barrel is the expected one — focus. The Trip 35 uses zone focusing rather than a rangefinder. The four pictographs correspond to fairly standard distances: a little head and shoulders for 1 meter, two little heads and shoulders for 1.5 meters, two full-length people and a kid for 3 meters, and a mountain for infinity. In case you forget (or just prefer numbers to pictographs), the opposite side of the focus ring has distance markings. The pictograph is what gets shown in the viewfinder, though.

The shutter release button is threaded for a cable release. The rewind knob has a flip-out crank, and there is a frame counter on the right shoulder. The film advance is a thumbwheel on the back edge of the top cover behind the shutter release button.

Be sure to push in the take-up spool release button on the bottom cover before rewinding, and rewind before opening the film door with the small silver latch tab on the bottom left corner of the camera.

There is a standard tripod mount on the bottom, and the top features a hot shoe (and there’s a PC sync socket on the front cover, below and to the right of the lens).

And that’s about it — there just isn’t a lot of technical detail to the Trip 35, but there is elegance in simplicity.

With that, let me tell you what I like about it.

I didn’t expect to like the Trip 35 so much at first. I mean, hearing it talked about and seeing so many articles, I expected it to be just another 1960s-70s rangefinder-wannabe. Don’t misconstrue that to mean I expected it to be bad — but I didn’t expect it to set itself apart.

I think I was wrong. It’s not the best camera I’ve ever used, by any means, but its euphony of size, fit and finish, function, and image quality is really pretty special.

I’m not shy about my troubles with zone- and scale-focus cameras. I have terrible luck with them, mostly because I don’t remember to focus them before I press the shutter. I don’t know that I wouldn’t have better luck if I used them (or, more likely, one of them) more of the time, but in the limited experience I have with them, I just don’t remember more than half the time.

The Trip 35, though, solves that problem for me by showing me the focus setting clearly and brightly in the viewfinder. For me, this clears the biggest roadblock in the way for me to get good images with this class of camera. And for me, at least, it was by far the biggest roadblock.

Okay, okay — the images I’m attaching here aren’t so great — but they’re meant to check the thing out: to see lens distortions and aberration, focus across the breadth of the frame, and so on. And a lot of them also are taken as opportunities for me to test out the feel of the camera.

The film counter on mine was stuck at first. In fact, it was stuck all through my testing. I didn’t figure out how to unstick it until I was writing this. I’m not sure how I managed to miss the solution — I just opened the film door with the shutter uncocked and operated the advance, and the counter reset to the “S” (for Start). Everything else worked right from the start.

I found my Trip 35 at an antique mall, and while I paid below market for it, I didn’t get a thrift-store price. I’m okay with that. I’d been expecting one to turn up in a thrift store after all the talk, but not having actually seen one in five years of trawling thrift stores for photographica, I decided to go for it. Once I had it my hands, it pretty much wasn’t going back in the cabinet.

As stated above, it’s the much-less-common black version of the Trip 35. It’s not perfect — it has a few scuffs and signs of use on the enamel. But the lens is crystal clear and everything works as it should.

I found the size exceptionally right. It’s almost as small as a camera could be and still feel like it fills my hands adequately. The arrangement of the controls is good — really good. The film advance is smooth and fast. The shutter release has just the right amount of tension.

The shutter is quiet, too. Not silent — or even quite as silent as some others — but it’s impressively quiet. I can see why it’s prized for street photography. No batteries required, easy to zone focus, and, in decent light, no fiddling with exposure. It truly becomes point and shoot.

The results are great, too. Sharp from edge to edge, no noticeable distortions, and minimal chromatic aberration. My color tests were with expired film, but the results struck me as good. Contrast on the black and white shots, taken with Ilford Delta 100, was excellent.

If I had a complaint, it would be that the Trip 35’s aperture ring is narrow enough to be difficult to operate with my big sausage fingers. But it’s not really designed to be used without a flash attached, which is something I just don’t do very often.

One minor issue I had — and it was all me — was missing a ton of pictures because I didn’t check that it was loaded. With or without film, the Trip 35 happily clicks away. I think, at one point, I took about 40 pictures and started to wonder why I wasn’t out of film. Turning the rewind knob a bit, I realized there wasn’t any film in the camera, so I loaded it and spend some time retracing my steps to re-take what I could.

