OLYMPUS TRIP PANORAMA

The Camera Library
May 30
2 min read

There’s nothing like picking up an old camera and stepping into a time machine. My latest adventure was with the Olympus Trip Panorama, a vintage gem designed for capturing sweeping views and epic horizons. Although I was a bit skeptical about it's 'panorama' feature which basically was pushing two plastic slots across the image frame, the results have surprised me.

First Impressions

This camera was produced in the 1990's in Japan and is equipped with a plastic housing and a fixed lens with a maximum aperture of f/4.5 with a fixed focal length of 33 mm. A sliding door protects the lens from damage, which is cool. The focus is fixed, a minimum distance of one meter to the object is recommended but I took mainly panorama view shots so didn't test this!

Variations in the exposure setting are not possible, as neither aperture nor shutter speed can be adjusted. However, the sensitivity of the film can be adjusted on the front of the camera using a slider for ISO values of 100, 200 and 400.

Here are some photos shot on Fomapan 200, you can see where the top and bottom of the film is 'blacked out' by the panorama panels inside the frame:

Hiking the Maclehose Stage II trail, great views across Sai Wan Beach:

Why You’ll Love It

It's a fun little camera, and even though the lack of control over the shots might make some people freak out (me definately), I was still happily surprised about the way the photos turned out.

Grab a vintage camera, some film, and go make happy little mistakes. The results might surprise you!

Stay tuned for my next retro camera adventure. Who knows what story it’ll tell?