What's even better than the camera itself is seeing young people like yourself enjoying and exploring film photography! You're keeping alive what has been a big part of my life, film! As for the camera, I still have mine. I bought the Olympus XA while on a business trip to Tokyo in 1981 so I would have something small and leave my SLR bag in the hotel. I still have that same camera and now I'm motivated to load it up and take it out on the streets again. The best part is, I'm only 3 hours from Tokyo!
The thing I enjoy watching you and what you come up with is that I get to see Northern California through your eye's and relive moments when I was there and awesome memories that reflect on what you are doing with analog camera's. Thanks for putting these together for all of us that enjoy both content and entertainment value King! Keep up the good work.
fotosbylang It's a pleasure to do so my friend! I love making these videos as well and traveling to different parts of NorCal! Haha that's dope to hear someone else was from out here! Where were you from when you live in nor cal?
I started in Fremont and worked in Concord (Naval Housing) and all my friend at the time lived in Santa Rosa and ended up in Santa Rosa (Sonoma County) working two jobs as a courier and at Macy's until the late 90's and now live in the state of Utah.
Yah man... I miss living in the Bay area and good food! Places to go and close enough to go to them. Now if I want to go anywhere here. I have to travel at least 2 hours to get amazing landscape photos or really nice street photography and the models I photograph. Not saying that I live in small town (far from it). It's just saturated with people with camera's that claim they know what they are doing and getting jobs for less than what it really cost to actually do. Again... Not saying I know it all, but enough to do the job right. :)
So i was super excited to be able to pick this thing up for $20 but then I used it. What are your thoughts on this camera? What camera what you prefer over this thing or if you'd prefer the XA, why?
The shots from this camera are beautifulllllllllll. Man that is one sweet lens. As far as fast moving shots, you gotta learn to Zone Focus. Push your film to 1600, set the fstop to f8 or f11 to maximize your depth of field. The greater your depth of field, the more you will hae in focus. I zone focus on my Fuji digital with an Olympus Zuiko 25mm lens. At f8 I can get anything from 5feet to infinity in focus. With zone focusing you just concentrate on your composition and your exposure if the camera doesn't have a light meter. Anyway, keep up the good work!!! 👍🏾
Frank Young will do! I've been trying to get better at it so hopefully it works, I'll make sure to do what you said tho! Really appreciate the feedback and thanks for the help man!!
A little trick if you need to take a quick shot with your XA; put the setting on infinity, and your shot will be in focus. This was a good review of the XA, and I too am happy to see young people getting into film. I hear lots of great things about the MJU, I've never used it, but if you want to stay with the small pocketable cameras, don't overlook the Olympus XA2. It's a terrific little point & shoot, and is identical to the XA.
Just one hint if someone hasn't commented on focusing would be to Zone Focus... Have a set distance and allow your subject to walk into your frame and "focus zone" and press the shutter button! Bam!!! you have your shot! Practice, Practice. and more Practice!
I love your videos kingJvpes, and thanks for all of the film camera content! I just got a XA to go with my F3, GR, and Bessa-R film cameras. I wanted a camera that didn’t look expensive, to use as an everyday camera. Now for my pet peeve rant lol. I’ve been fascinated by people (mostly people under 40) who use the phrase “on accident” instead of the correct phrase which is “by accident”. Evidently it’s only found in spoken America English, never written as such. Where did the use of this phrase come from? The word “on”in this context denotes intentional action, whereas the word “by” denotes that an action was unintentional. No one intends an accident, so the correct phrase is “by accident”.
kikiam fishball thank you sooooo so much! I really appreciate the kind words! It's people like you who give me motivation to continue to put out more enjoyable content
Those shots actually came out awesome for the most part, unless we just saw the nice ones lol. I've tried rangefinder focusing before and it is pretty difficult in some instances getting the 2 images together. Something to get used to. But i do like that rangefinders usually have a better view since you can see what's around your frame along with what's in it and there's less of a reason for light leaks. But good to know about that camera. Great vid as always! I'm lowkey jealous y'all have a japantown out there tho, that's one thing i miss about visiting cali
The focusing is a bit tricky because the rangefinder patch is small and not super bright. The focus lever throw is short and it's really easy to zone focus but it's nice to have the option to really get critical focus at low aperture.
