Olympus Trip 35 cameras are now anywhere from 24 to 41 years old (as of 2008), and the vast majority therefore have 24 to 41 years of dirt on and inside them! You might be surprised at the quantity of Trip 35 cameras that come my way from those who have bought elsewhere in this marketplace. Yes, even the 'mint' ones! My Trips are the only fully rebuilt examples available, as I am the only person in the world who completely refurbishes them and makes them available to a worldwide market. Therefore, they are the cleanest and closest to factory new condition Olympus Trip 35 cameras you can buy, and I would like to tell you why that's important.

Like most cameras, the Trip 35 was not sealed against dirt and moisture, and the camera inevitibly becomes filled with atmospheric and other contaminants over time. External and internal corrosion can be a big problem too. Unfortunately, the lenses on these cameras also suffer from optical problems such as fungus and degradation of the delicate internal lens coatings (especially on the older models), and the whole optical lens often needs to be replaced. The most critical part of the camera affected by dirt is the inward-facing (towards the film) surface of the rear optical element, just behind the shutter blades (and therefore unseen without dismantling the camera). Every single Trip 35 I open up has dust and dirt stuck to it, which doesn't do a lot for the optical performance of that fantastic Zuiko lens! Similarly, the viewfinder housing gets clogged with dust and dirt on its 4 internal optical surfaces, and always needs to be cleaned and the internal roof seal replaced. One of the joys of direct vision viewfinder cameras is the brightness and clarity of the image. When a Trip 35 viewfinder has been properly cleaned, you would not believe the difference it makes!

Another major problem with these cameras now is dirt and grease on the aperture blades, causing them to stick together. When this happens, the auto-exposure won't work, the underexposure warning flag won't show in the viewfinder, and the shutter will not lock in low light. In other words, the shutter fires when it shouldn't. Remember that when other sellers proclaim "the shutter fires" - and with no other information - such as if the camera was on 'A' for auto when they fired the shutter, and if they were in a dim indoor environment with the camera on 'A' when they fired the shutter! I've never come across a Trip 35 whose shutter didn't fire: the shutter not firing is about the one thing on these cameras you will never have to worry about, as the shutter assemblies are bulletproof and will last longer than you will! Stuck aperture blades are often mistaken for a depleted selenium cell light meter in the camera, but depleted light meters are surprisingly uncommon on them. Aperture blade cleaning is an essential part of servicing these cameras. Their shutters require just a quick check to see that the blades are not damaged and that the camera's gloriously concise range of TWO speeds (clicky, and clickier!; or for the more technically minded, 1/200th and 1/40th of a second, respectively) are doing their thing!

Failure of one or more mechanical components can also cause the auto-exposure system to malfunction. Additionally, all the old light seal materials in these cameras have degraded into muck, having been designed to last only a certain number of years. The film chamber light seals and an internal foam seal between the lens and body need to be completely cleaned out and replaced (only the very last Trip 35 cameras made did not have an internal foam seal due to an internal design revision somewhere in the 5 millions in terms of serial numbers). Most of the refurbishing work on these cameras is therefore major cleaning and re-sealing. The insides of the lens rings also suffer from dirt contamination, and the old dirt-clogged internal lens ring lube always needs to be completely cleaned out and replaced too.

So as you can see, these cameras are obviously old enough to require full dismantling, proper servicing, and complete internal and external cleaning, especially if they are to be donned with a new leather or leatherette covering, as many of mine are. Otherwise, you are shooting with a compromised camera that, even if it works for you now, will be at continuous risk of becoming a useless picture taking device. And that's the whole point, and the whole point of why I do this work and make this extremely capable 35mm film camera design classic available in the form that I do to fellow Trip 35 shooters around the world. Each and every camera I sell has at least 10 hours of work put into it, and often twice that (it's the older ones that require the most cleaning and replacment parts, and therefore the most time). That's what your money buys - my time (and expertise) - as well as my own personal guarantee of a clean, fully working camera in at least 'excellent plus' external cosmetic condition, along with a parts and labour warranty. When I am done with a Trip 35, you are done worrying about if you're ever going to get a 'good' one - simple as that!

My minimum 'buy it now' price for a refurbished excellent to near mint condition more popular late model (black shutter release button) might be somewhat beyond what a non-refurbished Trip 35 would sell for, but again, what I sell is not just a Trip 35 camera, but a very unique product that nobody else on the planet does. And to put that into a little bit of perspective (not comparison), you can buy approximately THIRTY of them for the price of just ONE of the world's only current production direct vision viewfinder 35mm film cameras that also doesn't take batteries (I'll leave you to research that!).

Get a fully refurbished (and customised if you fancy that!) Olympus Trip 35 camera at Street Shooters eBay shop now ... and be done with it!