Help with Olympus XA2

p.giannakis

Pan Giannakis
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Jul 8, 2008
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Hi everyone!

I just got one Olympus XA2 on a car boot sale for £0.10. It is in good shape but the film transport wheel appears to be jammed. I do not have any batteries in it to check the shutter.
What i wanted to ask: Is it possible to be jammed because it is already wind on and does not have a battery to fire the shutter? Or is it just jammed?

Thanks everyone!
 
Hi Jesse,

Thanx for your reply.
Can i clarify something with you? If you wind the film and remove the batteries, the camera appears to be jammed, right? You cannot fire the shutter and you cannot advance the film.
 
petronius beat me to giving you the same answer!

Changing to the XA range of Olympus I always find the shutter takes a bit of getting used to. When you are 'up and going' give yourself a bit of practice.

jesse
 
Curious - its a great buy for the price - but how are you going to use the camera? Will it change your style of photography? Saw some of your great shots on flickr.

jesse
 
Hi Jesse,
I don't think this is going to have any impact on the type of photography i do. I already use a Yashica T4 which is pretty much the same type of camera.
 
XA series require some patience to get into shutter release. Love it or hate it, I haven't decided yet.

Manual focus is little faster to use, especially zone focus (can set also intermediate values on XA2) - no need to depress button to engage AF. T4, Epic and likes aren't as smart - they need help of operator to focus lens before each shot, while XA2 does it itself after one has focused it once.
 
I have a T4 and i am looking forward to test the XA2 against it. The T4 is a fine (but overpriced) camera but that automatic fill-in flash and the noise of the winder are driving me crazy. The XA2 seems to be so quiet but let's see how it compares picture-quality-wise.
 
Hi Jesse,

Thanx for your reply.
Can I clarify something with you? If you wind the film and remove the batteries, the camera appears to be jammed, right? You cannot fire the shutter and you cannot advance the film.
If you wind on the camera waits for you to fire the shutter and without batteries that's impossible. So it's not jammed, just waiting for you to put batteries in and take a photograph.

These cameras are usually OK regardless of their age, imo, but Luton Camera Repairs can check them and return them even better than you'd imagine. Using one after it's been checked and set-up correctly can be a joy. And the zone focussing is brilliant. You can set it without looking once you get a bit of experience.

Regards, David
 
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