got an oly XA2.. ?

[jano]

An associate at work brought me a gift today.. a somewhat used oly XA2, with flash. They were going to toss it, but thought I'd like to play with it a bit first. Upon inspection, the flash looks like it's about to fall apart, the seals look somewhat gunky, and the glass has some cleaning marks or fingerprints, cannot tell. Might as well give it a try?

 

[Stanton]

I have several XA2s. Paid the same price $0, you paid for some of them. They are fine carry everywhere cameras and are generally thought of quite highly. The seals are not difficult to replace and you can get a kit which would do several with instructions for under $10, as I recall. I can't recall the name of the seller, but I think you can easily find him on a search. As for the flash, there are several. The most common is the A11. I rarely use the flash, but they are convenient, and cheap to buy if you find it necessary. You might try the Olympus XA forum which is reasonably active, and there great site on the XAs in general.

Finally, a great little camera. You will enjoy it. Dave

 

[Stanton]

Look at www.diaxa.com/xa/xastart.htm. Dave

 

[jano]

I can't seem to get the shutter to trip, and the thumbwheel is stuck. I took apart the base, but I think it won't wind unless the shutter trips. Can't figure out how to get to the top plate off.

Hmm. Look at all these screws! 😀

 

[jano]

Okay, the top is off! I have one screw left, but.. it was stuck, and now the + in the middle is a o. Crap. How on earth do you get the little screws out once the + is worn? Uh oh.

 

[jonasv]

Okay, the top is off! I have one screw left, but.. it was stuck, and now the + in the middle is a o. Crap. How on earth do you get the little screws out once the + is worn? Uh oh.

too late now, but next time if it doesn't come loose, try a soldering iron: the warm screw will expand and then contract when it cools off, which usually un-sticks it.

 

[Bill58]

If you can take an XA apart and put back together w/o pieces leftover, you're a better mechanic than me. I always take mine to a tech though I work on my other RFs.

 

[zuikologist]

I can't seem to get the shutter to trip, and the thumbwheel is stuck. I took apart the base, but I think it won't wind unless the shutter trips. Can't figure out how to get to the top plate off.

Hmm. Look at all these screws! 😀

Probably a stupid question, but as I recall the XA2 has an electronic shutter which needs batteries to fire. Are the batteries in the camera working?

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

I used to have an XA4. Olympus were very very good at fixing it for free now and again. It got dropped on the street in Beijing and Olympus London fixed it up for me, no charge, and in just a couple of hours.

 

[jano]

The battery is new and works, thanks for the soldering iron idea, I may still try it but I'm concerned about melting the plastic 😱

Jon: free camera that was headed to the trash, I probably would use it, just messing around with it to start learning a bit. 🙂