Nighttime Non-Flash Photography with the Olympus Trip 35

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Some of you may have seen my previous review here singing praises for the Olympus Trip 35. Well, back then, I had barely discovered another side of the camera: its magical ability to take great nighttime photos.

If you try taking a photo with the Olympus Trip 35 in automatic mode and there's not enough light, you get a little red warning flag pop up in the viewfinder. To get over this, just manually turn the aperture to 2.8, and you're ready to go. Any 400 ASA film will work, but I've gotten my best results with black and white films. You're not just limited to outdoor night shots either — indoor natural light works really well too. What amazes me is the depth of field you can get from this camera with just an aperture of 2.8. Check out my picture of the closed-down HMV store taken through its window — the store was huge but you can make out detail all the way to the back!

So, if you don't already own this camera, I hope my review might convince you to get one. Then, you can go out and have your own nighttime adventures with the Olympus Trip 35.

written by droogieboy on 2012-04-13 #gear #people #review #analogue #nighttime #low-light #lomography #night-photography #user-review #existing-light #olympus-trip-35mm

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25 Comments

wuxiong · 2012-04-13 05:12
very nice results. I will try too...<:) Thanks for sharing ..<:)
wuxiong · 2012-04-13 05:21
very nice results. I will try too...<:) Thanks for sharing ..<:)
superlighter · 2012-04-13 09:44
wow! the black and white pictures are simply amazing!
austinbeeman · 2012-04-14 04:46
Great pictures. Glad to see a fellow "tripper"
blinghaha · 2012-04-14 21:07
Great not often a review/tipster makes me jump out of my seat to try it out. Just taken a few shots with my trip as you have, with 200iso though... Hope it still comes out with something! :/
discodrew · 2012-04-14 21:17
I love my Olympus trip and your photos are really inspiring. Brilliant!
droogieboy · 2012-04-15 00:09
Thank you all for your lovely kind comments, folks! :)
cool-daddy · 2012-04-15 20:44
The trip is the best camera for the price of all time.
kaya · 2012-04-16 02:01
thanks for the tipster, always wanted to explore with my trip at night.
droogieboy · 2012-04-16 02:22
One word of advice for all Night Trippers that I forgot to mention in my review - if you have any filters attached to your Trip lense , remove them for any night time shots - you get much clearer and sharper pics
rosie07 · 2012-04-17 02:11
wow those photos looks amazing!!
I tried taking photos at night with my trip but mine never turns out right. The photo just turns out dark and I can only faintly make out the image.
droogieboy · 2012-04-17 03:36
I've had similar problems, rosie07. I shot 2 rolls of exactly the same Kodak B+W film with the same camera and had them developed at the same photo lab on seperate occasions. The prints from the first roll came out perfectly, but the prints from the other roll were horrible and looked underexposed. As the film and the camera were both fine, I can only blame the lab, especially as the negatives look OK. If this happens, there's nothing wrong in using a bit of post-print digital software aid to rescue your photos if the lab screwed up. You can make even the dullest looking image shine with some tweaking of the brightness and contrast controls
rosie07 · 2012-04-17 04:35
thanks for the tip!
tomsled · 2013-03-04 22:06
love your photos mate, I've got one on the way from ebay and I cant bloody wait! already stocked up on ilford B+W film!
droogieboy · 2013-03-13 17:23
cheers Tomsled. have fun with your lovely new Trip
lanthus · 2013-06-09 15:48
I really love my Olympus Trip 35! I love it so much a few years ago I started a blog for it: olympustrip35cult.blogspot.se/
The tip you give here for night shooting really works well, I discovered it for myself completely by accident one time. At the bottom of the first page is a photo I took with this method. :-)
theblues · 2015-03-10 20:07
nice article!
mohsendavoudi · 2017-12-10 20:51
Yeah!so nice and clean results just wow
I have it right now and wanna try some 400iso in nighttime,thank you so much for sharing your beautiful experience
nzsyfqh · 2018-04-05 07:02
Hi! Very useful tips. Thank you very much. May I know what's your favourite film for both bnw and color for this article? Thank you!
droogieboy · 2018-04-18 02:09
Hi NZSYFQH. My favourite films are Kodak TX 400 for b+w and Fuji X-tra 400 asa for colour photography. Hope this helps!
nicoleee · 2018-04-27 17:32
Hi!, do you know if can I use a 100 and 200 ASA film at night with this camera? You think it would work? :)
droogieboy · 2018-04-28 12:23
I wouldn’t recommend it as I don’t think the photos would get exposed properly. The 2 films I recommended to the previous poster have great grain for 400asa film, so stick with them
vitekk · 2018-06-19 17:16
Awesome photos! I feel inspired now :D
Yeah used 400asa film but also 400 on camera setings or some small value? I thought that using aperture 2.8 would get blury at longer distances, but it can be bypassed with the actual focus ring, right?
droogieboy · 2018-06-19 17:36
Hi Vitekk! Thanks for the kind comments. The focus ring does seem to solve any long distance issues. I never had any blur problems. Look at my photo of the closed-down HMV store. I set the focus to infinity and the aperture at 2:8 and You can still clearly make out the giant Beatles mural on the back wall. That Zuiko lens really is magical!
lnarg · 2021-06-24 12:44
I was very happy with your text and especially with your photos. I just bought an Olympus trip and saw some videos talking badly about the camera and saying that it's only good for sunny days. Your photos were amazing!