# Refurbished Olympus Trip 35 35mm cameras look lovely



## editor (Mar 11, 2013)

They're selling these at the Photographers gallery in London for £80 and I was almost tempted to buy one just to_ look_ at it!

The Trip was a fantastic camera and was in production for an astonishing 17 years. It took good pics to - check out these comparison pics with a full-frame Canon 5D Mk1 dSLR on Ken Rockwell‘s website.

More here: http://www.wirefresh.com/stunning-r...5-cameras-serve-up-oodles-of-old-school-cool/


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## ViolentPanda (Mar 11, 2013)

editor said:


> They're selling these at the Photographers gallery in London for £80 and I was almost tempted to buy one just to_ look_ at it!
> 
> The Trip was a fantastic camera and was in production for an astonishing 17 years. It took good pics to - check out these comparison pics with a full-frame Canon 5D Mk1 dSLR on Ken Rockwell‘s website.
> 
> More here: http://www.wirefresh.com/stunning-r...5-cameras-serve-up-oodles-of-old-school-cool/


 
Silverprint up in Southwark have been selling them for a couple of years now, reputedly doing a good trade too, although the cameras now have to be sourced from further afield than just continental Europe IIRC. Cheaper than the Photographers' Gallery, too.


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## editor (Mar 11, 2013)

ViolentPanda said:


> Silverprint up in Southwark have been selling them for a couple of years now, reputedly doing a good trade too, although the cameras now have to be sourced from further afield than just continental Europe IIRC. Cheaper than the Photographers' Gallery, too.


There's something about a lot of old camera design that just feels right. I guess the fact that they were built to last helps too


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## friedaweed (Mar 11, 2013)

Been using one for about 5 years now. It didn't need pretty colourful refurbishing either as it still worked. I would imagine most of them still do.
35 sovs mint 

((((London Prices))))


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## ViolentPanda (Mar 11, 2013)

editor said:


> There's something about a lot of old camera design that just feels right. I guess the fact that they were built to last helps too


 
Yep, a really simple piece of electro-magnetic technology (the shutter) tied to probably the best mass-production fixed lens for the money available at the time, and robust construction that made them fel good in the hand *and* meant that they could take a few knocks without dying (unlike the near-contemporary Konica Pop, for example!).

If I wasn't overloaded with cameras, I'd buy one myself.


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## ViolentPanda (Mar 11, 2013)

friedaweed said:


> Been using one for about 5 years now. It didn't need pretty colourful refurbishing either as it still worked. I would imagine most of them still do.
> 35 sovs mint
> 
> ((((London Prices))))


 
Like the OM10 slr, mostly all they need is the shutter servicing, and they'll keep going until something wears away, and given how few Trip parts are plastic, they can take a *lot* of wear!


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## bi0boy (Mar 11, 2013)

I like this advantage the reviewer mentioned at the end:

"*Nuclear Survivability: *It's a good bet that this may be the most advanced camera left operating after a nuclear event."


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## stowpirate (Mar 15, 2013)

£80 a tad expensive, turn up all the time at car boot sales. Priced from 50p to a few quid. Mostly they are from some old relative who has died or house clearance with unfortunately next stop being the local dump. Some times I buy them and use them a few times then get bored and sell them on ebay


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## FridgeMagnet (Mar 24, 2013)

One of the great things about the Trip is that, since the light meter cells are around the lens, you can't take pictures with the lens cap on - the classic rangefinder error. The Red Flag Of Doom pops up instead, telling you you've not got enough light. (Though in circumstances where you _do_ want to take pictures in the dark, you can set the aperture manually and it will default to 1/40s speed.)

I got one a while back where the focussing was out of whack, but I recalibrated it (which isn't that hard) and now it's great. Should use it more, actually.




Olympus Trip 35 on desk by redspotted, on Flickr


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## editor (Mar 24, 2013)

Olympus have made some stunning film cameras: my favourites have to be the XA, the Trip and the beautiful OM2 and OM1 cameras.


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## FridgeMagnet (Mar 24, 2013)

I have an XA in my pocket right now! (I am trying to use up the film but it's a bit shit out there quite frankly.)