i have a xa2 but i'm not into street photography. i guess the xa2 is better for street because of the zone focusing. you can get much more stealthy with it
1OnionHead1 that's true! And I heard a lot of good Things about the xa2! Honestly I agree with you haha it'd be better for moving subjects since you don't have to focus it in! Thanks for watching!!! :)
Yo King Thanks for all the great content. Just plunged into the Point n Shoot Film. I bought a Konica C35 38mm f2.8 at a garage sale for $2.50 and an Olympus Infinity ( not a Stylus, original infinity before infinity AF1) has a 35mm zuiko at f2.8. I had a ton of these in the 1980's mostly kodak and vivitars. for $10.94 plus Tax
Even with manual focus, sometimes with moving objects, I fail at getting things in focus... the struggle! Underexposed or non-focused images are my two worst things that usually happens with me lol. Shout-out to the Olympus and Minolta fam for getting love for street photography! It's usually all about Lecia haha..
I like RF focus -- but yep, trying to do it with moving subjects is really tough. Going for zone focusing works *if* the focus ring/adjustment has good markings. Hey -- I love your videos and reviews, but really love your street photos. Question -- how do you scan your photos?
In the viewfinder put the small square ("rangefinder patch") on your subject. You'll see a ghost image in the square. Move the focusing lever under the lens until the two images line up. Done! You're focused. All there is to it!
@@jporkchop Understand that when new, the rangefinder in the XA was marginal at best, Over the years, the patches have dimmed to the point where it is practically useless on many units.
I dont have a battery or film yet for the xa, was wondering if the winding wheel is suppose to work whether or not I have both those things in the camera. Let me know!
Daan Blom thank you so much! Haha I'm currently in a writers block so is there anything you might wanna see on the channel? I wanna keep things fresh and interesting for everyone lo
KingJvpes haha i Just found out about your channel yesterday (shoutout nick exposed for mentioning all these nice film related channels) so I'm still working on watching your old videos;) but I will definitely let you know if there is something that I think would be nice to see! keep up the good work 💪
hai. can i know where do you buy these cameras. im trying to buy film cameras like the olympus mju ii and the xa but i dont know where to get them in a good condition
Great video man. Here's a cool tip. if the XA has aperture priority I suggest you try setting it at f8 and setting your focus around 10ft. When outside you're going to pretty much have everything in focus from 10ft to infinity (depth of field will be around the hyperfocal point). Doesn't matter if you're using a range finder. Now you can just frame and shoot. No mess no fuss :)
JCabbage Ooooooooh! You're right. So setting it at 10 feet would almost make this thing just like any point and shoot with everything in focus! I'll go ahead and give that a shot haha. Thanks for the tip!! :)
Now that I realize it, this tip might make me change my mind about this camera haha. Now i could be stealthy and not have to worry about focusing lol. Maybe even be able to shoot from the hip. Thanks again man! Really appreciate it!
As always a well produced and entertaining video. But calling the XA "the best street photography camera" is a bit extreme, I believe Leica may have made a couple better, then there's the Yashica 35, Canon Canonette QL 17, Minolta Hi-Magic E and the gorgeous Konica Hexar. Most street photographers use zone focusing which gives you a couple of feet to play with. This video definitely has some of your best compositions in it even if you struggled a bit with the focus. Try and get a FSU camera with something like a Jupiter 8 or a slower Industar lenses to practice your zone focusing and if you get a good one they are brilliant cameras, but make sure both the camera and lens have guaranteed CLAs. Don't bother with the Jupiter 3 though, your DOF is paper thin but you could take a photo of a black cat in a windowless coal cellar without flash. I have a pristine Zorki 4K which cost less than half a dozen rolls of film and takes beautiful shots with TMax. Many people buy one and before long they are collecting them because they are so cheap. Research them before you jump in though, forewarned is forearmed and all that.
I don't understand his objection to the rangefinder for "street photography". Much of such photography requires pre-setting the focus, then waiting for the subject to be at the pre-set distance, more of less. Otherwise, the XA operates normally for what it is. On the other hand, extolling the quality of the lens is just wrong. To fit the lens into the thin camera body, Oly did a radial retrofocus lens design which is adequate of snaps and small enlargements. By comparison to most all of the small "pocket cameras" of its era, the lens performance is inferior. The lens rep comes from a time when the XA held a cult status and demanded high prices. A lot of collectors got badly burned when the market for the XA, and its prices, collapsed. The XA packs a load of useful features into an extremely small package - great as a casual travel camera - its original target buyer.
"i could see you wasting 2-3 shots per roll" you must have one lame ass trigger finger if you continue to mess up after the first roll. I have an xa2 and as soon as I felt how light the shutter was for the first time, I immediately adjusted my sense of how i hold the camera so i wouldn't be able to accidentally hit the shutter.
TheBadfish11 lol I think my fingers are fine, but I get what you're saying, you learn with experience. But what you also have to take in consideration for street you have the camera ready at all times, so when you're walking around and you accidentally touch the button or hold the camera even the slightest bit different to set of the shutter, then you have a problem. But don't get me wrong I get what you're saying! Haha but my trigger finger is fine 🤘🏼
![[Camera & Gear] I shot on the Olympus XA for 6 months - Here is what I learnt | Everyday film camera](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/hRq8ZvhCHNg/mqdefault.jpg)
What's even better than the camera itself is seeing young people like yourself enjoying and exploring film photography! You're keeping alive what has been a big part of my life, film! As for the camera, I still have mine. I bought the Olympus XA while on a business trip to Tokyo in 1981 so I would have something small and leave my SLR bag in the hotel. I still have that same camera and now I'm motivated to load it up and take it out on the streets again. The best part is, I'm only 3 hours from Tokyo!
Oww you are such an inspiration, I would love to hear more from you, I will get my own XA in the next days, I am glad that you like this camera.
The thing I enjoy watching you and what you come up with is that I get to see Northern California through your eye's and relive moments when I was there and awesome memories that reflect on what you are doing with analog camera's. Thanks for putting these together for all of us that enjoy both content and entertainment value King! Keep up the good work.
fotosbylang It's a pleasure to do so my friend! I love making these videos as well and traveling to different parts of NorCal! Haha that's dope to hear someone else was from out here! Where were you from when you live in nor cal?
I started in Fremont and worked in Concord (Naval Housing) and all my friend at the time lived in Santa Rosa and ended up in Santa Rosa (Sonoma County) working two jobs as a courier and at Macy's until the late 90's and now live in the state of Utah.
fotosbylang woah!!! That's so cool! Lol crazy to think that you worked so close!
Yah man... I miss living in the Bay area and good food! Places to go and close enough to go to them. Now if I want to go anywhere here. I have to travel at least 2 hours to get amazing landscape photos or really nice street photography and the models I photograph. Not saying that I live in small town (far from it). It's just saturated with people with camera's that claim they know what they are doing and getting jobs for less than what it really cost to actually do. Again... Not saying I know it all, but enough to do the job right. :)
So i was super excited to be able to pick this thing up for $20 but then I used it. What are your thoughts on this camera? What camera what you prefer over this thing or if you'd prefer the XA, why?
KingJvpes try flash fujica date :)
hey bro i just uploaded my new video, i'd appreciate it if you checked it out and let me know what you think
Phototaku Fasho! Just watched it! Dope AF!!! 🔥🔥
Thanks!! had me mad antsy all day lol now to work on my next one
Where did you get this for $20?! I've been looking on eBay for one that works less than $60 and can't seem to find any.
The shots from this camera are beautifulllllllllll. Man that is one sweet lens. As far as fast moving shots, you gotta learn to Zone Focus. Push your film to 1600, set the fstop to f8 or f11 to maximize your depth of field. The greater your depth of field, the more you will hae in focus. I zone focus on my Fuji digital with an Olympus Zuiko 25mm lens. At f8 I can get anything from 5feet to infinity in focus. With zone focusing you just concentrate on your composition and your exposure if the camera doesn't have a light meter. Anyway, keep up the good work!!! 👍🏾
Frank Young will do! I've been trying to get better at it so hopefully it works, I'll make sure to do what you said tho! Really appreciate the feedback and thanks for the help man!!
f8 and be there lol
Hi, it's not possible tu push a film to 1600 with the XA. The max possible to push is iso 800. Best regard.
A little trick if you need to take a quick shot with your XA; put the setting on infinity, and your shot will be in focus.
This was a good review of the XA, and I too am happy to see young people getting into film. I hear lots of great things about the MJU, I've never used it, but if you want to stay with the small pocketable cameras, don't overlook the Olympus XA2. It's a terrific little point & shoot, and is identical to the XA.
Just one hint if someone hasn't commented on focusing would be to Zone Focus... Have a set distance and allow your subject to walk into your frame and "focus zone" and press the shutter button! Bam!!! you have your shot! Practice, Practice. and more Practice!
