In the autumn of 2005 I traveled to Mexico on a mission trip. I wanted to take pictures while I was there, but I didn’t own a camera. I’m sure that’s hard to believe! But I was in the middle of my divorce and my life was a considerable mess. I owned very little and I was so, so broke. I could afford the trip only because others in my church paid for it. So I scrimped for weeks to afford a twenty-buck camera and some film. My choices were skimpy – several off-brand cameras and this Olympus Trip 500. I figured I was safest going with a manufacturer I recognized, so I bought the Olympus.
The Trip 500 is sleek and light. It fits into my jeans’ front pocket, though it leaves an obvious bulge. It won’t function without two AA batteries, which drive the shutter, a surprisingly quiet winding motor, and the flash, which always fires and can’t be turned off. The fixed-focus, wide 28 mm lens is almost certainly made of plastic. The lens’s aperture and the shutter’s speed are anybody’s guess.
I knew I wasn’t getting fine photographic equipment for my $19.99, but I was still disappointed with the photos my Trip 500 took. The corners were always dark (vignetted) and badly out of focus, and the centers were usually washed out. The effect was much worse indoors under flash. Also, the colors seemed over-saturated to me. Today I realize that these are prized characteristics among lomographers, who love lo-fi photography. But then all I wanted was decent shots of my mission trip. If you’d like to read about the trip and see some of the photos I got then, click here.
Also, if you like crappy point-and-shoot 35mm cameras, the crappiest one I’ve ever used is the Nikon Zoom Touch 400; read its review here. Other point-and-shoots I’ve reviewed include the Kodak VR35 K40 (here), the Yashica T2 (here), the Minolta AF-Sv (here), and the Canon AF35ML (here). Or check out all of my camera reviews here.
I used Fujicolor 200 on that Mexico trip. I always wondered if faster film would give better results. On the first day of spring this year, with record-breaking high temperatures in the mid 70s, I itched to get out and either ride my bike or take some pictures. Remembering my pocketable Trip 500, I decided to do both. I dug the camera out of the box of unloved cameras I keep under my bed, dropped some Fujifilm Superia X-tra 400 and fresh batteries into it, and headed out on my bicycle.
Unfortunately, the faster film didn’t cure the vignetting and strong color saturation. This is the only photo in this series that I’ve left exactly as it was scanned from the negative, to show the effect.
The Trip 500’s viewfinder shows a lot less than the camera actually sees. I cropped this shot to show what I composed in the viewfinder, leaving behind a considerable amount of the original image. I wrote recently that the city is extending sanitary sewer to my neighborhood. These are some of the pipes, which did a great job of blocking 62nd Street.
My bicycle trip took me to New Augusta, a favorite photographic destination close to home. New Augusta was founded in the 1850s as a railroad town, but the line that still passes through town gets little use today. Indianapolis gobbled up all twelve blocks of New Augusta in 1970. This storefront is in the business district.
Salem Lutheran Church has been meeting in this area since 1836. Their building dates to 1880.
Many great old houses stand along New Augusta’s streets. This is my favorite, and it’s for sale.
Here’s another of New Augusta’s great old houses.
This one appears to be vacant. I wonder how much work it needs. I lack the skills to do a restoration and the funds to pay someone else to do it, but I surely would enjoy living in a house like this.
As usual, I burned off the last couple shots on the roll in the parking lot at work. I’ve shared too many photos of the anonymous office building in which I work. I wouldn’t have shared this one except that I happened to catch two geese flying by. That their wings are frozen suggests that the shutter is pretty fast.
To see more from this little camera, check out my Olympus Trip 500 gallery.
I’m still not in love with the Olympus Trip 500, though I must admit the saturated colors are growing on me. That doesn’t mean I’m starting to like lo-fi photography, though! Here’s hoping this post introduces some lomo lovers to this little camera, which can be had for a few dollars on eBay.
If you like old film cameras, check out all of my reviews here!
To get Down the Road in your inbox or feed reader, subscribe here.
