The magic of this system is that it takes all exposure-related worry out of our minds. When the camera’s incapable of making an acceptable exposure, a little red flag shows up in the viewfinder and the shutter locks out. The camera then chooses a shutter speed of either a 1/200th or 1/40th of a second and we get a perfect exposure. The Trip 35 accomplishes this sorcery by determining the amount of light that enters a Selenium photo cell surrounding the lens, and choosing a correct aperture based on this reading. This was in no uncertain terms an engineering miracle. Automation seemed a distant (and expensive) fantasy, so when Olympus created a genuine auto-exposure camera out of primitive nuts and bolts, the world took notice. It’s as well designed as any machine of its day, more impactful when we recall that the Trip came of age in an era where cameras were still fully mechanical, save for the occasional battery powered light meter. The design is classic Olympus clean-cut lines and an impossibly small form factor, the Trip wastes no time and gets straight to the point. Olympus’ design house, fresh off the ingenious half-frame Pen F, struck gold again with the Trip. Good design marries aesthetics to functionality, and the the camera gods couldn’t have picked a better company to bring the Trip 35 to life. Instead, they required a camera that was simple to use, but sophisticated enough to beautifully capture their memories. Racing from landmark to landmark and airport to airport, these sightseers simply lacked the time and interest needed to learn the boring particulars of photography required to operate a camera. Olympus achieved these massive numbers by appealing to the casual shooter rather than pro photographers, specifically focusing on the new generation of moneyed vacationers. More impressive still, the Trip 35 actually outsold the Nikon F and the Leica M2 by millions. Just as the F and the M defined the SLR and rangefinder genres respectively, the Trip 35 defined the point-and-shoot game. This camera, although not as capable as the other two, holds an equally lofty place in photographic history. One would think the Olympus Trip 35 would seem out of place next to legendary cameras like the aforementioned Nikon and Leica, but it actually fits right in. There I found a beautiful Trip 35 for an absurdly low price, bought it, and quickly threw it in my bag. And if the Trip 35 was the prescription, the Pasadena Camera Show was the pharmacy. Its reputation for ease of use and high quality seemed the perfect cure for my shooter’s block. The Olympus Trip 35 is a camera I’d heard a lot about but had never tried myself. I needed an easier camera, and I had a feeling one camera in particular could fit the bill – the Olympus Trip 35. I just needed a change from the manual cameras that sat on my shelf. But I didn’t need a full-on vacation from the hobby itself – no, that would be too drastic. And it was while I was lying face down on a pillow listening to the opening lines of Chicago’s “Hard To Say I’m Sorry” that I realized I did, in fact, need a little time away. Sufficiently depressed, I decided to stay home and put my cameras on the shelf. Every time I peered through their viewfinders I saw nothing but dust in the pentaprism and emptiness between the framelines. Even the storied reputations of my F and M2 failed to inspire me. The images I tried to form seemed trite and overplayed, and I soon lost confidence in my ability to make a decent picture. But instead of plunging into a world filled with beauty, intrigue, and possibility, I found my surroundings cold, ugly, and indifferent. I jumped out of bed one morning full of energy, ready to take on the world with my trusty Nikon F and Leica M2. It’s shooter’s block, our equivalent to writer’s block, and it hit me hard over the summer. It can render the best shooters incapable of even the simple task of pressing a shutter button. In the worst case, it can lead to a photographic malaise that can dismantle even the most well-built minds from the inside out. As enthralling as photography can be, long days, months, and years spent shooting can wear you out.
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