Olympus XA Disappointment

[vrgard]

As I said before, spring for a new Stylus Epic for $ 95 or a used one for $ 50 and you will get a camera that is SHARPER than the XA, has a built in flash that works perfectly for fill flash, same size as the xa, auto winding and rewind etc....

I found one last weekend at my local Goodwill. Actually, it's the Stylus Epic Limited (ooh, fancy...). I would be happy to sell it for $50 if anyone is interested.

-Randy

 

[vrgard]

Roland's right about how the XA can do automatic night shots. I recently did a very quick and dirty test shot to finish out a roll (so no, this wasn't any serious evaluation type test). A house is being built next door and had a large backhoe sitting out in the field where the house will be. So, I set my trusty XA on the side wall of my property and using the shutter timer let the XA do it's thing. Here's the shot. Several comments: 1) the only light was from a small flood on my detached garage pointing into my yard that provided some illumination towards the neighboring field (you can see the effect caused by the wall casting a shadow across the bottom of the frame - and for what it's worth, I think I probably would have gotten an even better shot due to a longer exposure time had the flood light not come on - but it's a motion light so what are ya gonna do, you know?); 2) I have no idea where all that light on the other neighbor's garage was coming from nor can I explain why the sky is so bright; and 3) the large fibre/hair/debris/whatever in the image from the poor scan is the fault of Walgreens (so no need to give me advice on proper scanning techniques.. 😀 ). Anyways, here's the very low light shot:



Oh, and here's another shot that I forgot about. Shot this in a very dark restaurant in Mexico. The only real light came from the candles on the table. Just set the XA on top of a glass of wine and let it do its thing. Not sure why I got so many light streaks but it made for an interesting picture!

 

[Austintatious]

Here is a shot from my first test roll in an XA2. Just Walgreens ASA 400 stuff. The camera was set to the portrait setting.(Lower of the 3) The subject is just a bit out of focus, while the background seems sharper to me. You can't get closer tham four feet to your subject or the focus is off. Takes some getting used to, but I have seen some nice images on flicker with the XA2.

Charles

 

[suzums]

I've had really good results from my XA in the first few rolls that I shot through it.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/suzums/tags/olympusxa/

But after that, my shutter just died. On all the different f stops, the shutter remained at 1 sec. I've tried changing the battery, but that didn't change anything.

Anyone know what to do at this situation?

 

[ampguy]

hmmm

hmmm

so how did the other shots on the roll look?

Here is a shot from my first test roll in an XA2. Just Walgreens ASA 400 stuff. The camera was set to the portrait setting.(Lower of the 3) The subject is just a bit out of focus, while the background seems sharper to me. You can't get closer tham four feet to your subject or the focus is off. Takes some getting used to, but I have seen some nice images on flicker with the XA2.

Charles

 

[Trius]

Suzums: Short/trite answer on what to do... get it fixed. I've never heard of this exact problem; sounds like something for a pro, but maybe someone has a simple fix. Some cameras I'll work on myself, but the tiny ones like the XA have too many tiny bits that I don't want to open them and have a sproing event ruin my day.

You could ask John Hermanson at Zuiko.com or Clint Ruehl at photosphere.com. Both are Oly-trained techs and do great work; as well, they share their knowledge.

There are no circuit parts available for XA, so repairs/CLAs have limited warranty.

BTW, your shots have great sharpness, and the rocks shot really shows the sharpness well.

 

[suzums]

You could ask John Hermanson at Zuiko.com or Clint Ruehl at photosphere.com. Both are Oly-trained techs and do great work; as well, they share their knowledge.

There are no circuit parts available for XA, so repairs/CLAs have limited warranty.

BTW, your shots have great sharpness, and the rocks shot really shows the sharpness well.

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly! I'll try contacting those two guys, I'm sure something could be worked out! If not, I just might have to hunt for a new one. I really liked carrying that camera around!

Glad you liked the photos!

Cheers,
Susie

 

[bkTerry]

XA help please. I have had an XA for many years of very good photos, but the shutter started getting stuck when pushing the go button. I took it into the Olympus agent, and was told that some of the shutters got a small smear of oil on the blades and need to be cleaned. BUT, to get to the shutter required a sacrificial clip to be broken, and as Olympus had officially stopped supporting this model, the replacement clips were no longer available. Does anyone have any ideas on where one of these clips may be found, or a repair shop I could send it to? (from New Zealand) Thanks.

OOps, looks like I have got into a wrong place here. This is my first forum post and learning the ropes.

 

[Bill58]

Get in touch w/ the Oly repair guys in Dallas TX: olyfix@olyfix.com

 

[Trius]

Or John Hermanson at Zuiko.com. Both services are top notch. I have an XA (along with an LC) in with John right now. The thing about these guys is that they used to be Olympus repair technicians/supervisors, and when they left they bought lots of parts. So they normally have parts that even Olympus doesn't have.

 

[Austintatious]

may be better examples...

may be better examples...

Ampguy,
These were shot with an XA2 with Kodak 800 film. These may give a better example of the cameras performance. (I hope! 🙂 ) My other example futher up this thread is perhaps a bad scan. I would like to test a Stylus Epic sometime, & compare them.

Charles

 

[Bill58]

Austinatious:

First--you're lucky guy to live in heaven (Austin), second look at ttp://www.diaxa.com/, and third, you'll like the Epic too--but get the non-zoom version.
Thanks for the pics.

Bill
UT '68

 

[kully]

Nice photos Austinatious, I have an XA2 with the A11 flash, but I've never shot a roll through it. You've given me the impetus - thanks.

 

[Trius]

Sorry Bill, but heaven did NOT move from Lake Superior to Austin ... :angel:

 

[bkTerry]

Thanks

Thanks

Get in touch w/ the Oly repair guys in Dallas TX: olyfix@olyfix.com

Thanks for your instant help.

 

[bkTerry]

Thanks again

Thanks again

Or John Hermanson at Zuiko.com. Both services are top notch. I have an XA (along with an LC) in with John right now. The thing about these guys is that they used to be Olympus repair technicians/supervisors, and when they left they bought lots of parts. So they normally have parts that even Olympus doesn't have.

Thanks for your help. Great!

 

[Diggin99]

Xa2

Xa2

I put a roll through my XA2 of vista film and was not impressed...then I tried it with Delta 400 and processed it myself... it was much better... not sure why!

Delta shot:

Nancy

 

[Bill58]

That's pretty awesome from an XA2--supposedly inferior to the XA. Take look at www.diaxa.com when you have time.

 

[ajuk]

A good digital will cost you three or four times that of a good used Epic and you gain nothing, except film processing cost. ?

What absolute twaddle!

 

[micromoogman]

A couple of XA2 shots... I got at least two other compacts that I prefer: Chinon Bellami and Konica C35... Don't like the zone focus on the XA2...

J