The only realistic avenues for improvement with the Trip 35 would be to give it fully manual controls, or a coupled rangefinder. Those deficiencies prevent me from rating the Trip 35 a perfect five stars, but don’t take that to mean you shouldn’t try one out if you have the chance — it’s a really great little camera.

Here are the rest of the test shots I feel like displaying:

Olympus Trip 35 Film Camera Review

A cult classic, an engineering marvel, and an excellent value for a modern film photographer.

Olympus Trip 35 is one of the most popular 35mm film cameras ever produced. It’s affordable, it’s easy to use, the lens is sharp, it needs no batteries, and it’s compact.

Trip 35 uses a scale focus system, which may seem daunting at first — but it’s not difficult, and the camera has unique aides to help you get the right distance — I’ll explain below.

I’ll also cover all the basics of operation (including the auto and manual modes), lens performance, and build quality of this excellent entry-level Olympus film camera .

A Cult-Classic, Engineering Marvel, an Excellent Value for a Modern Photog

Why is Olympus Trip 35 a favourite of so many photographers?

Olympus Trip 35 is not an expensive camera. It has decent specs, but it’s not the sharpest, fastest, or most compact camera. Yet, it’s loved by many photographers of all levels today.

Back when it was introduced — over 55 years ago — it was a huge hit. The camera was in production for 15 years, having sold between five and ten million units .

Trip 35 sold for $59.95 at launch in 1968, or $530 in today’s money. But you may still find a working copy for $50 in 2024!

But it’s not just the price that makes this camera good. Trip 35s are built very well with lots of metal components and an excellent glass lens. They are a pleasure to hold and use. They’re nearly pocketable and don’t require any advanced photographic know-how or a manual to get started: if you know how to load film , you can use this camera.

🤓 Trip 35’s automatic exposure system that chooses an aperture and shutter speed by converting light energy into mechanical force is of particular interest to film nerds like me. Though many fancy cameras from the era used selenium light meters for aperture or shutter-priority modes, Trip 35 combined both functions in a relatively simple and remarkably reliable design .

Olympus Trip 35 specs and features.

Trip 35 is a successor to Olympus PEN (namely, EES and EES-2) cameras’ excellent mechanical/optical design and portability.

My black paint brass Olympus Trip 35 version weighs 413g/14½oz , though some copies of this camera may weigh up to 20g lighter. The camera is nearly pocketable at 12×7×6cm (4 ½ ×2¾×2¼”), though it’s not the smallest .

Olympus Trip 35’s remarkably small (for the time) dimensions and ease of use are undoubtedly at the core of this camera’s name and ethos: a camera that’s easy to throw in a small bag or a pocket for a trip.

 ☝︎ Further reading: “ How to Travel With Film Through Airport Security .”

The leaf shutter on Olympus Trip 35 has two speeds: 1/40s and 1/200s. It can switch between the two automatically via the mechanical trap-needle system. In manual mode, Olympus Trip 35 only uses the 1/40s shutter speed. There are no Bulb and no self-timer modes.

The lens is a non-interchangeable Olympus D. Zuiko 40mm 𝒇2.8-22 (four elements in three groups). The closest focus distance is 1m/3ft. The lens uses an odd 43.5mm screw-in lens filter thread that can be adapted to the more common 40 or 46mm threads .

Fully automatic exposure (A) is controlled mechanically by converting ambient light energy via selenium cells (bubbles around the lens) into mechanical movements that modify the aperture and shutter speeds. The camera can be operated manually via the aperture ring around the lens, which will always trigger the shutter at 1/40s if not set to A. The exposure meter is operational between EV8 and EV17 ; it accepts films with ISO 25 — ISO 400 (which needs to be dialled in manually before shooting). No batteries needed.

The viewfinder features a mechanical “red flag” warning system for scenes with insufficient lighting (the camera will also prevent exposures in those conditions). It shows bright lines with parallax markings inside a small but bright window with 0.55x magnification. The eye relief isn’t great, but if you aren’t wearing glasses, you’ll notice a “ Judas window ” that overviews the camera’s shooting mode and distance settings.

