Olympus Please bring back the XA pocket camera. Either as analogue or even digital.

[bulevardi]

I have been hunting around, and the nearest camera I found that is new and is sort of similar is the Lomo MC-A 35 mm Film Camera. It looks very interesting. Anyone has an opinion?

Well, I have a LC-A for over 24 years now.
I was surprised by the MC-A, it has some things that I don't like such as the lens popping out electronically (if I understood right).
It reminds me of the Minolta Riva Zoom I once had. Once there's dust or sand in the cogs, it would block, so I don't buy into that anymore. It also has a retro display which serves to nothing. It doesn't have a shutter release cable option...
I'd hoped Lomography would come with a digital LC-A, competing with the Fuji Half or something like that.
However, they sell the Minitar lens separately so you can screw it onto a digital camera. But with my APS-C sensor, I would loose best parts of the vignetting. If I had a full frame, I'd have bought one already.

Anyway, it's good they keep being creative and producing new cameras for the market. Maybe one day they make my perfect match.
I hope to find a LC-M once, which has the shutter release cable option.

Olympus has a digital compact, the Pen E-P 7 and so on... or maybe not that compact... don't think they're going to make XA again digital.

 

[shawn]

I kind of think the digital tough cameras (Olympus or Pentax) are sort of like an XA. They are built to be thrown around, thin to fit in a back pocket, can be sat on without issue and since they are waterproof no worries about getting pocket lint into anything or clogging an extending lens or lens cover. Some even have pan focus modes. I have the Pentax WG-3 and it is handy for just throwing in a pocket and not worrying about it at all. Many of these are JPG only, the later Olympus models support RAW too .

 

[p.giannakis]

These were with that camera, if my memory serves.

Wow 😲

What a picture!

 

[Ray Kilby]

View attachment 4882230
Wow 😲

What a picture!

Well that's the advantage of the AX series. You have it with you, so you get lucky. That was with an XA2 which was so simple, you could just grab the shot. (3 focus settings) I have an AX now and although I love it, I am not 'in' love with the way I was with the XA2. Thank you for the lovely comment.

 

[agentlossing]

Is the lens any good, or is just interesting? From the sample images it looks interesting. Re the size, shape, ease of use, we can't expect everything!

No one really knows yet, save for a few people who've had the camera to test. It's an upgraded design over the LC-A's version, which is more or less the same as the old Soviet model. The MC-A lens is supposed to be sharper and less "lomo" while still having the strong contrast and vignette wide open.

 

[Godfrey]

When it comes to pocketable compacts in general, the three 35mm 'top dogs' about, what, 35 years ago were (to me) the Rollei 35S, the Olympux XA, the Ricoh GR1, the Minolta TC-1, and the Minox 35GT-E. I had all of them at least to test... I still have a Rollei 35S and a Minox 35GT-E, and still occasionally use them. I prefer the Rollei's 40mm Zeiss Sonnar f/2.8 lens over all of the others. The Minox is close but not quite as refined. As reported earlier, my XAs all died of film transport problems, and I sold the Minolta TC-1 as part of some equipment swap or another.

While I've never owned/used a Lomo LC-A, I bought one of the Lomo Minitar 32mm f/2.8 lenses in Leica M mount some years ago. It works surprisingly well for such an inexpensive lens. But I have to say I find it clumsy in use and, thus, only use it infrequently.

That was/is the magic of the Olympus XA as well as the Rollei 35S and Minox 35GT-E: They are eminently usable, easy to carry, easy to handle cameras with good lenses.

G

 

[Bingley]

This ^^^^. I have two Olympus XA cameras; I’m the original owner of one of them, purchased at the old 47th Street Photo in NYC in the early 1980s. They are marvels of camera design and engineering. An XA easily fits into the front pocket of jeans, has a nearly silent shutter, excellent aperture priority metering, and a fine lens. Yes, the rangefinder patch is hard to see, but you can zone focus if you need to.

The small size and excellent optics meant that this camera could easily come along as a second body on overseas vacation trips. In the last years of my mother’s life, when I visited her on weekends in Sunnyvale, CA, I often went for morning walks around the neighborhood, and snapped many photos with the XA. I carried one or the other XA cameras with me on business trips and to football games for candids of the fans. And though I don’t use mine much any more (preferring the Rollei 35 and variants, with better lenses), I have a soft spot for the two.

Here’s a sample of photos I took with my XAs over the years:

3d-and-long-091507.jpg by Steve Macfarlane, on Flickr

Street Portrait 2 by Steve Macfarlane, on Flickr

Untitled by Steve Macfarlane, on Flickr

 

[Bingley]

Evening out by Steve Macfarlane, on Flickr

Birds in Paradise by Steve Macfarlane, on Flickr

Back to back by Steve Macfarlane, on Flickr

 

[Bingley]

Corner by Steve Macfarlane, on Flickr

Bloem Gracht by Steve Macfarlane, on Flickr

Open by Steve Macfarlane, on Flickr

 

[Bingley]

At the sea... by Steve Macfarlane, on Flickr

Locke, CA by Steve Macfarlane, on Flickr

Lake Como by Steve Macfarlane, on Flickr

 

[Bingley]

I suspect the commenter who said we’re unlikely to see a camera like the XA again is right. I can’t see Olympus devoting resources to bringing out a new version of the XA, let alone reviving the original model. Alternatives to the XA have been discussed above in this thread. IMO, the Rollei 35 and 35S are the best of the lot. But the little XA is special and is still a fine shooter if you can find one in good working condition. And as we often say, the best camera is the one you have with you…

 

[Tim Murphy]

Dear Board,

I have an Olympus XA that kind of sort of works. The seals are good, the rangefinder is clean and bright, and the shutter and aperture adjust according to the setting. The only problem is the light meter reads 2 stops low. With 100 speed film in it the camera is almost unusable due to slow shutter speeds. I've found that bumping the ISO to 400 gives me readings that match every single camera and meter be it digital or film, handheld or via the individual camera's lens gives me accurate readings on my XA.

Chris Platt on the board posted about a reasonably priced repairman who gave a good price to clean up his XA if no new parts are needed. I await news on how he makes out.

In the meantime, I bought a Chinon Bellami off eBay that I've already proven is in working condition. Yeah, it's kind of a funky camera. Zone focus, and fully auto with no override whatsoever, but I'm kind of a funky sort so I like it!

Regards,

Tim Murphy

Harrisburg PA 🙂

IMG_20250906_132314_MP by Tim Murphy, on Flickr