This blog consists of descriptions of my various vintage cameras and my experiences in using them.
I welcome your comments and additional information.
I am also happy for people to write their own reviews of their old cameras for inclusion in this blog.
These were extremely popular, simple cameras made between 1967 and 1984. My particular specimen was made in April 1982.
The camera is small - 215mm by 170mm by 160mm - and is quite light by film camera standards. Controls are minimal. The user must set the film speed - ASA only, no DIN - and focus the camera. So, not quite a point-and-shoot camera but very close to. The ASA settings are from ASA 25 to ASA 400.
There is a light meter around the lens and the camera selects both shutter speed and aperture to suit the light levels. There are two shutter speeds - 1/40 and 1/200. 1/40 is rather slow with most cameras but the Zuiko lens has a focal length of 40mm 1/40 is about as slow as the camera can go without evidence of camera shake. This also presupposes that the pictures will not be enlarged much above 5x7. Of course, there is a tripod socket so in poor light you can always attach the camera to a tripod - the shutter release is threaded for a standard cable release. If there is insufficient light to take a picture, a red flag comes up inside the viewfinder and the shutter is locked. This also has the added benefit of preventing you taking a roll of film with the lens cap on (don't laugh - some of us have done that with other cameras).
Available apertures are f2.8 to f22. While the camera usually selects these, it is possible to select them manually for when using flash. If you do, the shutter speed is set to 1/40. For the flash, there is both a hot-shoe connection and a PC socket. The actual aperture is square, so this camera is not going to produce particularly attractive bokeh (this is the only negative thing I have to say about this camera).
The viewfinder is quite small and has bright lines to outline the image area. There are also smaller bright lines to show the image area when taking head-and-shoulders portraits.
The lens is a Zuiko 40mm lens of a Tessar type - four elements in three groups. Focussing is essentially zone focussing with settings for:
1) head and shoulders
2) small groups
3) large groups
4) landscapes
If this is not accurate enough for you, then under the lens is a dual focussing scale in feet and metres. This goes from three feet to infinity.
Inside the Olympus Trip 35
Finally, there are lugs on the sides for a neck strap and the camera comes with a wrist strap - more useful for a camera of this size.
When I bought this camera, the light seals had degenerated to a black sticky mass. It is extremely easy to replace these with thin self-adhesive foam.
Sample pictures:
Trip AF 50
In time the excellent Trip 35 was replaced with a cheaper to make and more automatic camera - the Trip AF 50. This is a plastic camera with a built in flash and auto-focus. It is a well made camera but not in the same class as the original Trip 35 to which it owes nothing but the name.
Excepting my Canon EOS cameras, this is my newest camera dating from between 1970 and 1988. It is an aperture priority automatic exposure camera. Olympus produced a manual adapter which more of later. At this age, the camera only offers manual focussing but as I am not a fan of automatic focussing this is no big deal.
The camera is very light suggesting it has a plastic construction and so will not be as durable as a die cast alloy camera. It measures 136mm wide by 83 mm high and 50mm thick and weighs just under half a kilo (so is half the weight of my trusty Zenit E!). This camera requires batteries to work. Luckily they are not mercury cells so will still be available.
In use, one selects the required aperture and the camera selects the shutter speed. This shutter speed is indicated by way of a red LED in the viewfinder. As a landscape photographer, this is the way I want to work, so this is ideal. Available speeds are 1, 2, 4, 8, 15, 30, 60, 125, 250, 500 and 1000 (all fractions of a second). The one second setting is actually one second or longer, according to the manual. What I do miss that more modern cameras offer is an exposure lock by half depressing the shutter release.
Available apertures depend on the lens being used. I would have liked my 'new' OM10 to have had an Olympus 50mm lens but it came with a Vivitar 75-205 macro zoom lens. This lens is very well thought of but its minimum focal length is too long for most work. I have just replaced it with a Vivitar 28-200 macro zoom which does not have quite the same reputation but seems to be at least ok.
