Olympus XA

[Hamish Gill]

You might have noticed a theme in my camera buying habit of late ... It seems to be centerd around compact cameras of the 35mm film veriety. The Olympus XA is the latest...
The XA is a classic! It's one of the smallest rangefinders (if not the smallest?) out there. A bit of a cult camera it seems, they go for upwards of £50 usually, but even at that sort of money they represent a lot of value!


Olympus xa by Hamish_Gill, on Flickr

As mentioned, they have a rangefinder, all be it with a very short base length. As a wide lens, I cant see this causing to much issue. The RF patch in mine is pretty bright, although not ideal for low light it seems.
Selection of the aperture is manual, as is setting of film speed between 25 and 800 iso.
Solid feeling camera, it actually feels as though there is a lot squeezed in to it.

I basically bought this because of how much Brian seems to like his ... and that I always wanted to like the xa2, but didn't ever quite click with it for some reason!

I shall post some photos taken with it as soon as i finish the film...

In the mean while, I have some questions for Brian...

Have you ever noticed the meter readings getting inaccurate as the battery life runs out? It was testing fine in the camera with the beep and light, but was 2 stops out with the first set of (oldish) batteries. new batteries in now and its still a little off what id expect, maybe half a stop over ... Im not worried, ill compensate, just interested in how to manage the situation.

Id like to use it for indoors shots, its so quiet I can see me feeling really stealthy with it... I imagine ill set it to 2.8. Whats your experience of the area of focus when set at 2.8? would you tend to set it to infinity to get the far distance in focus, or is there a point where you can focus it on the scale to get the largest area in focus ... if you follow? I will experiment, but if you tell me that at 2.8 with it focused just between the 3 and infinity mark (for eg) that would help

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... the shot of the camera was taken with my iphone, nightcap and snapseed.

 

[Brian Moore]

That is delightful, Hamish!

Question 1: What I noticed with aging batteries is that the shutter won't fire upon commend. What I mean is, if the batteries are completely dead the shutter the won't fire at all. If the batteries are merely low, and I think they have to be very low, the shutter tends to be stubborn, firing sometimes when you expect and not other times when it should. The lower the batteries the more stubborn it is. I'm unaware of any adverse effect on meter reading with low batteries, though. However, maybe I just haven't noticed due to the compensatory aspects of modern emulsions, which are so forgiving. My guess though is that this fine little machine was engineered in such a way that the meter gets the power it needs first, and only then does the shutter get what power it wants if there is enough.

Question 2: The focus patch on mine is almost invisible, even in daylight, so I tend to rely on the hyperfocal as much as possible. The camera is marked to help with this. On the focus scale the number 8 is in red, as is f5.6 on the aperture scale. Use red and red and you're good to go. When I shoot indoors I try to use the same settings, or maybe open up to f4, but I will steady the camera on something, such as a beer or wine glass (take care not to drop the camera in) or the top of a wine bottle or a beer bottle or perhaps a whisky bottle or whisky glass. You could use a brandy snifter, too, if you like, or indeed any of a number of vessels that hold an aperitif, a cocktail, a wine (red or white it don't matter), a brew or an after dinner cognac. Many such vessels and many a bottle make fine tripods. However, for such times when I must shoot hand-held in dim light I open up to f2.8 and adjust the distance scale to my estimated camera-to-subject distance.

 

[Paul Lange]

I saw a tip once where you stick a little black square of the front objective of the viewfinder over the "square" and it solves the faded rangefinder issue.

 

[Brian Moore]

I saw that, too, Paul. I've not yet been sufficiently annoyed with the focus to try it, though.

 

[Kev Pugh]

Hamish, firstly why have you bought another camera??? if your iPhone thing does this??? Sorted, Job Done, end of

 

[Darren Bradley]

I'm guessing by the number of alcoholic beverages mentioned in Brian's post that he frequently requires something to steady his camera!

 

[Hamish Gill]

Mine almost seems the opposite, with the dead batteries in the shutter was snappy as you like, just at the wrong speed! I feel I have the raw deal ... :/ ah well, I always have my iPhone/lightmeter with me so I can always check if it seems out.

