Is my Trip broken?

[Seoulseb]

Yesterday my friends mom gave me a mint Trip 35 with the box and all accessories. Unfortunately I don't think it's working because the shutter fires in all light conditions when on "A". Even when the lens cap is on. Also the aperture blades don't appear to be moving. My gut says its dead. Opinions anyone?

[Greyscale]

Don't give up on it. Many of these "broken" Trip 35s can be quite easily self-repaired with just a few simple tools.

http://www.thermojetstove.com/Trip35/

[Noll]

I just did some trip 35 repairs (replaced the filter ring + general cleaning), and taking off the top is quite easy. The website mentioned by Greyscale is a good guide. Don't let the shutter button go flying after you take off the top and you'll be able to see if the meter needle moves at all. If it doesn't, you might have a bad selenium cell or a broken wire/connection. If it does move, then go fish.

Lens disassembly isn't much worse, but there are several interlocks (? guessing that's what they're called) that need to be lined up for the barrel to function upon re-assembly. To replace the selenium cell, you need to cut the wire and solder the new one on, unless you want to take the entire barrel apart...

If you're confident with your repair skills, you could chance it with a parts camera having a working meter.

[valdas]

Your problem might be not really a big problem. Most likely it is "red flag" issue which does not prevent from shooting normally except that it won't block the shutter in low light. Just put it on f2.8, not A and go ahead. When the lens is on 2.8 position the camera still chooses other aperture values in brighter light, but when it's a low light you will get max aperture and slowest shutter speed... which might still be not enough, but then you can really see/feel when it's too little light... I have two Trips 35, both don't block shutter in low light, but I see no problem with this.

[Seoulseb]

Well I did in fact bring it in. Something was indeed broken. Some little bar; really can't remember. Anyway my guy fixed it up and gave it a general tune up for $45. Worth it in my opinion since it has a very low serial number. All functions are working properly now. Glad I gave this guy a new lease on life!