Film advance is done with a thumb wheel; rewinding via the rewind knob is unlocked with a rewind button; the film cover opens with a small latch a the bottom-left when looking at the camera’s back.

Hot shoe and a PC socket are available for flash sync. Learn how to use flash with cameras like Trip 35 here .

Free Olympus Trip 35 manual download.

I’ve recently scanned the manual that my camera came with and converted it to a convenient PDF file that you can download for free here:

➜  Free Download :   Olympus Trip 35 Instructions Manual  (PDF)

This manual took some cropping and assembly as its pages aren’t standard (it’s folded like a map). I hope that this little bit of extra effort makes it easier to read on your screen. However, I’m not sure how well it will look in print.

You’ll be asked to sign up for a free account with Analog.Cafe. It comes with access to more downloadable guides, additional website features, and a monthly community newsletter.

Taking the first photo with Olympus Trip 35: loading film & setting focus.

Trip 35 is easy to load — the only tricky part is finding the latch to open the film door. ( If you’ve never loaded film in these types of cameras, check out this guide .)

Given that you’ve loaded your Trip 35 with film rated between ISO 25 and 400, you’ll need to set the ASA/ISO dial to match your film speed . In general, ISO 100-400 films do best with this camera (a higher-ISO film works best in subdued light, and lower-iso film provides finer grain).

For automatic exposures, the ring around the lens closest to the camera body should be set to “A.” But manual exposures are possible at the constant 1/40s shutter speed (can be metered as 1/30s) with the apertures selected via the same ring (i.e., any number other than the “A”). Learn how to shoot film cameras in manual mode here .

I appreciate the bright frame lines with parallax markings in the viewfinder . They make framing feel a little easier than on cameras with masks . Though I would prefer the self-illuminating kind.

The viewfinder window is fairly small. It’s usable with the glasses on; however, I had to use contacts to take advantage of the “Judas window” — a small secondary view below the main finder frame lines that shows the set distance icon and camera shooting mode/aperture.

Pointing the camera at things that are insufficiently lit for the film ISO/ASA set on the camera would raise a small translucent red plastic flag and block the shutter button. This would not happen when the camera is in manual mode (i.e. when an aperture value is selected instead of the “A”).

Olympus Trip 35’s shutter button provides medium-high resistance, it has a long travel distance, and it’s very well-balanced with the rest of the body for shake-free hand-held exposures . The leaf shutter is also shake-free (though it feels a little loud for what it is ).

Trip 35 uses a zone-focusing system. For a casual photographer, it works by turning the focus ring around the lens until it clicks to either a single-person icon 👤 for portraits, a two-person icon 👥 for group portraits, a red “group-snap” icon ⍒.⍒ , or the mountains icon 🏔️ for landscape photos.

Below the lens barrel, there are more precise focus markings in feet and metres. Learn how to zone-focus quickly and accurately here .

Olympus D. Zuiko 40mm 𝒇2.8 lens.

One of the most celebrated components of this camera is its lens. It’s very sharp in the middle , especially at 𝒇5.6-8 , with only minor swirl and softening in the corners.

The lens renders a medium-low amount of contrast on my copy, but the coating appears to work well, as I noticed no overwhelming or unexpected flaring in any of my photos.

Overall, I found D. Zuiko 𝒇2.8 well-corrected, suitable for reproducing fine detail on high-resolution films.

The 40mm focal length is common and well-suited for a non-interchangeable camera system. It translates to ~57° diagonal angle of view — very close to the 60° in our central vision . Essentially, this means easy framing for most situations.

The 40mm D. Zuiko may not be appropriate for interior/architecture photography, close-ups, telephoto, or certain landscape images.

Olympus Trip 35 portability and ease-of-use (ergonomics).

Even though Trip 35 isn’t the smallest or the lightest 35mm film camera , it’s reasonably portable for the type of lens it uses and a full metal body. All of its controls are perfectly positioned for quick, intuitive action. With a little practice, you can use this camera one-handedly.