1) is normally set to Auto. B will allow the shutter to remain open while the shutter release is depressed and manual allows the manual adapter to be used.
2) sets the film speed and also allows exposure compensation of either 1, 2 or three stops each of which is available as over or under exposure.
3) is self-explanatory. in the off position photos can still be taken, correctly exposed, but there will be no visual indication of the shutter speed.
Also on the top plate are the shutter release, film advance lever and rewind knob. There is also a frame counter and, around the shutter release, a collar that will take the camera out of sleep mode.
The only other control is the rewind switch which is on the front of the camera just below the shutter release. You need to turn this 1/4 turn to dis-engage the sprockets inside the camera and allow the film to be rewound.
Below the rewind switch is a light/bleeper unit. This sounds and lights up when the control (3) is set to battery check. If the battery is flat or missing it neither sounds nor lights up. It also sounds and th light flashes when the self-timer is selected. this lasts for about twelve seconds before the shutter is released.
This camera sports a 'hot shoe' accessory shoe with three contacts. The metal sides, centre spot (x synch) and a flash charge/auto check contact. This last designed for using Olympus's own flash units but can be used with generic flash guns in Auto mode and the manual adapter set to 1/30 seconds.
Underneath the camera are fittings and contacts for a auto winder. It would seem that this camera will not accept a motor-drive.
Olympus OM10 underside
The last detail I shall mention is that the shutter release is threaded for a standard cable release.
The Manual Adapter
manual adapter - front
Contrary to the practice with other manufacturers there is no built in way of over-riding the automatic exposure system. To do so, you have to buy the optional manual adapter which plugs into a jack socket on then upper left front of the camera.
Manual adapter - side
To use this, you need to set the selector (1) to manual. This over-rides the Automatic system and allows you to set the shutter speed yourself, as well as the aperture.
I cannot quite see the point of this as it is much easier to just use the Auto mode and adjust the aperture until the camera selects the shutter speed you require.
While most cameras made since the mid-1950s have very similar controls, it helps to become used to a particular camera. I am currently on my second roll of film in my OM10 and the camera is becoming easier to use.
One thing I am getting used to is only being able to adjust the aperture, the camera taking care of the shutter speed. mostly, I use entirely manual cameras and I am just learning not to look for the speed selector with this camera.
I am also getting used to the split-screen focussing circle in the centre of the viewfinder. I am actually quite happy with just a plain focussing screen but the split-screen is actually faster when I remember it is there.
I am using a Vivitar 28-200mm zoom lens with this camera which is a fairly heavy lens - it completely unbalances the light-weight body of the OM10. It is my intention to get a Zuiko 50mm lens for this camera at some point - I mostly take pictures at the normal focal length but the camera came with the Vivitar so that is what I am using at the moment.
Apart from the unbalancing effect of the heavy lens, this is a delightful camera to use. While there is a definite "clunk" when you press the shutter release, I suspect I am sub-consciously comparing this to the whisper of the leaf shutters in the cameras I mostly use. It is certainly a lighter action than with my Zenit E!
18 April 2013: update.
I now have a Zuiko 50mm Auto-s lens for this camera. It is a solidly made lens, weighing slightly more than my new Canon 50mm lens that also has auto-focus machinery in it. Available apertures are from f1.8 to f16 and the lens focusses from 0.45m to infinity - the distance scale is marked in metres and in feet. The focussing ring has a nice, tactile rubber finish which will make this lens easy to use by feel.
There is a button on the side of the mount that allows you to stop the lens down to see your depth of field. The lens is entirely mechanical - the aperture settings are fed to the exposure system in the camera by a moving nudger and the diaphragm is closed just prior to exposure by a second nudger.
To be technical, it has six elements in five groups - the previous version of this lens was marked 'f Zuiko', the 'f' indicating the number of elements (a=1, b=2 etc) but this lens is just marked 'Zuiko'. It takes 49mm threaded filters.
I shall upload some test pictures when I have some.
Sample pictures from the Olympus OM10 with a Vivitar 70-205 macro zoom lens:
