In praise of the Olympus XA

[Ronald_H]

Picked up a XA + flash for 20 Euros at a swap meet. I had been looking out for one for a while, because I realized that the features I missed most from my favourite P&S (Mju-II / Stylus Epic) were control over the aperture and exposure compensation.

Camera is a bit dirty, and the seals are becoming a bit smudgy, but it is still clean inside and evidently light tight. The meter needle is very optimistic, the shutter speed indicated is about two stops too fast, but actual metering and shutter are spot on, just ignore the needle.

Although the RF is small and dim, focusing is accurate throughout the range.

I am extremely pleased with the first roll. In focus, well exposed and quite shockingly sharp. I heard some dismissive stories about the lens quality, but at least my XA is tack sharp. I love the hair trigger shutter release as well, you can get away with much longer handheld shutter speeds than with the Mju-II, which is not nearly as well balanced.

All in all a brilliant pocket rocket that will see a LOT of use in my hands.

 

[Pickett Wilson]

I still have the XA I bought new in 1979 or 1980. Pretty worn from a lot of miles in my pocket. Great little pocket camera. A bit soft around the edges, but I have a lot of photos I shot with the little guy.

The release was a weak point to me. Too little feedback and easy to take an unintended shot. The XA's I've seen in the last couple of years, though, are really starting to show their age, with lots of problems cropping up. A pretty good run, though, for a little plastic camera. 🙂

 

[oftheherd]

I got one cheap off ebay a couple of years ago after continually reading about them here at RFF. Mine is sharp. The first A11 died almost immediately, but the second is chugging alone well. I have the larger flash where the ready diod doesn't work, but the flash does.

A friend gave me one he picked up for less that $5 but it had no clamshell cover. I am working on putting it in good working condition. When I get around to it I will post how I did it. There is some surprising engineering in that little thing.

 

[lynnb]

I picked one up a few weeks ago in a charity store for $5. Excellent working order. I used to have one years ago and dropped it, and it's great to have this quality little RF in my pocket once again. Looking forward to seeing you post some pictures taken with yours.

 

[Juan Valdenebro]

When I got mine, I really wanted to know -from direct use- why the camera is so famous...

The moment I received it I went out with a roll of velvia because I wanted to check if its meter and RF were fine after the shipping... I set the camera at 50, not 32, to see meter's accuracy...

On the few blocks between home and the lab I shot the roll and waited anxiously for less than 30 minutes to receive the uncut, yet wet film just to see it as soon as possible...

I was amazed... 36 sharp, well focused, VERY well exposed images! That meter is a wonder... (I think I read there are two meters inside?)

Then it became THE camera to be used when I needed fast shooting without being seen or heard... I never used it for color again, by the way...

As focusing wide open is easier with other cameras, I left the XA for use at f/8 only, and I focus it to 6 feet to have focus in the nearest meters around camera... Sometimes, I noticed after having it on my pocket and while opening it, the focusing lever had moved from the 6 feet position I prefer, so I decided to make a black cardboard piece that keeps the lever fix on that place: it's just a small piece of cardboard cut with the shape of the lever in the center of it, so it doesn't move...

I open the camera and shoot, and everything around me is sharp for street shooting: no sound, no focusing, no metering, no settings of any kind... I use 400 film set at 800.

It's an almost perfect camera, one of the closest to that, IMO... I dream of one a bit bigger for f/2, and with ISO up to 3200... But as is, it's ready for fast shooting for more situations than most cameras.

About the LR44 - SR44 batteries thing: it's designed for the SR44 ones... Mine came with LR44 ones, and as I had great exposure on the first rolls, I thought LR44 were equally fine... They're not! After some rolls, there was a roll with some frames showing uneven exposure from left to right! The XA needs SR44 batteries!

One of those cameras -like Hexar AF- I'll keep buying all my life if necessary...

Mr. Maitani rules! He had a lifetime of experience and success before designing the XA!


Cheers,

Juan

 

[dave lackey]

Posts without photos mean nothing!😉

 

[j j]

Posts without photos mean nothing!😉

You forgot to attach the photo.

 

[dave lackey]

You forgot to attach the photo.

