New faith in the XA

[underbyte]

I haven't used my XA much in the last year or two, and I finally put a roll through it these last few weeks. I have to say that I'm really happy with the results. The meter was spot on and I got many good photographs. I used Acros 100 at EI80, processed in DD-X for 10:00. I had to do some photoshop editing to bring out the best in most of the scans, I haven't tried to print them in the darkroom yet.

I was actually getting ready to part with the XA and the results of this roll will keep us together. The thing is, here is a camera that I carried around because it was so easy. I don't know that I would have had a camera with me otherwise. I also have a 35RC that sees some action on occasion and several (many) other cameras (see GAS). I plan to start carrying around a full sized rangefinder more of the time, but sometimes the situation will be perfect for the XA, and for now, it stays...

Here are some highlights:

Look, bokeh on a point and shoot!

 

[ChEc]

The XA is also my carry-all-around-camera. This way it serves me extremely well. I will not give it away. Underbyte: I particularly like your first picture, it is well composed.

 

[zuikologist]

Very nice, especially the second and third ones.
Bokeh on a p&s - yeah!

 

[Leighgion]

Unbeliever repents? 😀

I recently had my XA tuned up, paying half again what I laid out for the camera itself. No regrets. Can't do everything I want, but it's the most pocketable 35mm camera I own by far.

 

[pschauss]

I bought mine new in 1983 so that I could have a travel camera which did not make me look like a tourist. I had not used it in several years, but when I was planning my trip to Barcelona this summer I decided, once again, that I needed a camera that I could just stuff into my pants pocket. I shot two and a half rolls of Plus-X in two days and virtually all of the shots were perfectly exposed. Here is a sample.

 

[l.mar]

I bought mine new in 1983 so that I could have a travel camera which did not make me look like a tourist. I had not used it in several years, but when I was planning my trip to Barcelona this summer I decided, once again, that I needed a camera that I could just stuff into my pants pocket. I shot two and a half rolls of Plus-X in two days and virtually all of the shots were perfectly exposed. Here is a sample.

Great image! I agree completely with your comments! I took my XA (and a Rolleicord III) to Colorado on a family vacation this summer --- it was a real pleasure shooting with both, and the image quality was first-class.

 

[not_in_good_order]

I've found that my XA is a better performer up close than at infinity.

 

[bsdunek]

I have my Dad's XA, which was his favorite camera. I think they are the best P&S ever. It never fails to give good exposures, and the lens is certainly good enough for general purposes. I can make 8X10 prints that are great.

 

[urban_alchemist]

Yup. Wonderful camera. My Ricoh GR1s was in the shop for a busted display so I rifled through my dad's cupboard and found his 1980s-vintage, owned-from-new XA. Original battery still worked, as did the flash.

It was love at first use. 35mm was a great focal-length, spot-on metering (even for slides) and a lovely, characterful lense (the light fall-off at 2.8 is endeering IMO) means that I've just bought a second, better-condition XA to add to the first.

 

[Nicolás Raddatz]

The XA is a wonderful camera for carrying around, very compact, and lends itself well for street shooting. Since i got one, i'm liking more and more 35mm field of view...now my 50 feels claustrophobic if you know what i mean. The thing that drives me crazy is that many of my shots look kinda blurry, even with good lighting (sunny 16) and supposedly reasonable shutter speeds/dof.

This is one of the "good" ones:

Panchos
Sarandí Grande, Uruguay

 

[Bingley]

I'm the original owner of my XA; it's still going strong after 25 years. Perfect for travel and street shooting...

 

[not_in_good_order]

 

[semrich]

I've been watching this thread and the images posted while I was waiting to get my hands on the XA I got from B&H. So I thought posting two shots here from my first roll to express how glad I am to have it would be the thing to do.

 

[vnukov_pk]

I have two of this little cameras, one was used for spares (shutter stuck). Overall very good quality, even compared with nikon and olympus SLR glass. Only in the night I have to use manual cameras because the aperture priority of XA makes the exposures too long

 

[Disaster_Area]

I picked up an XA about a year ago on a GAS whim, ran one roll through it when I first got it and was rather disappointed.. but I think I was expecting too much trying to focus it wide open. I just ran another roll through it over the holidays and the results where AMAZING... and to think I was about to sell it. It's now got a permanent home in my camera bag.

 

[not_in_good_order]

The XA is nice to have around on gloomy days when the light is so bad, I almost don't want to bring a camera. Almost that is...