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## ViolentPanda (Mar 24, 2013)

stowpirate said:


> £80 a tad expensive, turn up all the time at car boot sales. Priced from 50p to a few quid. Mostly they are from some old relative who has died or house clearance with unfortunately next stop being the local dump. Some times I buy them and use them a few times then get bored and sell them on ebay


 
TBF, you're paying for the fact that they've professionally refurbished the entire camera inside and out, which is £25-30 if done by a _kosher_ camera repair-person.


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## ViolentPanda (Mar 24, 2013)

FridgeMagnet said:


> I have an XA in my pocket right now! (I am trying to use up the film but it's a bit shit out there quite frankly.)


 
Damn, and I thought you were just pleased to see me!


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## ToothlessFerret (Jun 1, 2013)

I have two Olympus Trip 35's.  Both VGC.  One I paid £5 for (car boot), another £17.  They both required new light seals, but believe me, on a camera like this, it's a very simple job - 5 to 10 minutes.  You can scrimp on light seal material, or for around £7 import a ready cut seal kit from the states.

I also have two Olympus XA2's - one from a car boot sale (50p), and one with an XA11 flash unit from a charity shop for £5.  I prefer the XA2, it uses batteries, but it is so small, and only three zones in focus - perfect for street photography.

Both cameras use a D Zuiko lens and zone focus, but the Trip 35 with it's older design uses a selenium light meter, with cells around the lens.  Both smashing little 35mm film cameras.  I feel that they were what 35mm film was always supposed to be all about - the pinnacle.  Small light point and shoot cameras for carrying around, that take great photographs.  Everryone should have one.













My Flickr Set from the Olympus Trip 35
http://www.flickr.com/photos/trojanllama/sets/72157633001566889/

My Flickr Set from the Olympus XA2
http://www.flickr.com/photos/trojanllama/sets/72157633465249988/


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## Piers Gibbon (Dec 30, 2013)

I have been using my old Olympus 35RC again..which I was given new when I was a kid! Loving it.

I probably do need to get it serviced as the foamy stuff inside is disintegrating


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## ViolentPanda (Dec 30, 2013)

Piers Gibbon said:


> I have been using my old Olympus 35RC again..which I was given new when I was a kid! Loving it.
> 
> I probably do need to get it serviced as the foamy stuff inside is disintegrating



If you're not afraid of fiddly jobs, it's fairly easy to renew the seals yourself.  The arsey part is removing the old stuff, as you have to be really thorough about getting every last bit of gak off.  So far I've successfully renewed the seals on half a dozen cameras, ranging from Mamiya TLRs, Minolta and Olympus compacts and an Edixa Kadett SLR. Just required cotton buds (paper stemmed); isopropyl alcohol (hence paper and not plastic-stemmed cotton buds: tweezers; new light seals (I cut my own from black "Funky Foam"): glue (I use "Crafter's Pick" The Ultimate, as it readily bonds the foam to metal) and a knife (to scrape as much gak off as possible before you start using the cotton buds and IPA to remove what's left bonded to the metal).


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## Piers Gibbon (Dec 30, 2013)

thanks Violent P…sadly I AM afraid of fiddly jobs so I will happily pay Silverprint or someone to do it. Am thinking of borrowing my Dads old OM2 and getting more old style filmic in 2014

Does anyone have a favourite maybe mail order film developer in London or will Hackney snappy snaps do me fine again?


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## FridgeMagnet (Dec 30, 2013)

Piers Gibbon said:


> Does anyone have a favourite maybe mail order film developer in London or will Hackney snappy snaps do me fine again?


I used to use my local snappy snaps (£3 a roll for 24h dev only - not all branches do this though) but now I work full time I send my colour out to http://www.ag-photolab.co.uk/ who have always done a good job. Turnaround is a few days, or slightly longer for slide film. They have a freepost thing to send orders in. They will do pushing and cross process if you ask them (they say).

I've used Genie imaging in the past who are a bit cheaper for E6 but their website is so awful it's put me off quite honestly.


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## Piers Gibbon (Dec 30, 2013)

thank you Mr Fridge….my snappy snaps is a bus ride away so I might well do the postage thing - that link takes me to http://www.ekmpowershop.com for some reason but this one works http://www.ag-photolab.co.uk


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## sim667 (Jan 15, 2014)

£80 for a refurb?