Fasho! I figured it'd take some time and practice haha. Thanks for the tip!!
this is from this camera?
I love your videos kingJvpes, and thanks for all of the film camera content!
I just got a XA to go with my F3, GR, and Bessa-R film cameras. I wanted a camera that didn’t look expensive, to use as an everyday camera.
Now for my pet peeve rant lol.
I’ve been fascinated by people (mostly people under 40) who use the phrase “on accident” instead of the correct phrase which is “by accident”. Evidently it’s only found in spoken America English, never written as such. Where did the use of this phrase come from? The word “on”in this context denotes intentional action, whereas the word “by” denotes that an action was unintentional.
No one intends an accident, so the correct phrase is “by accident”.
I've been following you for maybe a couple of weeks now and I'm loving your content! :)
kikiam fishball thank you sooooo so much! I really appreciate the kind words! It's people like you who give me motivation to continue to put out more enjoyable content
Those shots actually came out awesome for the most part, unless we just saw the nice ones lol. I've tried rangefinder focusing before and it is pretty difficult in some instances getting the 2 images together. Something to get used to. But i do like that rangefinders usually have a better view since you can see what's around your frame along with what's in it and there's less of a reason for light leaks. But good to know about that camera. Great vid as always! I'm lowkey jealous y'all have a japantown out there tho, that's one thing i miss about visiting cali
The focusing is a bit tricky because the rangefinder patch is small and not super bright. The focus lever throw is short and it's really easy to zone focus but it's nice to have the option to really get critical focus at low aperture.
Focusing is definitely tricky haha. Although i've never used any other rangefinder camera before so the patch seemed normal to me. lol
i have a xa2 but i'm not into street photography. i guess the xa2 is better for street because of the zone focusing. you can get much more stealthy with it
1OnionHead1 that's true! And I heard a lot of good Things about the xa2! Honestly I agree with you haha it'd be better for moving subjects since you don't have to focus it in! Thanks for watching!!! :)
Yo King Thanks for all the great content. Just plunged into the Point n Shoot Film. I bought a Konica C35 38mm f2.8 at a garage sale for $2.50 and an Olympus Infinity ( not a Stylus, original infinity before infinity AF1) has a 35mm zuiko at f2.8. I had a ton of these in the 1980's mostly kodak and vivitars. for $10.94 plus Tax
Even with manual focus, sometimes with moving objects, I fail at getting things in focus... the struggle! Underexposed or non-focused images are my two worst things that usually happens with me lol. Shout-out to the Olympus and Minolta fam for getting love for street photography! It's usually all about Lecia haha..
Nick Pirro forreal Leica here Leica there like nah fam Minolta gang 🤘🏼🤘🏼
I like RF focus -- but yep, trying to do it with moving subjects is really tough. Going for zone focusing works *if* the focus ring/adjustment has good markings. Hey -- I love your videos and reviews, but really love your street photos. Question -- how do you scan your photos?
Hp5 at 1600 You can just leave it on 1.5m 500/16 that’s it everything in focus from meter to infinity ♾
Just picked up the XA and I'm struggling to understand the focusing, any advice you could pass on ?
In the viewfinder put the small square ("rangefinder patch") on your subject. You'll see a ghost image in the square. Move the focusing lever under the lens until the two images line up. Done! You're focused. All there is to it!
@@jporkchop Understand that when new, the rangefinder in the XA was marginal at best, Over the years, the patches have dimmed to the point where it is practically useless on many units.
I dont have a battery or film yet for the xa, was wondering if the winding wheel is suppose to work whether or not I have both those things in the camera. Let me know!
dope channel man, great content!
Daan Blom thank you so much! Haha I'm currently in a writers block so is there anything you might wanna see on the channel? I wanna keep things fresh and interesting for everyone lo
KingJvpes haha i Just found out about your channel yesterday (shoutout nick exposed for mentioning all these nice film related channels) so I'm still working on watching your old videos;) but I will definitely let you know if there is something that I think would be nice to see! keep up the good work 💪
Daan Blom alright! Thanks so much Daan! :)
Wow, you got some pretty beautiful shots ❤
Thank you!
It would be cool to see a review on some medium format cameras
Zach Brown really wanna try medium format! Just don't know where to start. I'll start my research tonight :)
so cooool! 😎
Joey Nel Bongabong thank you!!!
