A Couple of months ago, I blogged about a new magazine that had recently been published called Trip Zine.
The magazine is completely dedicated to photos taken on the Olympus Trip 35 camera.
Trip Zine recently had asked for submissions for their upcoming second issue and I was pleased to find out that three of my photos taken on the Olympus Trip had made it into the magazine:
Trip Zine Issue 2 can be purchased at https://www.etsy.com/shop/TripZine
Through my blog I was recently contacted by International Film Swap Group and asked if I would like to join in taking pictures on a roll of film, then posting it to somebody in their community in a another part of the world who would reshoot the film and get the film processed to create some cross country double exposures.
I was really interested to see what effects the photos would have if I did this via their group so I immediately agreed.
After agreeing, I was contacted via email from one of their member’s called Mathias who is based in Stockholm, Sweden. His instagram page is @haexes if you’d like to check out his work.
He suggested that I shoot a colour roll of 35mm film that I would then post to him and he would flip the roll and re-shoot it to produce a red scale fusion effect.
I had never heard of flipping a roll of film before to create this effect so again, I found this really interesting and was really looking forward to seeing the results.
After some further discussion with Mathias on what type of colour film would work for the red scale effect, I decided to use Fujifilm X-TRA Superia 400 35mm film.
I shot the film using my Pentax K1000 camera as I knew this particular camera would allow me to shoot the film at ISO 800. I had wanted to double the ISO from the original 400 since the film was going to be double exposed.
Mathias used his Olympus Trip 35 camera for the re-shooting of the film.
We had both agreed from the beginning that I was not going to give particular details of each shot I had taken as we wanted the finished photos to be more free style. Instead, I gave Mathias a brief overview of where I had taken my shots which I confirmed were of Brighton Beach and some other sites nearby such as the West Pier, a statue and the I360 along with a couple of flower shots to create a bit of a mixture.
I wasn’t really sure what to expect when Mathias developed and scanned the film except I knew it would probably look quite creative and very lomography-esq since part of the exposure would be of a red scale type of photo which would create a fire effect.
Today I received the scanned photos from Mathias and I was really impressed with the images we had managed to combine on the film.
Here are a few of my favourite images we took:
We’ve decided to do a further film swap together, this time using black and white film. Mathias will be shooting the film first then he will pass it onto me to re-shoot and I will get the film developed and scanned.
I’d be interested to know what other people’s opinions are of the double exposures. Do you like them? or is it something you wouldn’t want to do in your own photography?
If anybody reading this blog post is interested in doing a film swap with me, please contact me as it really is great fun to do.
It’s great to see other people keeping film photography alive and I was very excited when I learnt on instagram about this recent magazine that had been made by @trip.zine
@trip.zine describes it as a visual love letter to the Olympus Trip 35. It’s ultimately a visual magazine which comprises of pictures taken by the Olympus Trip 35 from 20 photographers from across the world.
It’s A5 in size which means it’s easily portable and is printed on lovely quality 150gsm silk paper.
The photos are amazing and it provides so much inspiration as to what photo’s could be taken using this smart little compact camera.
I’m really happy with the purchase and I wasn’t surprised to recently discover that there aren’t many copies left for sale so if you’re interested, I’d buy one before they sell out.
They retail at £8 (plus postage costs) but in view of the quality of the magazine with over 60 pages of 35mm film photography, I personally think the cost is well worth it.
This magazine is something I will certainly keep as it’s truly unique and special.
I really admire @trip.zine for publishing this magazine and I do hope there will be further issues for sale in the near future which I will most definitely purchase.
The magazine is currently for sale online at http://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/609019891/trip-zine-issue-one?utm_medium
Their shop name on Etsy is TripZine.
I was first made aware of this camera when I was recently in my local second hand camera shop and a young guy popped into the shop and put this model of camera on their counter asking if they had a case for it.
The chrome and black, accompanied with the really cool style lens really caught my eye and it helped having Olympus Trip 35 written on it so I knew I could do some more research about the camera online once I got home.
I found that it’s a 35mm compact film camera (which means it doesn’t have interchangeable lenses) and was produced from 1967 (hence the cool design) until 1984. I also discovered that David Bailey had promoted the camera in some adverts during the 1970s so couldn’t help but take a look at these on youtube.
I am too young to remember this camera originally but I can imagine it was a great travel camera back in it’s day.
I had been after a compact film camera to accompany my Pentax K1000 for times when I needed something a bit more lightweight and compact to take film photos with so I knew this was the camera for me.
After further research I found that two types of shutter button had been produced on this camera. The first was the chrome shutter button which later changed to a black shutter button.
I immediately decided that I wanted an Olympus Trip 35 with a chrome shutter button as I personally preferred how that looked overall on the camera.
These cameras are very common (because so many were produced) so they are very easy to get hold of. They can also be bought quite cheaply from £5, with the price increasing with older models and if they’ve recently been refurbished.
Within an initial enquiry to all my local second hand camera shops, they all had one in stock but unfortunately all with the black plastic shutter button.
In the end I purchased mine on eBay for less than £40. It came with the case, original instruction manual and a miniature flash (which still works!) so I was really happy with my purchase.
The only slight flaw with the camera (hence why I think it wasn’t for sale at a higher price of around £70-£80) was that the light seals needed replacing. I wasn’t put off doing this myself as I found a website http://www.cameramill.co.uk/product/olympus-trip-35-light-seal-kit/ where I could purchase a light seal kit for £4.20
This website also provides two lots of the kit (in case of any mistakes) and instructions about how to remove the original light seals and fit the new ones. I found it really easy to replace the old light seals and my camera works great.
The camera overall is automatic and by that I mean that you turn the lens to single person, group of people or landscape mode to take a picture. It takes some practice to make sure your standing at the correct distance for each of these modes so your picture doesn’t come out blurry. There are also aperture numbers for you to choose from if you add a flash to your camera that you would pick instead.
If you’re not using the flash, the camera requires well lit conditions to work as it is has a solar-powered selenium light meter. The shutter will not fire if it’s too dark and a red flag will show in the viewfinder to confirm this is why the camera won’t work.
Overall this camera is great for a simple point and shoot camera without having to put too much thought into taking the picture. I can see why it had ‘Trip’ in the title as I can imagine it’s a great travel camera.
When I got my first roll of film developed I was amazed at the quality and sharpness of the photos. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting great photos because of the camera’s simplicity but it clearly has a really good lens.
I discovered online that this camera is very popular and there is a little cult following for this camera. There is a great website http://www.tripman.co.uk who is dedicated to the Olympus Trip 35 camera and you can buy refurbished camera’s through them too.
Here are some photos I’ve currently taken on my trip:
