XA pairing?

Juan Valdenebro

Juan Valdenebro

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Hi,


Sometimes I want to take with me my XA only... But when I do it, I tend to use it just on sunny days so I can shoot it prefocused at eight feet and f/8 or f/11 with Tri-X... It goes just to 1/500 and ISO 800. If it had higher ISO settings, I'd get another one to shoot in the shadows during the same sunny days, to keep it well stopped down too, but with faster film (3200).


When I think of taking my XA and “a real camera” for shadows, as I have to take a good one and care for it, I end up taking with me “two real cameras”... So, I haven't found a good solution for 2 cheap cameras on sunny days for sun and shadows...


Then, as I've heard some people talk about great lenses on other small, fixed lens cameras, I wonder if after my description, someone could recommend a very compact camera with the best lens possible... Speed is the only secondary value, as it will be stopped down... Important are lens quality and the possibility of using fast film...


Thanks,


Juan
 
How about a minox 35gt or ML or even a GL, superb cameras, I sold mine as my failing eyesight made reading the f stops nearly impossible

hope this helps
 
Get a Rollei 35 with Tessar lens or a Rollei 35S with Sonnar lens. I had used both and the lenses were great. As these are manual cameras, there is no need to worry about how high the ISO setting can go. For the Rollei 35, the ISO setting goes to 1600.
 
Good recommendation Tin, I thought about that too but price is an issue the Rollei 35B with its 40mm 3.5 Triotar is also an option, the lenses are not as famed as its other Rollei stablemates but its not a dog either
 
Thanks all! I think I wasn't clear enough...

For manual work I use all my other cameras... The XA is AutoExposure only: aperture priority (you can't set shutter speed), and what I want is another similar camera to set aperture manually and completely forget about metering or deciding speed, but with higher ISO settings for faster film, and the best possible lens quality when stopped down...

Cheers,

Juan
 
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Hi sonofdanang,

Thanks! The QL17 goes to 800 as the XA.

I can't believe it... It looks like THE CAMERA I WANT WAS NEVER MADE!... An XA with higher ISO just doesn't exist... A fixed lens AE RF with high manual ISO settings was never born because of technology... Most compacts were 800; the Rolleis went to 1600 but lack AE, and then the only other later options like the Fuji Natura and the Minox GTX were for X coded rolls ISO, so I couldn't expose them at other ISO's: something I do all the time with all my films...

This means that the ONLY option is looking at real RF's... So if I want an XA for fast film, it's called M7, ZI, R2/3/4A, Hexar, CLE...

But they don't work for me either, because what I want is a camera that's small and automatic and that could be lost like an XA, with no problem...

Yet I can't believe it... There must be a camera of any brand with fix lens and manual high ISO settings for shooting 3200 film...

Maybe a Nikon point and shoot? Is asking for manual aperture and manual high ISO too much? All this makes look XA like a real outstanding design...

And just high manual ISO's with AE?

Thanks...
 
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The XA4 goes to 1600 (I don't have one but see Cameraquest)

Or spool your own film into the DX coded cassette of your choice.
 
Your XA has +1.5 exposure comp, flick that switch and set the iso to around 600. It should now shoot at 1600...in theory. Oh **** have I forgotten about 1200asa? Either way the exp comp switch should help.
 
Krzys said:
Your XA has +1.5 exposure comp, flick that switch and set the iso to around 600. It should now shoot at 1600...in theory. Oh **** have I forgotten about 1200asa? Either way the exp comp switch should help.
Click to expand...

It's the other way... I'd have to set manually an ISO of 20,000...

Thanks...
 
That camera looks very nice... A bit expensive, though... I mean, for its price I'd prefer to pay a bit more and pick a Bessa R3A, because I have several lenses for it already... I have to think of it...

Thanks a lot for all the answers!

Cheers,

Juan
 
You may want to look into one of the small Contax models, like the Contax T. Goes up to iso 1000. The Minolta TC-1 goes up to iso 3200 in auto mode and 6400 in manual. Check out Karen Nakamura's website for a description. May be expensive and hard to find, but it sounds like it fits your description.
 
Agree with Steve, the Minolta TC-1 answers your requirements, you can't get anything more compact and the Rokkor 28mm lens is incredibly good. The downside: it's still a very expensive camera (but worth every penny).
 
Juan Valdenebro said:
I can't believe it... It looks like THE CAMERA I WANT WAS NEVER MADE!... An XA with higher ISO just doesn't exist... A fixed lens AE RF with high manual ISO settings was never born because of technology...
Click to expand...
If you can deal with autofocus, the Olympus Stylus Epic is basically what you're asking for. It goes up to 3200, and you can get manual control over ISO by manipulating the DX code on the film (I turn ISO 200 into 100 with a piece of Scotch tape).

At first I was apprehensive about the Epic's AE program mode, but then I saw the program chart. It's basically a chart of how I use the XA -- f/2.8 all the time, until you NEED to start closing down.

Having used the Epic for a while, I find that its autofocus is more accurate than me manually focusing the XA. Every once in a while you get a shot where it messes up and chooses the background instead of the foreground, but I lose plenty of shots on the XA because of an error or my part.
 
bensyverson said:
If you can deal with autofocus, the Olympus Stylus Epic is basically what you're asking for. It goes up to 3200, and you can get manual control over ISO by manipulating the DX code on the film (I turn ISO 200 into 100 with a piece of Scotch tape).

At first I was apprehensive about the Epic's AE program mode, but then I saw the program chart. It's basically a chart of how I use the XA -- f/2.8 all the time, until you NEED to start closing down.

Having used the Epic for a while, I find that its autofocus is more accurate than me manually focusing the XA. Every once in a while you get a shot where it messes up and chooses the background instead of the foreground, but I lose plenty of shots on the XA because of an error or my part.
Click to expand...

Hi bensyverson,

I want a camera to be used well stopped down all the time, like my XA... I can deal with autofocus, but can I set manually Stylus Epic's aperture? That's the only reason I want it for fast film: huge depth of field in low light, in the same way I use my XA for huge depth of field under the sun with Tri-X...

Cheers,

Juan
 
100% auto:

1661186883_46488629f0.jpg


One AE but does focus manually, and one that has auto AE and manual exposure but manual focus:

2174364608_6c91a17335.jpg


not a total compact but compact by todays stands. It has manual focus, manual exposure settings, and a neat feature of a meter reading on top of the camera, and one in the viewfinder:

2146391623_0fc2378418.jpg


Auto everything (one of the first):

2582383680_c9220b7f30.jpg


This is a small auto everything camera, it used to be call a box. But you can shoot MF in it:

3216813026_11c60a982d.jpg


Of all these the Olympus Stylus Infinity is the best, results:

crop:
2100920857_6f13fd948e.jpg


Full frame:

2093631969_076706498c.jpg
 
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