KingJvpes I followed you on ig. I really love your feed hahaha
ayyyye thank you!!!! I'll make sure to check out your page :)
Still think I'm going to sell my 2 XA's, I'm not a rangefinder fan. Some sweet shots and love the contrast
Richard Rollinson thank you! And yea, I'm in the same boat Rich. Maybe it'll grow on me :/
rangefinders are so good tho!! i have the rangefinder canon canonet 1 and i only shoot ilford on it
They're pretty cool! And that's cool! Haha mostly black and white stuff?
hai. can i know where do you buy these cameras. im trying to buy film cameras like the olympus mju ii and the xa but i dont know where to get them in a good condition
Great video man. Here's a cool tip. if the XA has aperture priority I suggest you try setting it at f8 and setting your focus around 10ft. When outside you're going to pretty much have everything in focus from 10ft to infinity (depth of field will be around the hyperfocal point). Doesn't matter if you're using a range finder. Now you can just frame and shoot. No mess no fuss :)
JCabbage Ooooooooh! You're right. So setting it at 10 feet would almost make this thing just like any point and shoot with everything in focus! I'll go ahead and give that a shot haha. Thanks for the tip!! :)
KingJvpes Indeed! :) It makes streetphotography a lot more fun and stealthy.
Now that I realize it, this tip might make me change my mind about this camera haha. Now i could be stealthy and not have to worry about focusing lol. Maybe even be able to shoot from the hip. Thanks again man! Really appreciate it!
Ok so I'm just really curious... how did you upload your film online???
lordelyz scanner
hey, why are some pictures in different size? did you crop it?
Zuyi & Elaine hi! And yes some of these photos were cropped
why do you cropped it? any reason why? thanks
As always a well produced and entertaining video. But calling the XA "the best street photography camera" is a bit extreme, I believe Leica may have made a couple better, then there's the Yashica 35, Canon Canonette QL 17, Minolta Hi-Magic E and the gorgeous Konica Hexar. Most street photographers use zone focusing which gives you a couple of feet to play with. This video definitely has some of your best compositions in it even if you struggled a bit with the focus. Try and get a FSU camera with something like a Jupiter 8 or a slower Industar lenses to practice your zone focusing and if you get a good one they are brilliant cameras, but make sure both the camera and lens have guaranteed CLAs. Don't bother with the Jupiter 3 though, your DOF is paper thin but you could take a photo of a black cat in a windowless coal cellar without flash. I have a pristine Zorki 4K which cost less than half a dozen rolls of film and takes beautiful shots with TMax. Many people buy one and before long they are collecting them because they are so cheap. Research them before you jump in though, forewarned is forearmed and all that.
omg the shutter button thing is so true it's like a hairline trigger
Nice pictures
Björn Gustafsson thank you!
I don't understand his objection to the rangefinder for "street photography". Much of such photography requires pre-setting the focus, then waiting for the subject to be at the pre-set distance, more of less. Otherwise, the XA operates normally for what it is. On the other hand, extolling the quality of the lens is just wrong. To fit the lens into the thin camera body, Oly did a radial retrofocus lens design which is adequate of snaps and small enlargements. By comparison to most all of the small "pocket cameras" of its era, the lens performance is inferior. The lens rep comes from a time when the XA held a cult status and demanded high prices. A lot of collectors got badly burned when the market for the XA, and its prices, collapsed. The XA packs a load of useful features into an extremely small package - great as a casual travel camera - its original target buyer.
And that's why i hate rangefinders. The struggle when your subject is moving. Great content ☺
Kate Star haha I feel it! Super hard to focus. So many shots missed
Your Videos are tight man! Good work, if you're ever near Ventura/LA hit us up. @awesomecameras
first fam
Christian Enmon GANG GANG 🤘🏼
"i could see you wasting 2-3 shots per roll" you must have one lame ass trigger finger if you continue to mess up after the first roll. I have an xa2 and as soon as I felt how light the shutter was for the first time, I immediately adjusted my sense of how i hold the camera so i wouldn't be able to accidentally hit the shutter.
TheBadfish11 lol I think my fingers are fine, but I get what you're saying, you learn with experience. But what you also have to take in consideration for street you have the camera ready at all times, so when you're walking around and you accidentally touch the button or hold the camera even the slightest bit different to set of the shutter, then you have a problem. But don't get me wrong I get what you're saying! Haha but my trigger finger is fine 🤘🏼