Olympus Trip 35 – Two Trips with a Trip – by Daniel Stoessel

This year I went on two short city trips, both times having the Olympus Trip35 in my pockets. It was quite a tough decision which camera to take with me. It has been a bit more than a year since I started picking up analog photography again and the reason for that was a friend who sold me his Hasselblad. I always wanted a Hasselblad and couldn’t resist being offered one. I got infected with the analog virus right away, and it had severe consequences…

Window-shopping with mom, Stockholm / Olympus Trip 35 / Agfa APX 100

Ebay and flea markets played a huge part on my quest to find more and more old cameras and about 14 Months and two new display shelves later, standing in front of about 50 analog cameras, it came to choosing which one to take on my trip to Stockholm.

I’ve never been to Stockholm and I wanted to use the opportunity to do different styles of photography. I started doing street photography with my rediscovery of analog and I needed a camera for that. I wanted also to take some normal tourist photos, so a second camera had to come on the Trip. And for safety reasons I wanted to take a digital camera with me as well.

I knew they had to be small and not too heavy. So the Sony RX100 III was my digital choice, and the Olympus mju Zoom 140 was the choice for the tourist photos.

Olympus mju Zoom 140

I loaded this one with some expired slide films that came with another camera from ebay. So I made slides for the first time in my life!

Guarding the palace, Stockholm / Olympus mju Zoom 140 / expired slide film

A camera for street shooting…?

Two cameras down, one to go. I was left to choose the camera for my street photography. I’m still learning this genre and knew I wanted an easy automatic camera with not much to do other than checking focus and releasing the shutter. It came down to three cameras that met this criteria. The Minolta Hi-Matic 7s, the Minolta Hi-Matic F and the Olympus Trip35.

The Minolta Hi-Matic 7s I got brand new with the original box a few months ago at a sale where an old camera store went out of business. I like the camera. It’s a beauty and makes sharp pictures. But i wasn’t going to take it on the trip because it was too big and too heavy.

Minolta Hi-Matic 7s

One, two, three on stairs / Minolta Hi-Matic 7s / Ilford Delta 400

The Minolta Hi-Matic F is a small, pretty camera with a nice sharpness to please the eye. But one thing disqualifies it for the Trip. The Shutter Release Button can’t be locked and as such can be pressed by accident when carrying it in your pocket.

Minolta Hi-Matic F

Reverse S, Zurich / Minolta Hi-Matic F / Fomapan 100

The Olympus Trip 35

So my choice was the Olympus Trip 35. I got mine from ebay a few months ago from a guy who refurbishes old cameras and I love its color. This nice, funky red looks perfect. It has a sturdy feel to it and isn’t heavy. Also, there’s no need for a battery. I already shot two rolls of film with this camera and was pretty pleased with the results.

Man with dog, Lucerne / Olympus Trip 35 / Ilford FP4 Plus

Taking a break, Zurich / Olympus Trip 35 / expired color film

The focus ring locks on four symbols: Head, two people waist high, group and mountain.

Most of the time i’m using the group setting which means everything from about 3 to 6 meters is in the sharp zone. It’s pretty quick to shoot this way. Easy as point and shoot. And that’s awesome for street photography. And since the shutter sound is quiet enough as well, you hardly ever get noticed taking candid pictures.

Studying the map, Stockholm / Olympus Trip 35 / Agfa APX 100

Man in bus, Stockholm / Olympus Trip 35 / Agfa APX 100

One thing i like, is that the camera gives you the ‘red finger’ when there’s not enough light. Then a red plastic thingy shows up in the viewfinder and the shutter release button is blocked. So there are no accidental photos taken when the camera is in your pocket.

The selenium light meter does a good job. There’s little over or under exposure.

Girl with bike, Stockholm / Olympus Trip 35 / Ilford FP 4 Plus

Working, Stockholm / Olympus Trip 35 / Agfa APX 100

After the Stockholm visit i was eager to see what I got. So developing and scanning the two black and white films was done in a hurry and I was pleased with the results. Out of 72 pictures taken with the Olympus Trip 35, none were unusable in terms of sharpness or exposure. And about 10 Photos, I thought, turned out pretty good.

Baby Stroller, Stockholm / Olympus Trip 35 / Agfa APX 100

But I wasn’t pleased with the slides. Mostly because of the expired film, which always is a risk since you don’t know if there’s something usable on it. I had to send the two films in for developing and it almost took a month till I got them back and I already got used to the idea that they were lost forever because I received a letter from the post office in which they told me they don’t know where my package with the developed slides is. Fortunately, they turned up, but after seeing the results, I wouldn’t have been too sad if they were lost forever…

The second trip for the Trip

So on my next trip to Amsterdam I would definitely take the Olympus Trip 35 with me. Having taken almost no digital pictures with the Sony RX100 III, I decided to leave that one at home. I wanted to do the experiment with the slide film again, but this time I fancied a camera with a more wide-angle lens than the 35mm of the Olympus Mju Zoom 140. I found an Olympus mju III Wide 100 with 28mm at the low end of the zoom for a few bucks on ebay.

Olympus mju III Wide 100

This time no delay in receiving the slides and the results were a bit better. But scanning slides is only that much fun. So ebay again, slide projector in the search field and shortly after, proud owner of a Leica slide projector in mint condition. Now I’m planning a nice slide evening with lots of wine and some poor, friendly souls who have to sit through 144 mostly awful slides from Stockholm and Amsterdam. It’s gonna be fun.

Graacht, Amsterdam / Olympus mju III Wide 100 / expired Slide Film

More Trip success

Again I took 72 Pictures with the Trip 35 and all of them were usable. No wrong exposures, no out of focus.

Drawing, Amsterdam / Olympus Trip 35 / Fomapan 100

Hand in hand, Amsterdam / Olympus Trip 35 / Fomapan 100

I loved using the camera. It’s easy to carry in a jacket pocket, I’m fast taking pictures and the photos look great. I hardly ever missed a shot. Well, except the one of a great looking old lady in the subway, where the Olympus Trip 35 showed me the red finger because it was too dark. And by the time i pulled my iPhone out of the pocket and started the photo app the moment was gone.

Lunch time, Amsterdam / Olympus Trip 35 / Fomapan 100

Sitting, Amsterdam / Olympus Trip 35 / Fomapan 100

I was very pleased with my experience with this gem of a camera. I don’t know yet the destination of my next trip, but I’m sure, the Olympus Trip 35 will be with me in my pocket.

Mini Bicycles, Amsterdam / Olympus Trip 35 / Fomapan 100

Heads with Guest Star/ Olympus Trip 35 / Fomapan 100

Thanks for reading, and if you have any thoughts, I would like to hear from you in the comments.
Feel free to follow me on Instagram: @himmelrot

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