Step 1.) Remove the pressure plate inside the back door of your Trip 35, it's quite easy to slide out, just don't force it.
Step 2.) Look at the number printed here:
The first, Japanese, symbol is the factory code and is not so important. The 9 is for the year, and the 3 for the month. The earlier Trips have a chrome shutter button, and some time in the mid 70's the shutter button was changed to black. Mine has a chrome shutter button and so was manufactured in March 1969, which is confirmed by my low serial number. If it had a black button it would have been manufactured in 1979. They were only manufactured between 1967 and 1984, so there shouldn't be any problems placing the year of manufacture depending upon the colour of the shutter button. Easy, huh?
Step 3.) Put your pressure plate back into your Trip, carefully.
Step 4.) Put in some film and go shoot something!
PS: If you have a refurbished Olympus Trip 35 then this may not be completely accurate because the companies that do the restorations freely swop parts between cameras as spares are needed.
Hello Lanthus,
ReplyDeleteI just removed the pressure plate inside my Trip 35 and discovered the following number:
N2Z
I'm very curious, do you know the year?
Greetz,
Jelmer
So, after giving it a bit more thought, my answer is that it was manufactured in December 1982 or 1972! If it has a black shutter button, then it is 1982 and if silver it is 1972. If you purchased it as a rebuild from a company that refurbishes them then it may be a plate from a different camera or a button from another year, etc. in which case it's anybody's guess.
DeleteThe N is a symbol for the factory it was manufactured in.
Ok, one of my have 8-8, so she is 68 or 78? Thank you! (sorry but my English is the Google Translator lol).
ReplyDeleteThat depends on if it has a silver or black shutter button. If it has a silver shutter button then it is from August 1968 and if it has a black shutter button then it is from August 1978.
DeleteHowever if you purchased it as a rebuilt or as a refurbished camera from a company that restores them then it may be a plate from a different camera or a button from another, so it would be impossible to tell with any certainty.
Hope that helps!
It helped a lot. In this case, the mine is 1968. Thank you.
DeleteAlways happy to help!
DeleteHello, I just found the code for mine which has the silver shutter button, it's 8-6 the dash is long and the 6 is circled. What year would you say?
ReplyDeleteNever heard of one with a long dash. Could you email me a pic? Even without the dash, and just going by the numbers it should be June 1978, assuming that it is not a refurbished unit rebuilt from spare bits and pieces.
DeleteHey! Have you found out the age yet? Mine is the Same and i am really curios to know How old it is!
DeleteMine says 69 and has a silver shutter button. That makes it September '76 if i'm correct?
ReplyDeleteSpot on Helmer! :-)
Deletethen I must have a very early model its 76 with a chrome button
ReplyDeleteHi there I have 2 trips but having trouble working out the dates based on what I can find.
ReplyDelete#1 has the number (N17) under the pressure plate and the number (4958834) on the top plate. It has ASA 400 and a black plastic shutter button and the setting before infinity is red.
#2 has the number (8-4) however the 4 is inside a circle under the pressure plate and the number (131885) on the top plate. It only goes to ASA 200 and has a chrome shutter button and the focus settings are all the same orange colour.
Any help would be appreciated ��
The first one would most likely be July 1981, the high serial number seems to confirm that probability. The second is quite an early example manufactured in April 1968 and the serial number is very low too, which is positive confirmation.
DeleteMy trip is close relative to your trip, they are the same date! My Trip's serial number is 126280
DeleteHello Lanthus
ReplyDeleteI have just found my fathers old Olympus trip, every thing seems to be working fine except the back pressure panel is missing. Do you know where i could buy a spare one or get the dimensions and try replicate it.
Thank you very much.
Oscar
Hi Oscar!
DeleteYou could try Trip Man in the UK and see if they can help you with parts or just look on ebay for a cheap Trip 35 that you can use for parts. The link to Trip Man is in the links list in the left column of this blog.
Hope it works out!
Lanthus
Just checked my parents olympus trip 35 which is now mine and the digits are B73 which goes with what my mum said bought in 67 and still going 😁
ReplyDelete