I kept mine in wool jacket pockets and hoodies with no issues. Despite fitting will in hand, Trip 35 is noticeably hefty; my Peak Design wrist strap solved any danger of dropping this camera.

Olympus Trip 35 build quality & variations.

Trip 35 was a remarkably successful design; understandably, Olympus didn’t want to change it much while it continued to make record sales. All of the Olympus Trip 35s look nearly identical, with some known changes introduced in the 1970s that had little effect on appearance and no effect on performance (i.e. a plastic shutter button instead of the metal one).

The only significant divergence from the standard design was the black paint brass Trip 35 , which remained in production for just two years. This variation is much rarer than the silver aluminum bodies, but in Olympus’ world, this means that there are less than a hundred options available at any time, and they cost $50 extra.

If you plan to keep this camera for a while and are willing to spend a little more, the black version may be worth it (if you like the look of brassing). It has excellent build quality and an impressive appearance; every part fits perfectly, in line with what you’d expect from the much more expensive Olympus PEN half-frame SLRs .

But despite their clever design and quality assembly, Trip 35s can be prone to deterioration.

In my copy, the light meter over-exposes every brightly lit frame by 1-2 stops. It’s difficult to say if it’s the time taking a toll on the intricate cells or if it’s the imprecise nature of the selenium metering that’s preventing me from taking perfectly exposed images.

A clever photographer can always compensate by setting the film ASA/ISO higher in full sun or shooting Trip 35 manually. But if you’re looking to get a copy, you should verify that the camera is sold as fully functional . An online listing would say that in the title or the description.

Trip 35 mods, hacks, and repairs.

Repairing Trip 35s may cost as much or more than the value of the camera. The good news is that simple fixes (like cleaning oil of the shutter and aperture blades) aren’t difficult if you’ve got the right tools and know-how.

Another common issue with cameras this old is the light seals. The soft, spongy material tends to crumble over time, which in turn can create light leaks . I have a guide on fixing that quickly and cheaply here .

Being a mechanical camera with manual controls, Trip 35s can survive past the span of the selenium cells that power its fully automatic shooting mode. Some photographers may prefer to use the camera in the manual mode for more precise control over exposure. You may even modify yours to shoot with the faster 1/200s shutter speed for improved action snaps and reduced motion blur.

How much does Trip 35 cost, and where to find one.

Olympus Trip 35 film camera is a fantastic value in terms of fun, image quality, and build quality. Most copies of these cameras can be bought between $20-120 — depending on the condition. And a few bucks more can get you the rare-ish black paint version .

❤ By the way: Please consider making your Olympus Trip 35 purchase using this link so that this website may get a small percentage of that sale — at no extra charge for you — thanks!

About this article :

It can take five hours of work (or more) to write and proof a quality five-minute read with high-res illustrations. Below are the people who made this one possible. All content is reviewed, styled, and edited by Dmitri .

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Why the Olympus Trip 35 is a Classic Camera Worth Owning

David Johnson | April 14, 2023

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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.

**This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking through my links.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases

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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).

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I own one, an “early” one with a bright (as opposed to black) shutter button. It’s one of those cameras I wonder why I don’t shoot more often. I’d forgotten that this camera debuted in 1967 — so did I! I should definitely shoot mine more this year in honor of both half-century birthdays.

I love the Trip 35! Great camera that gives me exactly what I need. Maybe I have an older one too, my ASA dial goes 25-200. Superb AE, I’ve shot slide film with it and it hasn’t failed me, even after half a century of service!

A great tribute to a true classic! I snagged mine for a song some months ago, and after trying unsuccessfully to force the ASA dial beyond 200, realised that I’d found a very early model – the date stamp hidden behind the back plate indicates Dec. 1967. But it’s in excellent condition, the selenium meter works like a charm, and it feels surprisingly robust for such a compact camera. The Trip is one of three reasons I’ve rediscovered the joys of film after a decade of DSLRs (the other two being Voigtländers from the Fifties).

Here are some of my Trip shots: https://www.lomography.com/homes/anttihoo/albums/2135179-the-sea-burns-at-sunrise https://www.lomography.com/homes/anttihoo/albums/2130157-my-december-with-the-trip

I have been using an Olympus Trip for nearly nine years. In 2013 I gained a Fellowship from The Royal Photographic Society (FRPS) with a panel of 20 black and white photos taken at Dungenesss using my Olympus Trip.

I have lots of Olympus Trips and my favourite one is my December 1967 version with 200 asa and all orange symbols on the lens and we share the same birthday!!

What a great review of such a fine camera. I’ve just bought my 50th Olympus Trip 35 and am steadily rebuilding them from head to toe. I’ve added some other reviews and a decent scanned copy of the original User Guide if anyone wants to grab a copy: https://trip35.co/

Many thanks Robert! Glad you enjoyed 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!

Related Posts You Might Enjoy

Olympus Pen EE-S (1962)

Minolta Hi-Matic E (1971)

External Links

http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Olympus_Trip_35

https://www.casualphotophile.com/2016/10/03/olympus-trip-35-camera-review/

https://kosmofoto.com/2017/03/olympus-trip-35-review/

https://www.35mmc.com/05/05/2018/olympus-trip-35-taught-little-bit-spontaneous-photographically-andrew-morang/

https://emulsive.org/reviews/camera-reviews/olympus-camera-reviews/the-olympus-trip-35-vs-the-olympus-xa2-in-the-field

https://www.kenrockwell.com/olympus/trip-35.htm

http://photo-utopia.blogspot.com/2008/03/olympus-trip-35.html

https://lewiscollard.com/cameras/olympus-trip-35/

https://schneidan.com/2016/07/01/olympus-trip-35/

https://wycameras.com/blogs/news/review-olympus-trip-35

http://mattsclassiccameras.com/rangefinders-compacts/olympus-trip-35/

https://www.kpraslowicz.com/2004/07/08/olympus-trip-35-1200th-modification

https://www.flickr.com/groups/olympustrip35/

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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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Matt's Classic Cameras

home of Matt's world famous vintage camera collection

Olympus Trip 35

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• Produced Olympus Optical Co. Ltd., Tokyo, Japan
• Film type 135 (35mm)
• Picture size 24mm x 36mm
• Lens D.Zuiko 40mm 1:2.8-22 (4 elements in 3 groups)
• Focal range 3′ to infinity
• Filter size 43.5mm screw-in (45mm slip-on)
• Shutter Olympus between-lens
• Shutter speeds 1/40 or 1/200 shutter-priority AE (or full automatic)
• Viewfinder albada with separate settings window
• Exposure meter selenium cell
• EV range 8-17 @ ASA 100
• Hot shoe (M sync?)
• Thumbwheel winder

For quite some time I thought this was a rangefinder! I don’t know why now, it’s pretty obvious that it’s not if you look closely. It’s a shutter-priority scale/symbol focus compact with automatic eposure mode and a selenium cell meter. Nicely compact and with Olympus’ usual good build quality. Not quite small enough to fit in a pocket like the XA2 , but a nice size nevertheless. In fact, it’s almost exactly the same size as the C35 and its bretheren, but with a slightly more pronounced lens.

Neat feature – the selected focus range symbol AND the aperture setting appears in a small window in the viewfinder so you can change settings while still holding the camera to your eye, framing your subject. (Wish I’d noticed this during my test roll.)

When there’s not enough light a red symbol pops up in the viewfinder and the shutter is locked. Use a flash: set to the appropriate manual f-stop for your subject distance, and the shutter sets itself to 1/40. Check distance vs. the meter/feet scale under the lens for more accuracy. The manual specifies that electronic flash should be used with the PC sync and a cord, not with the hotshoe which apparently is synced for bulbs, not speedlights. Good to know!

This underrated little shooter has a soft spot in my heart, not just for being a gem of a classic but for getting me out of a parking ticket. I happened to have it on me one day when I had to drive in to work before dawn to work on some computers. When I finished what I was working on and got back to my car I had a ticket for parking in a no parking area, only the adjacent sign that I didn’t see in the dark was faded to the point of being completely unreadable! I snapped a picture of the sign with the Trip and sent it to the SF Parking Department with a letter and a month and a half later they dismissed the ticket. I was a little worried that they would think it was fishy since it was b/w film and I printed it myself, but it all worked out. They sent the print back too.

Sidebar to the sidebar — on the way home that same day I stopped at the Golden Gate Bridge to shoot some more, and a couple of tourists got my attention to take their picture with their camera. After I took their picture another small group handed me their camera, and before I knew it I was there for twenty minutes as tourist after tourist asked me to take a picture of them with their camera! Eventually I just had to leave!

Quick and dirty light seal replacement on the hinge with self-adhesive black felt, I didn’t see any other seals frankly but added a small strip on the door on the latch side for good measure. Otherwise very clean.

Tips & Tricks

Back opens with a catch on the side of the camera, not with the lifting of the rewind knob. Also, a slip-on cap is recommended for preserving the selenium cell. I don’t have one that will stay on, however.

Related Links

• Here’s the Manual for you (PDF)

Olympus 35SP – A 5 Frame Mini-Review

28 June, 2024

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I have always liked cameras. About 18 months after getting back into shooting film cameras, I have found that I keep returning to the Olympus 35SP. After reading an excellent article by Ken Rockwell about the Olympus 35SP,   I decided to find one. A few weeks later, I found a reasonable eBay listing and decided to get it.  My particular camera came in good shape, with all its parts in working order. The Olympus 35SP is a relatively small yet full featured fixed lens compact 35mm camera.  It has “automatic” shooting modes but can also be used as a fully manual 35mm range finder camera.

About the Camera

The claim is that the Olympus 35SP has a fantastic lens.  Its maximum aperture of f1.7 means it is among some of the fastest glass I own for my SLR/DSLR bodies.  Its focal length of 42mm is just a hair wider than the standard 50mm lenses I am used to using but less wide than most point-and-shoot cameras.  The controls are well laid out, and the body is quite heavy.  It does fit in a coat jacket pocket, but it has to be a pretty big pocket, as it isn’t really a tiny camera.  Side-by-side against my Pentax ME-SUPER with a compact 40mm f2.8 lens attached, it would be hard to determine which was smaller.  The ME-SUPER prism is perhaps 5mm taller than the top plate of the Olympus, but that Olympus top plate is 15mm higher than the top plate of the ME-SUPER.  The body of the Olympus is also a few mm thicker.  Back to back, they are almost the same width.  From the back plate to the front end of the lenses, the Olympus is perhaps 10mm shorter.  Finally, I didn’t weigh each camera, but the Olympus is heavier.

The camera uses an old 625 battery that is no longer made, but I haven’t had a problem using an adapter and hearing aid battery (there are other solutions for this issue as well).  The battery is only needed to power the light meter, and everything else is mechanical.  The viewfinder is clear and bright.  The shutter button requires a pretty long press to activate, but I think that lends itself to being very deliberate with my shots.  I have yet to depress the shutter button accidentally.  Every bad shot I have taken I deliberately pressed the shutter button.

When shooting in manual mode, the viewfinder displays a needle over an EV number, and you match a combination of shutter speeds and aperture values to that EV number.  You decide whether you set the shutter speed first and then find the aperture for the given EV number or vice versa.  I generally set the aperture first, but if I were shooting the Blue Angels or some sort of fast action, I might go the other way around.  I also probably wouldn’t be using this camera though.

My biggest issue with the camera is the ease with which one can shoot images of the back of their lens cap.  There is no indication whatsoever that you have left the cap on.  The light meter is not through the lens or hidden somewhere ON the lens such that the cap covers it, so if you are shooting in Auto mode and the camera has enough light for the light meter, the shutter will trigger, and you have captured a perfect frame of nothingness.  If you are shooting in Manual mode the shutter will always fire, and like Auto mode, the EV needle dutifully records how much light it sees even with the lens cap on the lens.  My solution, which helps somewhat, was to use a lens cap strap to which I stitched a rubber cap from something (not sure what) that happens to fit snuggly over the shutter button, and I try to remember always to put this over the shutter when I attach the lens cap.  It has helped, but I still capture the inside of my lens cap at least once a roll.

