Is the Trip light meter prone to underexpose?

srichards

srichards

Messages
11,192
Name
Suz
Edit My Images
Yes
Got the roll back of Tri-X and there are a few shots that are very grainy looking. Considering the trip lowest shutter speed is 1/40 it's a bit odd as the Fuji DL10 I used on the same day with a fixed 1/125 and something like F9 didn't do the same in similar circumstances.

I did see the red warning light on the trip a couple of times but I had set the ISO to 250 even though the Tri X is rated at 400 (but it's a bit old). I'm pretty certain I've shot that at iso 360 and also just 400 in SLRs and it's turned out just fine. Ditto with the snapic. It still takes the shot so does that set a narrower aperture when it does this and that's why?

Olympus Trip Expired Tri-X by Suzy Richards, on Flickr

Similar light levels with the DL10


Fuji DL10 Expired Tri-X by Suzy Richards, on Flickr

Any thoughts?
 
Excuse me interrupting!

I have an old Olympus Trip but the selenium meter seems to have gone completely. The little red triangle comes uo in the view finder. So, is it worth bothering with if I set it to the other settings? In its heyday it produced some lovely images. I had thought of using it when I thought of trying film again, but alas, it was not to be.

Once again sorry for butting in.

Howard
 
They are definitely worth using. I think it is possible to repair the meter.

Manual settings or setting the iso to cope with how wrong it is what i will try next.
 
Remember a light meter is only good if the reading is where the photo is going to be take of. No point in getting a reading in sunlight if photographing a shaded area
 
srichards said:
It is locked on A and fires on not A
Click to expand...
That is how it should be.
So the issue is something else. As others have said the cell may be starting to fail but more likely it is something else. Its easy to move the iso dial by accident or use it as exp comp and forget to reset. Or the film is old or poor development.
 
I've used the same film in a lot of different cameras and none of them have shown the large variance in results doing the same types of scenes as the Trip.

Apertures are all showing as different as I went through all of them. I can see it opening up wide at f2.8. Tried it in A mode and varied the chosen ISO and it look like it is altering the aperture for that change.

It has to be the meter.
 
If you use the "manual" apature settings, which are originally intended for flash, the shutter speed defaults to 1/40 so you can take a good guess at the correct exposure knowing the shutter speed and film ISO.
 
Mostly Vintage Cameras said:
If you use the "manual" apature settings, which are originally intended for flash, the shutter speed defaults to 1/40 so you can take a good guess at the correct exposure knowing the shutter speed and film ISO.
Click to expand...

Oh. I didn't know that. I assumed it defaulted to 1/200 for some reason. Looks like the test roll of 400 Tri X at F8 I tried yesterday might not be up to much!
 
Last edited:
I think my Trip has had it's last functional trip, i tried it without a film and the shutter was firing no matter how much light there was. So it seems to me that it's had it's day and it's next trip will be to the tip. RIP.

I have had a discussion with myself about getting another one but can't come to a desicion. I'll carry on using the Pentax for film and hope thet tat holds up.

Howard
 
gogleddwr said:
I think my Trip has had it's last functional trip, i tried it without a film and the shutter was firing no matter how much light there was. So it seems to me that it's had it's day and it's next trip will be to the tip. RIP.

I have had a discussion with myself about getting another one but can't come to a desicion. I'll carry on using the Pentax for film and hope thet tat holds up.

Howard
Click to expand...


I wouldn't throw it away. If it works on manual mode then it still does function it just takes a little more work. There is a freebies section so you could give it away as not working and someone will probably be able to make use of it or even mend it. Shame to let it go to the tip.

www.talkphotography.co.uk

Freebies

If you want to offer something gratis to your fellow TP members, then put it in here. Absolutely NO money to change hands.
www.talkphotography.co.uk www.talkphotography.co.uk

Mine is ok in manual mode as far as I can tell. A mode it just makes a bit of a hash of it and underexposes in general even when setting the iso lower than the box speed.

