Selenium meters failure rate? Olympus Trip 35

Cds fails as well, most/all cameras have parts that can fail badly. Lenses get fungus, RF's de-silver, SLR mirrors break and batteries get forgotten and attack the innards with acid.

Look in the Leica threads for what can go wrong with the best.

Regards, David
 
In my very limited experience (one camera), something else goes wrong first with the Trip 35. But I've had much fun with my one camera:

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Cells can be OK with wires and contacts giving you troubles.
 
I used to have a Trip and the meter was bang-on accurate, enough so that exposing slide film wasn't a problem at all. It came with a screw-in lens cap, so I'm pretty sure that mine had been well cared for before it came to me.
 
kuzano said:
Selenium meters that are kept cased or closed are often accurate and still functional.

Selenium meters appear to fail at a rate that is related to their exposure to sunlight or light. I have had some great experience with Selenium meters. Those good ones were very often acquired in everready cases which were always closed to stop light entry into the meter. Same goes for Selenium external meters that were cased and kept closed when not in use.

Look for a Trip with the nice leather ever ready case they came in. It will likely have a good meter.

Selenium cell meters were never really that great in low light, but for normal use in day ot day shooting, are extremely accurate if the camera was low usaga and the meter kept covered.

Often you will find Trips with the leather pouch that is clearly original. It says either TRIP or OLYMPUS on the front. can't recall which for sure. It's been a while. It's form fitting to the camera.
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Good advice. I have a Royal with built in selenium meter. It came in a leather case and is bang on. Very smart too, has dual scale and lid with a slit for daylight that flips up to expose the whole meter in poor light.
 
It's only a matter of time.

My beloved Weston Master IV was sent to Quality Light Metric in Hollywood, who had purchased the remaining Weston Instruments stock of parts ay the time ( 1980's)

The restored meter lasted little over a year.

Other than Seconic, who found a new Selenium source— and thus saved the L-389
( Norwood ) meter.

Avoid all selenium cell meters and cameras bearing thereof.
 
It's hit or miss with selenium meters. My brother has a 50's Norwood director that works perfect and has never has any service. I have one just after Brockway / Norwood owned them and it works perfectly. On the other hand I've seen very few Weston meters of that vintage that work. I've seen many Rollei meters that are dead too.

I was always told selenium cells need regular exposure to light. Is this not true?
 
Picked up another working one at a flea market two weeks ago.
So 3 out of 3 working Trips for me.....

What I'd do with 3 Trips? Start a farm maybe?
 
I have 4 all were cased with lens caps and the meters are fine. I found another on a market stall which had no cap or case and the meter was dead. Seems its important to keep the cell covered.
 
CliveC said:
Fortunately, the Trip 35 is relatively easy to test for functionality. Cover the lens part with your hand and if the camera is wound and still fires, the selenium meter is likely dead. If the red flag shows up, it should be fine. I actually asked the eBay seller to do the test and they were willing to. Camera turned out to be fine.
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Not to bring back an old thread, but looking for answers on one I bought not long ago...the selenium cell works...red flag works, etc...BUT! No matter how bright outside, the meter doesn't work below ISO 160. So...can't use Ektar...can't force Tri-X down to 100...etc. Thoughts?
 
yosemitesamiam said:
Not to bring back an old thread, but looking for answers on one I bought not long ago...the selenium cell works...red flag works, etc...BUT! No matter how bright outside, the meter doesn't work below ISO 160. So...can't use Ektar...can't force Tri-X down to 100...etc. Thoughts?
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I must have 7+ selenium meters; either on cameras or meters. Most were acquired by buying cameras and the off camera meter came with it. Mine all work, but maybe you'll just have to mentally change the f-stop (or shutter) to compensate. (As long as it is accurate at some level.)
 
yosemitesamiam said:
Not to bring back an old thread, but looking for answers on one I bought not long ago...the selenium cell works...red flag works, etc...BUT! No matter how bright outside, the meter doesn't work below ISO 160. So...can't use Ektar...can't force Tri-X down to 100...etc. Thoughts?
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If accuracy is still OK at higher ASA settings, and you're just after the simplest possible solution, a UV filter or two would be my suggestion. Eg set ASA to 200 and fit a one stop UV filter to the lens = ASA 100. And so on. Otherwise consider acquiring another example. Not all work perfectly, but so many millions were made that acquiring a perfectly serviceable specimen is far from impossible. My owned since new late 1970s example is still in perfect working condition.
Cheers
Brett
 
Second that and I'll add that a lot depends on the previous owner(s) rather than the meter. Luckily there are lots of people who can work on then and adjust or rebalance.

Regards, David
 
Top Ghia said:
I have 4 all were cased with lens caps and the meters are fine. I found another on a market stall which had no cap or case and the meter was dead. Seems its important to keep the cell covered.
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When it's uncovered, current flows, and due to some chemical process i don't understand, the contacts to the actual selenium cell get corroded and this either stops it from working or makes it go off-calibration.

Fortunately, this can be remedied by addressing the corrosion and there are some information on the internet for resurrecting those meters.

On the Oly 35 a full stop difference can be compensated by moving (shifting) the galvanometer from it's basic position, if i recall correctly. But this will work OK if the difference is a full stop in all light conditions (high and low).
 
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