The original XA is, hands down, the most undervalued camera in the vintage film camera market. C'mon -- it is an aperture priority, manual focus TRUE rangefinder. Hell, it even gives you shutter speed in the viewfinder. It's FULL FRAME in your pocket. The lens is just fine. I modded mine -- a gift from a VERY generous RFF member several years ago, by doing the ole "sharpie over the patch" trick to improve contrast for focusing. Works a charm. If this camera wasn't so successful, and Olympus didn't sell a bazillion of them, and they were "rare", there would be bidding wars for these things. It is the best tool for street photograhy ever invented -- better than any Leica for this purpose. The lens does not protrude. It literally fits in any pocket -- for real and for true. It does not have to go through any start-up routine. Its shutter is virtually silent. The shutter release requires nearly zero pressure, reducing camera shake for lower shutter speeds. Slide open the door, it's ready to go. It has no noisy film advance motor. You have full manual control. It gets diss'd mainly because people don't spend a lot for them and they're plentiful, so they're taken for granted and underappreciated - but it's a near perfect tool for certain types of photography. It is a much better and far more relevant tool than, say, the much more expensive Nikon 35Ti from a practical standpoint. As for the others? What's the point? You give up too much... better off with a decent point and shoot from the 90's if you're going that route.
Full frame true rangefinder in your pocket with 100% manual control makes this camera a genuinely relevant photographic tool in the digital age... no need to explain, make a case for still shooting film, and no handicap points for nostalgia...