I much prefer the Minolta Hi-Matic AF I have. It's auto exposure, auto zone focus and manual wind. It's lighter than a trip as well and also has a built in flash.
 
gogleddwr said:
I think my Trip has had it's last functional trip, i tried it without a film and the shutter was firing no matter how much light there was. So it seems to me that it's had it's day and it's next trip will be to the tip. RIP.

I have had a discussion with myself about getting another one but can't come to a desicion. I'll carry on using the Pentax for film and hope thet tat holds up.

Howard
Click to expand...

As Suz says, don't take it to the tip. The red flag fault can usually be fixed. Even if you don't want to go to the trouble yourself, someone else probably will. So either give it away to a willing recipient, or put it on eBay as Faulty for spares, where it will still probably fetch £20-£30 even if described as not working.

Trip 35's a re fairly commonplace, but there are still no more being made, so potentially giving it another shot at a working life it is the best option IMO.
 
Had a look at the first roll I did with it. Fuji Superia 400, likely to have been at box speed or a smidge under. All the photos taken seem to be ok.

Olympus Trip 35 expired Fuji Superia 400 by Suzy Richards, on Flickr

This is the only one that seems noticeably under

Olympus Trip 35 expired Fuji Superia 400 by Suzy Richards, on Flickr


The Electra 100 at box seems to be a bit worse.

Electra 100 on Olympus Trip by Suzy Richards, on Flickr

Electra 100 on Olympus Trip by Suzy Richards, on Flickr

The Tri X that was shot at 250 is noticeably worse.

Olympus Trip Expired Tri-X by Suzy Richards, on Flickr

Olympus Trip Expired Tri-X by Suzy Richards, on Flickr

According to this there is a blanking plate thingy that reduces the input from the light meter at the higher ASA settings.

www.petervis.com

Olympus Trip 35 Selenium Cell — The Light That Powers Itself

Discover how the Olympus Trip 35 uses its selenium cell to convert light into power. Learn about its focusing ring, light blanking plate, and ASA-controlled metering system.
www.petervis.com

So the question is if the blanking plate is covering good or bad cells how is that affecting exposure and which cells are being blanked? If it's more biased on covering upper ones or lower ones it will create different results compared to dimming all of them? The picture looks like it covers the bottom cells so anything with brighter sky will come out wrong more of the time? If it only covers duff cells?

If you use the much lower film settings which more cells uncovered would you find the red flag actually pops up less often because there's more actual light getting in? I think it goes down to ASA 25. Would it reduce the exposure bias for bright skies and even it up with the ground or just decide it's brighter still and underexpose even more? Does it even have any logic around which area of cells are producing more current?

Not sure how I would test this or if it is even a logical lot of thoughts.
 
Your second colour shot, of the flowers, is a bit underexposed because the meter doesn’t cope very well with back-lighting. Years ago I had a Trip and for those kind of shots I used to lower the ISO setting to compensate. I don’t think you can necessarily judge it by using old films. At the same time, that camera is pretty old by now. I had one from new back in the day and really liked it for a pocketable and robust camera for taking on a bicycle. The image quality was remarkably good.
 
To continue my story with the Trip. I have taken the suggestion by @srichards and @FishyFish ansd not thrown my Trip away, I have however put in a 24 exposure expired film to see what happens.. From Suz's posting above I am not very optimistic. It could be a week or two before I finish the film and get it back from the developer, so watch this space!

Howard
 
Tracer said:
Your second colour shot, of the flowers, is a bit underexposed because the meter doesn’t cope very well with back-lighting. Years ago I had a Trip and for those kind of shots I used to lower the ISO setting to compensate. I don’t think you can necessarily judge it by using old films. At the same time, that camera is pretty old by now. I had one from new back in the day and really liked it for a pocketable and robust camera for taking on a bicycle. The image quality was remarkably good.
Click to expand...
Agree about the use of older films might muddy things. I did shoot the same film stock in manual mode and that was a lot better. I pretty much kept it on f8 the whole time.

Lazily leaving it on f8 and setting the asa correctly to warn me if it is too dark might work ok.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top