I bought mine refurbed for £30 from a charity shop near me where the guys a proper camera guru.

You can get them for £40 from silverprint as we buy them from there for work, so certainly dont pay £80 from the photographers gallery.

Great little camera's. I love mine.

These were shot on my trip on HP5




Kew Gardens May 2013 by simbojono, on Flickr




Kew Gardens May 2013 by simbojono, on Flickr


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## Piers Gibbon (Jan 27, 2014)

I am now the proud owner of an Olympus 35 SP (as well as my 35 RC)


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## dweller (Jan 30, 2014)

I saw one of these cams in an Oxfam on the way to work the other day and it was 
 gone when I got back, just as well as I don't really need another cam I won't use.
Lovely looking thing though.


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## Bernie Gunther (Jan 30, 2014)

I took my first pictures with one of those.


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## FridgeMagnet (Jan 30, 2014)

I _still_ need to use mine more. They have terrific lenses, really sharp. It's just that (while it's a very light camera) I have SLRs that are pretty much the same size, and if I'm going somewhere I'll generally pack one of those instead.


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## Piers Gibbon (Jan 30, 2014)

the olympus 35sp is indeed a chunky chap…makes my 35rc look like one of those dinky rollei ones


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## Piers Gibbon (Mar 16, 2014)

OK now I need to get my Olympus 35 SP Cleaned Lubricated and Adjusted so I can settle into using it regularly and get to know it….any recommendations for places to get that CLA done? 

Oh and I am going to stop using ag-photos to develop my film…the price puts the whole hobby in jeopardy! (I'm sure they charge a reasonable price but I think I will snappy snap it for a while for developing prints…especially as the darn Post Office lost a precious packet of developed slide film on the way back to me grrr)

Currently using Kodak Portra 400 print film…I am most interested in people - good choice of film? Maybe I should go cheap on that too?

Am mildly ill in bed so pls forgive list of peevish questions


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## FridgeMagnet (Mar 16, 2014)

Portra is great film but it's bloody pricey, particularly if you're paying for development on top. There are other decent 400 speed colour films like Superia and Ultramax.

Not sure what you mean about AG - they do £3 for a roll, which is the same as Snappy Snaps next day (if your local branch even does that), you just have to pay postage as well. If there is an SS nearby I would use that - support your local film dev shop or they might close it down - but now that I can't get to my local one when it's open except on weekends, I post it all out.


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## Piers Gibbon (Mar 17, 2014)

yeah I have been stupidly bumping up the price by getting a hi res CD scan of the whole roll…need to do some thinking, and mathing.


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## FridgeMagnet (Mar 17, 2014)

I scan my own which saves a lot of money, but you need a scanner with a backlight to do that, or a dedicated film scanner. It happened that I needed a new scanner anyway when I was starting on film. (Film-capable scanners aren't _that_ expensive anyway, they pay for themselves.) Some people scan with a DSLR, a lightbox and a macro lens but it's always seemed like a big faff to me to do that.

It all depends on how much film you shoot really - but if you do plan to shoot, say, another 20 rolls ever, and have the cash, sorting out a scanner as early as possible is good.


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## Piers Gibbon (Mar 17, 2014)

So you are talking about moving to slides or does your machine do negatives? I am going to have a go scanning a slide or two on my epson stylus photo PX830…it has a backlit scanner so might be ok…I would then take the file into the snappysnappers to do the printing. 

Usually I am only interested in a couple of shots per roll…maybe that will get better!


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## FridgeMagnet (Mar 17, 2014)

It does positives or negatives. The scanning software converts the negative to a positive image if you need to. I do shoot some slide film as well as negative - I don't get it mounted, I just scan the strips as normal.


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## ViolentPanda (Mar 17, 2014)

Piers Gibbon said:


> OK now I need to get my Olympus 35 SP Cleaned Lubricated and Adjusted so I can settle into using it regularly and get to know it….any recommendations for places to get that CLA done?
> 
> Oh and I am going to stop using ag-photos to develop my film…the price puts the whole hobby in jeopardy! (I'm sure they charge a reasonable price but I think I will snappy snap it for a while for developing prints…especially as the darn Post Office lost a precious packet of developed slide film on the way back to me grrr)
> 
> ...



