Thoughts on Olympus XA/ Mju/ Mju II ?

[jrose125]

Hey folks! I've been looking for a pocketable, sharp, fixed lens camera for a little while and I've sort of narrowed it down to these three, basically due to their sharp lenses and clamshell design.

I'm leaning more towards the XA due to it's rangefinder but other than that, I dont' really have much of a clue about them. Any thoughts, opinions, and suggestions on these cameras? I'm also open to suggestions for other cameras but keep in mind, I'm not really looking for something over $150 USD. Thanks!

 

[SaveKodak]

The XA is a great camera. It's a tiny RF, it has a lens with some character, and makes great pictures. The MJU/II AKA Stylus AKA Stylus Epic are also fantastic! You know the little AF P&S cameras are all not really that different. Of course the Oly doesn't let you change settings other than flash, but IMO that's all you really need in a camera like this.

Either of these should be FAR less than $150 bucks.

 

[Moto Mark]

I second the XA, I'm always impressed with the images I get with it.

I see you have a Rollei 35, I'd be inclined to use that one.

 

[rbiemer]

I have owned all three and preferred the XA. The Stylus were fine but I did not like the shape as well as the boxier XA. And the XA has (for me) the big advantage of not having a flash.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

You already have it - Rollei 35 (40mm Tessar f/3.5).
IMO, three you have mentioned have too much electronics to be reliable at their age now.

 

[jrose125]

I second the XA, I'm always impressed with the images I get with it.

I see you have a Rollei 35, I'd be inclined to use that one.

I enjoy my Rollei but I'm not entirely comfortable with zone focusing.

 

[jrose125]

You already have it - Rollei 35 (40mm Tessar f/3.5).
IMO, three you have mentioned have too much electronics to be reliable at their age now.

The Rollei is indeed a great camera but I'm not a fan of zone focusing. Maybe it will grow on me but at this point, it's not something I'm comfortable with.

 

[jrose125]

I have owned all three and preferred the XA. The Stylus were fine but I did not like the shape as well as the boxier XA. And the XA has (for me) the big advantage of not having a flash.

Thanks for the perspective!

 

[jrose125]

The XA is a great camera. It's a tiny RF, it has a lens with some character, and makes great pictures. The MJU/II AKA Stylus AKA Stylus Epic are also fantastic! You know the little AF P&S cameras are all not really that different. Of course the Oly doesn't let you change settings other than flash, but IMO that's all you really need in a camera like this.

Either of these should be FAR less than $150 bucks.

I almost bought a mint XA with box,manuals, A16 flash for $160 a month ago but at that point, I was still on the fence on whether or not I needed such a camera.

 

[benlees]

I've owned an XA for years. Very easy to get along with. Lens is decent; for the money it's one of the best.

You should be able to get a good one for $30US if you're patient.

 

[jrose125]

I've owned an XA for years. Very easy to get along with. Lens is decent; for the money it's one of the best.

You should be able to get a good one for $30US if you're patient.

Where could I get one that cheap... FleaBay? I haven't seen one under $100 lately

 

[benlees]

Definitely no Fleabay... BIN prices are ludicrous for most things. I was thinking of here, hence the "be patient" part. They come up every couple of months around that price.

Also, by "good" I mean well used but 100% functional. No box, some scratches on the body, etc. If you want "mint" then...

 

[jrose125]

Definitely no Fleabay... BIN prices are ludicrous for most things. I was thinking of here, hence the "be patient" part. They come up every couple of months around that price.

Also, by "good" I mean well used but 100% functional. No box, some scratches on the body, etc. If you want "mint" then...

Mint would be nice but I'm probably just going to go for a user. I'd rather not have a camera that I'm afraid to put to use.

 

[p.giannakis]

Never had the XA, i had the XA2 and i did not like it due to the amount of vigneting the lens had.

Between the other two, judging on the price they fetch, i would get a Mju, the II is getting ridiculous expensive nowadays. Lens-wise the Nikon L35AF has been a fantastic camera for me (and accepts lens hood) although is a bit bigger than the rest.

Have a read on my blog, i have reviews and comparisons between these cameras.

 

[chambrenoire]

Mju:I is way underrated and can be found for $5-20.
Here's a recent one I took on Portra 160 film:

Untitled by Mattia Marchi, on Flickr

 

[Perks]

I have both the mju's.
I think the AF is better (faster, more accurate) on the II and it is sharper and the body is smaller. I think these points are generally uncontested, but all these factors are incremental. The viewfinder and egronomics on the I are btter IMHO.

I haven't used an Xa (only xa2) but I guess the main difference is no flash, manual Dx and manual focus.

 

[andybrown]

They're good cameras. I have a mju11, which I like, but it has 2 annoying little niggles for me...it's very noisy winding on and the flash cannot be turned off to stay off; each time you shut the camera and re-open it the flash has to be turned off again.

 

[David Hughes]

Hi,

I've owned all three and still have two of them; I sold the µ-II to raise some cash towards a CZ Planar for the M9.

The XA is nice and there are still people around who can repair them, you can leave the flash at home and so on but it is a RF and they are a bit fragile to carry in the pocket. My first one, when they were new, got an expensive knock and put me off them for everyday use.

There's little to chose between the µ-I and µ-II apart from the size and spot metering. In theory the lens is faster on the II and the spot metering is useful but in practice I've never seen any difference at the print or slide stage of using them.

Both the XA and µ-II can be used against the light with the XA's +1½ EV switch and the µ-II spot metering doing the trick but the µ-I does fill-in flash and that works as well. That's assuming you mainly do the usual wife/GF with sun lighting up her hair shot...

There's lots of other AF small P&S's with some useful controls/overrides like the Leica minis and their family, the Pentax, Konica and Minoltas also come to mind. And there's the bigger Canon and Nikon and so on P&S's with RF's and AF built in. (But some have battery problems, meaning designed for mercury batteries; f'instance the excellent Konica C35 RF.)

EDIT; a minor but important point is that all of them will be elderly second-hand camers and so it's best not to pay too much and do a thorough film test. My µ-I got five stars in my tests and so did the Konica A$, C35 AF and Leica mini 3; the list could be longer but I have only graded cameras I currently have...

If you are patient you can usually pick them all up dirt cheap as small film cameras are often undervalued off of auction sites.

Regards, David

 

[kj_]

I have the XA and the Mju II. Both are great but there are also a few drawbacks with each, making it a bit harder to recommend either unequivocally.

Of the two I prefer the XA in almost every way. It's a very well designed camera that manages to be very nice to shoot and it offers a lot of control despite the size. However the lens isn't quite up to the standard of the rest of the camera and I find myself unimpressed by the output a bit too often.

The Mju II on the other hand is a lot more impressive optically but offers a very detached shooting experience. There's very little you can do to influence automation.

So picking one depends on which parameters you find more important – IQ, handling, control etc.

I've written a bit on both cameras on my site. Might be helpful?
Olympus XA review
Olympus Mju II First impressions

 

[Arbitrarium]

I loved the shots I got with the XA but personally, I didn't get along with it. Wrote up a review of my experience with it here