Selenium meters failure rate? Olympus Trip 35

[GarageBoy]

So I'd like an Olympus Trip 35, but I'm super weary of the selenium meter. I just don't trust them, mainly because every camera/selenium meter I've used has had dead cells. Are the chances better on the trip 35?
Thanks

 

[Gerry M]

I'm on my second Trip 35 and both have worked w/o problems. Maybe I've been lucky?

 

[lam]

Every single one i've ever found has had a dead meter.. unfortunately.. they do exist though 🙂 just gotta make sure it's from a reliable source.

 

[Mr_Flibble]

2 for 2 so far with my Olympus Trips.

The ones in the trips are, I'm told, reasonably robust.

 

[kuvvy]

I've had around eight Trips over the years and never had a problem with the meters. I'm down to my last one now though I don't use it as I've given up on film shooting.
Paul

 

[Photo_Smith]

I've bought two Trips for my children both work flawlessly even with slide film. I also have selenium meters on my Rollei and a Weston Master v both are dead accurate.

 

[kuzano]

I have hard and my experience follows

I have hard and my experience follows

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.

 

[starless]

It would be difficult to find one with an accurate meter.

My Trip35 usually underexposes by one and a half stops, so I just set a lower ISO to compensate. For example when I shoot Trix 400, I set the camera at ISO 100 and then develop normally (for EI400)

 

[Roger Hicks]

. . . Selenium meters appear to fail at a rate that is related to their exposure to sunlight or light. . . .

And humidity, and widely varying extremes of temperature. And pure chance.

Cheers,

R,

 

[sevo]

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

... or not. Selenium itself is about as prone to failure as silicone. That is, like all electronic circuits, selenium cells will eventually be destroyed by cosmic radiation, but they are by no means consumed by light. They are subject to oxidation and must be sealed - but the same is true for all photo elements. Being quite big, selenium cells (and silicone cells) are harder to seal than photodiodes/phototransistors, and being older, the sealing materials used on selenium cells often are inferior to those we use on modern photo elements. And if the seals fail, humidity and a current across the cell (the latter created by exposure to light) will speed oxidation.

There are cell makes that held up extremely well (the big round cells used in Norwood, Weston and Sekonic style pro meters frequently are still fine), and other types that rarely survived. The barrel meters (with opto-mechanical slider coupling to the film speed setting/aperture) used on many sixties automatic compacts are crescent shaped, which apparently made it particularly hard to seal them permanently, so these usually are in a poor shape by now.

 

[Roger Hicks]

... . They are subject to oxidation and must be sealed - but the same is true for all photo elements. Being quite big, selenium cells (and silicon cells) are harder to seal than photodiodes/phototransistors, and being older, the sealing materials used on selenium cells often are inferior to those we use on modern photo elements. And if the seals fail, humidity and a current across the cell (the latter created by exposure to light) will speed oxidation.

There are cell makes that held up extremely well (the big round cells used in Norwood, Weston and Sekonic style pro meters frequently are still fine), and other types that rarely survived. . .

Indisputable (as your posts often are).

Cheers,

R.

 

[farlymac]

I was going to do a Buy-It-Now on one, then I read the description. I've got a few cameras with good, accurate meters, and a few with dead ones. Yashica seemed to do a good job of sealing theirs, but my Retina IIIC is as dead as they get.

PF

 

[CliveC]

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.

 

[squareshooter]

Cosmic radiation. Wow, something new for me to worry about. I just stopped worrying about which is better -- stainless steel developer reels or plastic. And now this. I haven't even had a chance to worry if Kodak will go completely belly up or not. Or if a rangefinder is better than a SLR. I have both, plus non-rangefinders. I rather backwards with my worrying, I guess.

 

[CactusJuice]

Cosmic radiation. Wow, something new for me to worry about.

It's mostly harmless. The particles pass through us all the time. Earth's atmosphere filters out the dangerous high energy stuff. Well, except for UV light 😎

 

[c.poulton]

I'm on my second Trip and haven't had any problems - saying that, both were in pretty good shape when I got them, and looked like they were stored well enough...

 

[sevo]

Cosmic radiation. Wow, something new for me to worry about.

It takes ages - literally. But it is the one inevitable reason things electronic or organic do eventually rot, the reason why there won't be working samples to celebrate 100 years of digital cameras, and why even the most perfectly frozen mammoth can't have its DNA revived. But in terms of even the oldest selenium cells, it will only have worn away a few percent of their sensitivity, as these are big and effects on them are statistical rather than catastrophic - if they are already dead today, it is because their sealing has failed.

 

[konicaman]

Yes the red flag test is a good indication. I have 2 Trps and my girlsfriend´s got one, all meters perfectly. Always keep it in a dark place when not i use, and the meter could last for your granchildren to use it too. I also have 2 Leningrad 4s - both spot on. Selenium cells are not necessarily that bad.

 

[David Hughes]

Hi,

It's not much of a problem, surely?

There's enough dealers selling them to make sure of a good one. Or buy cheap on ebay and get it overhauled by one of the specialists.

My experience is that they are all good, if chosen carefully. And like old Weston meters, I think they go on for ever and a day but need checking by an expert to be certain. I'll go along with the kept in the dark makes them OK people too without bothering about the particle physicists....

I've also seen enough posts on RFF about people buying them and sorting them out to guess it's not much of a problem. Trouble is, one person has a problem and the internet means it's believed and set in stone from then onwards. Then there's the poor performance in low light comments, which are true but irrelevant for most of us. My M2 with its meter has poor performance in low light but it doesn't bother me, ditto the M3 and so on. And "no batteries required" carries more weight with me that the low light performance...

Regards, David

 

[Rodchenko]

I have a Trip, and the meter's spot on. Similarly the XA1 I've had. I also have selenium cells on my Weston Master IV, which is very accurate, and my Gossen meter.

I think my other cameras have CdS cells, so that doesn't count.