This is of course the boozepod camera isn't it... I will endeavour to support it with alcohol!

i just tried the patch on the VF trick, it's annoying more than it helps to be honest!

i have no sencible answer for that Kev...

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... Hmm I'm really starting to think this camera is a duff. 24hours after putting new batteries, and the meter is reading 2-3stops out again.

 

[Paul Lange]

That is a bummer mate especially because of their cult status they go for a bit of a premium on Ebay. I have a XA2 and while it just has basic aperture and ISO settings it is pretty neat, they just seem nice to use.

 

[Hamish Gill]

It's not like I'm short on compact film cameras ...
It would be ok if it was a couple of stops under, but over means I can't really use 400iso film... Which means no xp2, which means

 

[Hamish Gill]

who keeps closing threads???
I swear I didnt do it

 

[Pete Askew]

Now, who was the last person to post before the thread became closed?...

 

[Hamish Gill]

Sorry to hear about your XA experience, Hamish. That is a real pity.

I see you closed the thread. I was going to respond there but can't, hence this message.


Not much I can add to the troubleshooting of the camera except maybe,...are you sure it has the proper batteries in it? (I know,...elementary question, sorry,...but it's all I can think of.)

dont worry Brian, the bit missing from the thread is what it cost me - £12 ... So I shan't loose any sleep, and will keep an eye out for another. In fact, i actualy bought it and an nikon fe10 at the same time for £25... if i concider the fe10 to just have cost me £25, the xa was free anyway
I can certainly see why you like it! I don't know why I like it so much more than the xa2 - somtimes I think these things are psychological for me... Herd mentality maybe - I am aware the xa is more highly prized, therefore I like it more ... Dunno, I hope I'm not that shallow ... ...

 

[Pete Askew]

olympus xa | eBay

 

[Hamish Gill]

On the subject of the thread closure if I can draw everyone's attention to the 'parenthood charter'
section 27 - 'electronic devices and inquisitive little fingers'
clause b, line 4 - '...therefore the parent will not be held responsible shall any actions taken on any online community, social media platform or similar'
ergo... I blame Connie and you can't blame me... Its there in black and white in the charter, so ner!

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olympus xa | eBay

Ich spreche kein Deutsch (Ich liebe google)

 

[Pete Askew]

Doesn't line 5 continue though, "providing irrefutable evidence can be provided that it isn't a case of a parent trying blame their poor innocent son/daughter for their ham-fisted fumblings with a mobile computing device"?

 

[Brian Moore]

Doesn't line 5 continue though, "providing irrefutable evidence can be provided that it isn't a case of a parent trying blame their poor innocent son/daughter for their ham-fisted fumblings with a mobile computing device"?

I'm not taking sides here but that's some comeback!

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olympus xa | eBay

But their are 7 gebotes as of this morning; I'm guessing there will be more gebotes coming in as the auction nears its close and the price will go higher. Damn gebotes! [doh]

 

[Hamish Gill]

ah, no that line was removed in issue 46, you must have a access to older copy ... Thanks in part to the "Parents Initiative for Longevity And Continuity Regarding Amendments Party - PILACRAP - which I am of course a member, things have changed!
That line now reads 'This will be judged on a case by case basis and without proof the benefit of the doubt will always be given.

Get your facts straight before you start questioning party members in future please!

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I've never been a fan of gebotes either Brian

 

[Lesley Jones]

Hamish - you mentioned this in one of the other threads I think. (Sorry - I'm up to my eyeballs every which way and I can't keep up). I had an Olympus rangefinder between the Trip and the OM1n. I think it was the RD. Does that make sense? Very nice camera indeed. Is this one of yours around the same age?

 

[Hamish Gill]

Yes, pretty much, the 35 RD is from 1975 ... So 4 years previous!
great camera! Do you still have it?

 

[Lesley Jones]

Sadly no. My Dad part exchanged my old cameras to help me afford the new ones...