PatrickCheung
Well-known
I'm sure most of you are very familiar with the XA and it's siblings! I used to own an XA, and I loved it... compact 35mm camera with a rangefinder and a tack sharp lens!
I never gave the XA2 much thought though, it lacked the rangefinder and I was never one for a camera that purely relied on zone focusing. However, I ended up getting one in a trade (as a surprise actually), so I figured I'd give it a shot.
I didn't think I'd like it when I loaded the film in. The lack of a rangefinder and a shutter speed readout in the viewfinder left me wishing for more control.
Though to my surprise, I completed the roll in less than a day! I didn't have to worry about focus and slow shutter speeds because there was nothing I could do about it. The lack of these features actually felt liberating. All I had to do was point and shoot, and the rest was up to the camera.
I got the roll developed and scanned and I found a few frames I really liked, more keepers than most test rolls. I shot Ektar pushed to 400 because it was all I had and it was a cloudy day in Hong Kong. The push wasn't enough to eliminate most of the motion blur, but I didn't even know I'd get motion blur at the time of shooting. I actually enjoyed the blur for some of these photographs!
All in all, I'm glad I got one of these, so glad that I got an XA3 in the classifieds (package deal with the XA, which is going to my buddy). I might just send one of these bodies to Miyazaki-san to get the lens converted to M-mount... if he still offers the service! If not, I still have a very capable camera!
Here are the photos, BW converted in lightroom!
I never gave the XA2 much thought though, it lacked the rangefinder and I was never one for a camera that purely relied on zone focusing. However, I ended up getting one in a trade (as a surprise actually), so I figured I'd give it a shot.
I didn't think I'd like it when I loaded the film in. The lack of a rangefinder and a shutter speed readout in the viewfinder left me wishing for more control.
Though to my surprise, I completed the roll in less than a day! I didn't have to worry about focus and slow shutter speeds because there was nothing I could do about it. The lack of these features actually felt liberating. All I had to do was point and shoot, and the rest was up to the camera.
I got the roll developed and scanned and I found a few frames I really liked, more keepers than most test rolls. I shot Ektar pushed to 400 because it was all I had and it was a cloudy day in Hong Kong. The push wasn't enough to eliminate most of the motion blur, but I didn't even know I'd get motion blur at the time of shooting. I actually enjoyed the blur for some of these photographs!
All in all, I'm glad I got one of these, so glad that I got an XA3 in the classifieds (package deal with the XA, which is going to my buddy). I might just send one of these bodies to Miyazaki-san to get the lens converted to M-mount... if he still offers the service! If not, I still have a very capable camera!
Here are the photos, BW converted in lightroom!
