I wanted a small, cheap 35mm shooter with manual controls. One of these days I'll get myself one of those nice little 70's compact rangefinders but they cost more than a tenner!! ;-) so for now, I'm making do with an Olympus Trip 35, very common and very cheap.
The downside with the trip is the lack of manual control. There's a "flash mode" that gives aperture control but fixes the shutter speed at 1/40s. The camera is capable of 1/200s in auto mode, it would be nice to be able to access this manually - especially as the auto mode on my £2.50 Trip doesn't work!
After reading the excellent article at Zeropoint.six-something.org, I set about finding a way to manually control the shutter speed, and came up with this little mod which allows both speeds to be selected at will, and doesn't require as much dismantling as the above method.
You need:
Olympus Trip 35 camera
Miniature crosshead screwdriver
Plastic cable tie, about 4mm wide type
A small needle file or hacksaw blade
Now although you don't actually need to strip the camera down, it may be worth doing so so that you can see what you're aiming at; it isn't a difficult job. If you want to do this follow these instructions.
Inside the camera there is a tiny brass flywheel that controls the shutter speed. In order to get the faster speed this wheel must be held in it's "wound up" position. Attached to the wheel is a cam, which when prodded will push the wheel to the fast position. The following picture shows the cam highlighted in red.
The idea is to make a control rod from the cable tie which pushes this cam to select the fast shutter speed. Moving the control rod away reverts to normal 1/40s mode.
This photo shows the view from the side, showing the bit the control rod has to hit (highlighted in red). The area to aim for is between long brass lever and the spring pivot point.
So here's how it's done. Remove the top cover screws (one by the strap lug, two under the film rewind lever. Take off the top cover.
Neatly trim the locking end off the cable tie and thread onto the tie, about an inch from the end.
The locking bit will sit inside the camera body to stop the whole thing being pulled out when you switch between speeds.
File a 5mm deep slot just wide enough so the cable can move through it easily, in the position shown on the camera top cover
Now the tricky bit! Push the cable tie into the mechanism so that it pushes against the cam shown highlighted in the above diagram. This isn't easy beacuse now the camera is assembled you can't easilly see what you're trying to hit!
You should feel very slight resistance as you hit the cam, and the tie should then push in another three millimetres or so. Try the shutter - you should hear if it's operating faster.
Obviously, don't force things. If it doesn't feel quite right, pull out the cable tie and try again. On my first attempt I ended up with the camera stuck in 1/200s mode; it turned out I had dislodged the return spring on the flywheel.
The lock of the tie should be in a position where it just hits the metal casting when the tie is pulled out enough to select 1/40s mode. If it's in the wrong place, slide it off and re-thread.
Finally, replace the top cover with the tie poking out of the slot in the top cover. Trim the tie so it doesn't stick out too far.
That's it! Olympus trip with full manual control! :-)
Wonder if it's possible to add a "B" setting....?
Resources:
K. Praslowicz Photography
Olympus Trip 35