My Use of the Olympus 35SP

As alluded to above, my motivation for acquiring the camera was to have a small and reliable camera that I could carry easily. I didn’t want to have choices regarding the lenses to carry and which camera bag I would put everything in. I wanted to grab it, stuff it in a fanny pack or coat pocket, and have it ready to shoot. As a result, I am more likely to have this camera with me, so I tend to shoot it more often than others.  It’s also not thousands of dollars worth of camera and lens, so I tend to take it places where I might not be all thate careful, like carrying it with me when I ski.  All of this brings me finally to the images themselves. 

Late Spring Ski Trip

This particular roll of film, Arista EDU Ultra 400 Black and White Negative Film, was shot on a ski trip with friends and family.  The film was processed locally, and the negatives were then scanned using a Plustek OpticFilm8200i film scanner.  Unfortunately, there appear to have been a few scratches imparted on the negatives either in the camera or during processing.  I have tried flipping the film around 180 degrees, and the horizontal lines on the film move positions, so this indicates the problem is with the negatives themselves.  On this trip I took some scenery shots and personal snap shots of friends and family.  It’s the former category, landscapes and scenery, that I am sharing today.

The field of view using this 40mm lens captures a nice portion of the mountain.  Though late in the ski season, a fresh dump of snow a few days earlier meant the trees still had a significant amount of powder on them.

Same location showing more foreground.

This large pine tree was covered in snow and dwarfed the others around him.  Unfortunately, this negative really shows the dust and scratches.  

A different view of the trees in the forest.

One of our favorite runs of the day at Dodge is the one with the beautiful scenery, wide open space, and fun.

The Sierra mountain range in California offers visitors plenty to do.  In the winter, lots of skiing.  Camping, hiking, white-water rafting when its warmer.  But if you want to taste some wine or have a great meal at a nice restaurant, you can hardly go wrong in Murpy’s.  

My answer for why I have started shooting with film again (which I may have read here on this site first, but regardless, it is paraphrased from someone else) is that I choose to shoot film because of its inconvenience and high expense.  The real reason is that I take better pictures when I slow down, and I have a stronger connection to the photos I take.  I like flicking through the prints and scanning the negatives.  I still shoot with my Pentax K-1ii DSLR and often carry a particular film SLR with it, but that preferred companion SLR is a future topic (spoiler alert, Pentax MZ-3).

As a pre-teen, I started my photography journey with a hand-me-down Brownie 120 and an Argus C3 35mm.  I had a home darkroom as a teenager and, over the years, have owned a series of different cameras, most of them Pentax bodies.  I currently have a bad “gear acquisition” problem and have built up a large collection of camera bodies that I have to pick and choose a combination of lenses and bodies suitable for wherever I am going.  This site does not help.  I cannot recall reading a “5 frames with” that didn’t feature a camera I would like to try.  Speaking of which, I wonder if that Olympus XA I bought last week has arrived yet.  You can find some of my photos on  flickr

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John Earnshaw on Olympus 35SP – A 5 Frame Mini-Review

Comment posted: 28/06/2024

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Bob Janes on Olympus 35SP – A 5 Frame Mini-Review

Rich replied:

Great minds and all that! I did something similar for my Signet 40, but I used some electrical tape to do the job. It works nicely, as long as I remember to position the lens cover correctly.

Mark Ellerby on Olympus 35SP – A 5 Frame Mini-Review

Shannon Ware on Olympus 35SP – A 5 Frame Mini-Review

Comment posted: 30/06/2024

Hamish Gill replied:

Nonsense gatekeeper comments like this are “pathetic weak sauce”. Everyone is entitled to their level of experience, their hurdles, their process and the solutions they find to problems they perceive. They are also welcome to share them on this website, as it’s by sharing these personal hurdles that others can learn too. Also, I wonder how by your measure someone becomes “ready to use a rangefinder”?

Dave Powell replied:

Such basic problems are valuable learning tips to be shared. This is even more true today... as new photographers are just discovering the wonders of film cameras. During my technical-writing career, I learned (to my immense surprise) that I needed to tell new users of 3Com network switches to plug them in. One can NEVER be too basic!

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