Written by Tom Box
I would imagine most, if not all, of the people reading this have heard of the Olympus Trip 35
Over 10,000,000 units of the camera were sold during it’s lifetime, and the solid build, simple operation, and wide availability have made the Trip a hugely popular option for the modern film crowd.
I’m not going to review the camera, as this has been done dozens of times across the internet, but instead explain how to use the Trip outside of its limits, specifically with low light and night photography.
Find the Olympus Trip 35 at KEH Camera or on eBay.
Hacking the Olympus Trip 35 to Work in Low Light
The Olympus Trip 35 uses a selenium light meter to adjust aperture and shutter speed automatically, locking the shutter release if there is insufficient light which would result in underexposure.
However, the Trip also has a flash sync mode, whereby the aperture is manually selected and the shutter is set to it’s slower speed of 1/40th of a second.
This is, of course, designed to be used with a flash, but the manual aperture settings coupled with modern high speed films means you can also use the flash setting to successfully shoot the Trip at night. Don’t let that little red flag stop you…
Load a roll of 400 or 800 speed film, set the ASA to 400 and the aperture to it’s widest setting of 2.8, and you’re ready to go. That’s all there is to it.
If the scene is too bright for the set aperture of 2.8, don’t worry, the Trip’s meter is still active in flash mode and will stop down the aperture to prevent overexposure.
Related: Five Tips for Shooting Film at Night
Working With the Shutter Speed and Aperture Limitations
Now, 1/40th at f/2.8 really doesn’t seem slow or wide enough to shoot at night, even with 800 speed film. But I’ve found that I get excellent results if there are enough bright lights in the scene.
I used to shoot SLRs at night on aperture priority, lens wide open to f/1.4, and, even pointing at a shop window, I’d be struggling to hand hold the camera’s chosen 1/15th or 1/8th shutter speed.
The thing is, most auto-exposure cameras will be metering for the whole scene, taking into account the vast expanse of black just as much as any light sources.
More often than not, auto-exposure for a scene like a shop window at night would result in a blown out light source and mucky shadows, and not look at all how you remember seeing the scene with your own eyes.
Have you ever tried to take a photo of a sunset with your phone camera and it’s blown out the colors and tried to expose for the foreground? Every time.
What to Expect While Shooting the Olympus Trip 35 at Night
I won’t lie and tell you that using the Olympus Trip (find on eBay) at night will always produce perfect results. (It works best in an urban area with lots of artificial light.) But I do believe that shooting film at night can be as simple as setting the exposure once and getting on with taking photos.
An underexposed photo is better than a 2 second long exposure of motion blur!
Any grainy shadows can be clipped in using Photoshop or another image editing program to bring true black back into the shot and increase contrast.
That and slightly boosting the mid tones is pretty much the only editing I need to do to my Night Trip photos.
The Olympus Trip 35 is a quintessential point-and-shoot camera, and that doesn’t have to stop when the sun goes down.
Try it yourself with some 400 or 800 speed film and see if you agree that night photography doesn’t always require tripods and fast lenses…
All of the photos in this post were taken on a trip to Japan, using Fuji Superia Premium 400 speed film and my Trip 35 set up as I’ve described. Developed and scanned at home.
I also double exposed a roll of CineStill 800T in the Trip. Photos below.
On a tangent…
It’s always worth checking over a ‘dead’ Olympus Trip 35 because it’s quite likely the meter is fine, and the problem is with gummed up aperture blades or other internal gubbins.
On two occasions, I’ve acquired a Trip which refuses to raise the red flag, suggesting the meter is dead, only to remove the top plate (held on by 3 easily accessible screws) and see that the meter needle is moving fine.
The problem both times lay in the sliding plates that determine aperture and shutter speed. A quick clean with naptha and it was working perfectly.
I’ve had a similar experience with an Olympus Pen EES-2 (basically the half frame Trip 35) which merely had sticky aperture blades. Half an hour of disassembly and cleaning and it’s working beautifully.
Cheers!
Thank you so much, Tom! Tom is a regular contributor here at Shoot It With Film, and you can check out his other articles here, like an intro to pinhole film photography and how to use prisms for creative effect. You can also check out Tom’s work on his website and Instagram.
Leave your questions about shooting the Olympus Trip 35 at night below in the comments, and you can pick one up for yourself at KEH Camera or on eBay!
Blog Comments
Noor Hashem
January 1, 2020 at 7:38 pm
Can i use a 200 speed film or does it have to be 400 or 800?
Pilar Muro
July 27, 2020 at 5:54 am
Hi Tom,
Can you use the Fuji Superia Premium 400 speed film also during the day or you would recommend it only for night shots?
Many thanks!
Px
shootitwithfilm
July 27, 2020 at 2:48 pm
Thanks for your comment, Pilar! Fuji Superia 400 is a great film to use during the day. You can check out this post for examples of what it looks like during the day: https://shootitwithfilm.com/how-to-shoot-fujifilm-superia-400/
Carole
January 22, 2021 at 8:21 am
Hi,
How did you do the double exposure
on the Cinestill 800T’s pics ?
shootitwithfilm
January 25, 2021 at 2:22 pm
The double exposures were totally random, done by shooting a full roll, rewinding it almost to the end and then shooting over it again. – Tom
Morena
April 12, 2022 at 7:59 pm
Hi,
I´m planning to use a Fuji 500T for night concert shots in my Olympus trip. Do I have to detail this to the photography laboratory? Any recomendation?
shootitwithfilm
April 12, 2022 at 11:14 pm
Hi Morena! If you want it developed and scanned normally, you don’t need to let the lab know any special information. You’ll only want to let the lab know if you want the film pushed in development or if you want the film scanned a specific way (such as having it scanned for highlights to bring out the nighttime atmosphere of the images). And while you don’t have to let the lab know any special info, if you feel like it was a tricky shooting situation, you can always reach out to the lab and ask their advice for developing and scanning.
Layla
September 10, 2022 at 4:07 pm
I just purchased this camera and the red shutter flag appears over my view finder whenever it is set to automatic. I have not yet tested with film yet but my run through seems to work okay when the apture is set to any other setting (2.8-end). What does this mean? That my internal light source is dead? And if so what does this mean when shooting? Shall I just set it to sunny 16 (as a rule of thumb) but how will this look in low light?
Ray Goulter
August 31, 2024 at 1:56 am
Layla, the best option is to set the camera to automatic for nearly all daylight photography with this camera. The selenium light measuring system doesn’t have any ‘internal light source’ to fail or ‘die’. I suspect the aperture blades have become sticky and that’s what’s causing the red flag.
Ray Goulter
August 31, 2024 at 1:51 am
I wrote a couple of items about this wonderful little film camera for our photographic Club’s website (search blackwoodphotoclub on your browser, go to ‘Camera Clips and enter ‘Trip35’ to find the article). Whilst you’re in there also type ‘Metz’ in the search engine to find my article on coupling the Trip 35 to the Metz 38CT3 flash unit that I’ve described as ‘the perfect match’. The Olympus Trip 35 is the perfect camera for anyone wanting to dabble in film due to its simple exposure system that gives automatic exposures without the need for a light meter of batteries, and that incredibly sharp 40mm lens.
shootitwithfilm
August 31, 2024 at 3:12 pm
Thank you so much for sharing, Ray! We’ll definitely check out your write-up on the Trip 35!