dusty shutter: Olympus Trip AF

Well, hello? Surprised to hear from me? Me too!

I'm sick of making excuses for myself for not updating my blog. You may have noticed that I tweaked the layout and design and everything-- this is kind of like starting over without starting over. Like dying your hair after a bad breakup. Or something.

Anyway, the point is that I still have things to share and I am still learning about photography and want to help other people learn too. The show must go on!

Without further ado...

I bought the Olympus Trip AF from the Vancouver Camera Show and Swap Meet back in April (yes it HAS been that long), mostly because I love my Olympus Trip 35 so much and I hadn't explored compact cameras very much. However, the difference between the Trip 35 and the Trip AF couldn't be greater.

A quick google search will tell you that Olympus used the Trip nameplate on these lower end cameras to try to sell them based on the name's popularity. With that in mind, it should come as no surprise that the quality of the Trip AF is not up there with the older Trip models.

Here are the specs: it's a fully automatic camera with a built-in flash, and as you can see from the photo it has a Zuiko 35mm 1:3.8 lens. It apparently only has two shutter speeds (1/85 or 1/120) and two focal settings (1.5m or 4m) among which it automatically selects. And it has automatic film advance and rewind functions. So there you have it: a very uninvolved and easy operation.

And here's what you probably can't find through google:
The shutter and film advance have a very unnerving sound. Very 1985. Very Return of the Living Dead. It's really fun to use, mostly because of its retro appearance, as well as the aforementioned demonic shudders. However the quality is about as poor as you might expect. I ran a roll through my Canon Snappy 50 around the same time as this baby, and the Snappy wins out, for sure, as far as retro compact cams go.

The photos I got were unpredictable and reeking of my-first-grade-school-camera charm, but I still got a few gems. It's a good camera for snapshots or parties because of the built-in flash.

And ahoy hoy, here are the photos:

I don't remember the film I used... probably generic 400 rated somethingorother.