LPS: 01323 846423.  E-mail: repairs@llamasphoto.co.uk

They did a couple of Olympus repairs for me about 15 years ago (An Ace and an XA), and were reasonably-priced.  They were still going as of last year.


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## Piers Gibbon (Mar 18, 2014)

ahhh ok, thanks very much for the replies


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## sim667 (Jun 5, 2014)

FridgeMagnet have you got any suggestions for a good reasonably priced neg scanner (not a flatbed).

I've only really used a Hasselblad one, and thats way out of my price range


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## fractionMan (Jun 5, 2014)

My weirdo negative copying device I ordered turned out to be m39, not 39mm.  boo.

I've got a cheapo consumer printer with scanner built in.  Wonder if that will manage with something like this: http://makezine.com/craft/how-to_turn_slides_and_negativ/


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## FridgeMagnet (Jun 5, 2014)

sim667 said:


> FridgeMagnet have you got any suggestions for a good reasonably priced neg scanner (not a flatbed).
> 
> I've only really used a Hasselblad one, and thats way out of my price range


Not really - I've only ever used a flatbed. I'm sure somebody on here was going to get one of the dedicated ones though.


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## sim667 (Jun 5, 2014)

FridgeMagnet said:


> Not really - I've only ever used a flatbed. I'm sure somebody on here was going to get one of the dedicated ones though.



The flextight X1 is the nearest to anything I've used before, but at that cost, I definately can't afford it.

The epson v750 looks good though.


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## FridgeMagnet (Jun 5, 2014)

sim667 said:


> The epson v750 looks good though.


Yes, that's supposed to be great, I've seen some people in other film groups talking about it. Still feckin expensive.


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## fractionMan (Jun 5, 2014)

The cheap ones are really cheap but only about 5mp


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## sim667 (Jun 5, 2014)

FridgeMagnet said:


> Yes, that's supposed to be great, I've seen some people in other film groups talking about it. Still feckin expensive.



I was thinking about offering film scanning as a service to people locally though.


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## FridgeMagnet (Jun 5, 2014)

sim667 said:


> I was thinking about offering film scanning as a service to people locally though.


If you've got the cash/use for it go for it - I did take a look at getting a better scanner a while ago, and iirc I didn't see much around between the price of my flatbed and that. Plus it will do up to 10x8" negs of course which most won't (at least not the ones I've seen).

It is a flatbed really, just specialised for film.


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## ToothlessFerret (Jun 7, 2014)

I use an Epson Perfection V500.  Shop around online, you can get V500s or even the newer V550 for £120.  They scan two strips of 35mm (up to six frames) faster than my previous scanner - the Canoscan 5600f.  More important, the Epsons also scan medium format 120/220 - although with my 6 x 6 exposures, only two at a time.  It'll also handle a 6 x 9 neg.  I'd certainly recommend that you consider buying a scanner that can cater for medium format - just in case you want to upgrade to 120 at a later date.

They are cheaper lower end alternatives to the V750.


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## cybertect (Jun 11, 2014)

ToothlessFerret said:


> I use an Epson Perfection V500.  Shop around online, you can get V500s or even the newer V550 for £120.  They scan two strips of 35mm (up to six frames) faster than my previous scanner - the Canoscan 5600f.  More important, the Epsons also scan medium format 120/220 - although with my 6 x 6 exposures, only two at a time.  It'll also handle a 6 x 9 neg.  I'd certainly recommend that you consider buying a scanner that can cater for medium format - just in case you want to upgrade to 120 at a later date.
> 
> They are cheaper lower end alternatives to the V750.



I have a V700, but I know a number of people using a V500 with success.

I have been getting better results with this rig, which is my Sony A7 with a 50mm macro lens, bellows and slide copier attachment, though


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## editor (Jun 11, 2014)

cybertect said:


> I have a V700, but I know a number of people using a V500 with success.
> 
> I have been getting better results with this rig, which is my Sony A7 with a 50mm macro lens, bellows and slide copier attachment, though


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## fractionMan (Jun 11, 2014)

cybertect said:


> I have a V700, but I know a number of people using a V500 with success.
> 
> I have been getting better results with this rig, which is my Sony A7 with a 50mm macro lens, bellows and slide copier attachment, though



bloody hell!


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