I have found the source of all the problems with my Trip 35, I think.
When it arrived two days ago, it was packed in a small thin box,
with no padding except the leather case. It seemed to be intact at
first, but after noticing the sticky shutter, I also noticed that the
lens did not appear quite straight.
After the first roll showed definite problems, I removed the top
cover, and found the right side of the lens had been pushed in
about 1mm, along with the front body panel, which was binding on
the shutter/meter mechanism. After some coaxing, I got the lens
looking straight, and the shutter started working well. Also at this
time, the aperture started behaving more like it should, giving me
the expected changes varying with light levels.
At this point I determined the following:
The selenium cell is alive and well - the meter lever responds quite
quickly in fact. The binding had been causing the "aperture select"
lever to remain in contact with the meter lever, resulting in the
strange behaviour I had witnessed.
It appears that the camera will use both shutter speeds in auto
mode, and will pop up a red tab and refuse to fire when light level is
below 1/40s at f/2.8. I determined this both by a slight change in
shutter sound, and by comparing the minimum shutter speeds with
my OM meter. The film will confirm this of course...
I can see why the Trip 35 is such a highly rated little camera - the
design is quite elegant, and very rugged. I was amazed at the
thickness and rigidity of the body casting.
Now I just have to hope the 2nd roll turns out better than the first...
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