Nah, I just change my avatar.😛

 

[pschauss]

I bought mine new in 1983 for a trip to London with my wife and two children, then 4 and 6. I returned with 10 or 12 rolls of perfectly exposed, perfectly focused, Kodachrome slides, including one shot that I took with available light in the chapel of the Tower of London.

The camera has survived use by my daughter when she was in the fifth grade, being "borrowed" by one of her fifth grade classmates, and a backpacking trip for my son in Alaska. I know that I dropped it at least once. It still works perfectly and the light seals are still good. The time I had a problem with it was a winter trip to Germany when it got too cold. Keeping the camera in an inside pocket solved that one.

 

[Bingley]

I'm the original owner of mine (bought in NYC around 1982) and recently picked up a second XA from a member here. The lens is quite sharp from f4 on down, and is good enough wide- open. Very accurate metering system (the backlight compensation lever is cool), quiet operation, and pocketability make it a great street cam. And try loading it w/ fast film and shooting at iso 800: it's not a bad little night-time shooter.

I think the XA is rather Barnack-like: cool design, pocketable, and more than good enough for taking photos.

 

[Ronald_H]

Here's one from my Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lookupinwonder/5964159961/in/photostream/lightbox/

 

[kuzano]

Meter needle (shutter speed) NOT working is common

Meter needle (shutter speed) NOT working is common

My current XA shows no needle movement on the shutter speed, but works excellent on exposure, which is fine with me, since I'm more of an aperture priority shooter. I've had more than one XA with either a non functioning needle, or the needle (shutter speed) was incorrect. In fact at this point in time, I would be very surprised to buy an XA with a correct needle indicating shutter speed.

I use XA and XA2 camera's interchangeably and find the zone focus of the XA2 to be very handy. I enjoy the mild vignetting found on my XA2's.

But my XA is a great shooter and I can always count on well exposed and very sharp images. Who cares what shutter speed. I have a rough idea of whether I am stopping action, or blurring action by the aperture I choose. Obviously the meter is correct if I am getting good shots. Obviously, if I really wanted to know the shutter speed, I could look at the EXIF information!!!!!😀

The way to tell if the meter is working, looking to buy one, is to shoot various apertures from large to small and listen for changes in the shutter speeds. If you can hear the changes, the meter is likely working and likely correct. If possible, shoot a roll of ASA 200 film at various apertures and process it for prints or put on a CD.

 

[Ronald_H]

I put a few more on my Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lookupinwonder/

I can only conclude the camera works great.

 

[Harlee]

I've been shooting XAs for roughly 20 years but bought an XA2 a few years back. I'll say this in my experience of some previous shots taken on my XA. I'll take one or the other with me as I teach in E. Europe and both produce acceptable images, however, I recall being in Slovenia around 1995 on a very cold and snowy day when I came across a military cemetary from WWI. The wind was blowing with snow falling from the trees and heavy snow coming down. I had my XA with me and while the light was rapidly diminishing, I got some really great shots with the XA and it's 2.8 lens, which I'm not sure if the XA2 would or could duplicate. I'm not sure that I can find the pictures but I did download them a few years back and they're in my RF album, along with some other XA shots taken in Poland and Hungary. I leave for Ukraine next week and I'll take my XA with me along with my Yashica MG-1.

 

[pinkarmy]

...received...yesterday...tore it apart (cleaned ...resealed...soldered...);... test shots...

...and develop...scan...upload...in just ONE day?...wow you are such a quick shooter.

 

[zsas]

Ha, yeah, it rained all day and we were grounded so to speak. Just wanted to do a quick and dirty roll o film and generic scan, which turned out great, the fun begins tomorrow when I load in the good film (panf+) and actually think. Best, Andy

 

[wojtek]

I love XA. Being an idiot, I've sold it, but I will buy another one.

Some of my favourite photos from my new book were shot with the XA...

More (not only XA) here: www.wojtekkutyla.com/next_door

 

[bhop73]

It's one of my favorite cameras.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bhop73/sets/72157624124927337/

 

[zsas]

^bhop - nice photographs! I like how so much of you work is 'in motion' (ie cyclists, walking folks, etc) great energy with your own style!

 

[benlees]

Love it! Half my "London" pictures in my Flickr were taken with an XA. Have a real problem loading it, though. The leader goes in fine but doesn't catch easily. Anyone have any tips?