A review of the Olympus XA series of cameras. Specifically, the original XA rangefinder and the XA3. These are really great, truly pocketable small cameras that put out big quality!
Just got an XA2 last week. My first roll, Portra 160... is being processed in lab starting tomorrow. ~LOVE how quiet the shutter is, small the camera body is & how functionally SIMPLE it is
You actually DO have the backlight compensation on the XA(1) as well as on the XA3! The shutter trigger sensitivity is not a fault, it's a feature! Amazingly, the XA has everything from their (much) bigger rangefinder brothers and with its small size, even with the A11 flash on, it's one of the most unobtrusive cameras for street shooting. Very, very cool! The only drawback on the XA in my opinion is the small viewfinder and the fiddly focus lever. But you get used to both once you've pulled a roll of film through it.
My favorite small 35mm compact camare is the Minox 35 ML, with that you can tage really fast street photos, set the aperture to automatic and the distance to about 3 meters, sometimes you have just enough time to fine adjust the distance a bit, take the camera quickly out of your breast pocket, open the lid and click you have taken a photo in a very few seconds. With a bit more time to take photos against the sun you can use it up side down and the lid shades the sun put, perfect.
The full setting on the flash is meant to be used when you need fill light to compensate for strong backlighting, not in otherwise normal flash situations. It's not something to just mention in passing. Also worth mentioning would be that the 100 & 400 setting are to be used in conjunction with the ISO of the film being used. Since there are only the two settings, use the one which is closest to the ISO of the film you're using. Reading the manual would've given you this info.
Minimum focusing on the XA3 is 3.3 feet IIRC, not 9 feet. 9 feet is the middle setting. When I shot mine I would sometimes cover the DX to get 100 ASA on 200 or even 400 film. The backlight lever helped a lot though. This was sharper than the XA - but only if you got lucky on focus.
too funny. i just bought a XA2 on a fleamarket last weekend. sadly the battery in the flash leaked a lot so that doesn't work anymore. but the cam works. 5euros well spent :D
Great review! My xa has a "lower pitch" than yours when I turn the self timer or battery check on.I wonder if that has anything to do with the batteries or,maybe the speaker is different...hm It works fine though...
Tmax and Delta 3200 are really 800 ISO films anyway so you just develop it for that instead of pushing it like normal. I get what you're saying but you would get excellent results at 800
@@campyonlyguy The XA doesn't read DX codes off 35mm cartridges, so your premise (and advice) is faulty. You can set ISO p to 800. Why? the camera was first sold in 1979, when 800 was faster than almost anything available. Also, the camera was carefully designed for a specific user and purpose. Shooting high speed film is outside that design.
I had an Olympus XA back in the 1980,s it was capable of great results and i really enjoyed using it.
Just got an XA2 last week. My first roll, Portra 160... is being processed in lab starting tomorrow. ~LOVE how quiet the shutter is, small the camera body is & how functionally SIMPLE it is
You actually DO have the backlight compensation on the XA(1) as well as on the XA3!
The shutter trigger sensitivity is not a fault, it's a feature! Amazingly, the XA has everything from their (much) bigger rangefinder brothers and with its small size, even with the A11 flash on, it's one of the most unobtrusive cameras for street shooting. Very, very cool!
The only drawback on the XA in my opinion is the small viewfinder and the fiddly focus lever. But you get used to both once you've pulled a roll of film through it.
Just to correct you, the minimum focus distance on the XA2 is 3 feet (0.9m), not 9 feet !
Yeah, 3m would be ridiculous
seth rogen, is this you? :D
I hear Neil Degrasse Tyson
My favorite small 35mm compact camare is the Minox 35 ML, with that you can tage really fast street photos, set the aperture to automatic and the distance to about 3 meters, sometimes you have just enough time to fine adjust the distance a bit, take the camera quickly out of your breast pocket, open the lid and click you have taken a photo in a very few seconds. With a bit more time to take photos against the sun you can use it up side down and the lid shades the sun put, perfect.
The full setting on the flash is meant to be used when you need fill light to compensate for strong backlighting, not in otherwise normal flash situations. It's not something to just mention in passing. Also worth mentioning would be that the 100 & 400 setting are to be used in conjunction with the ISO of the film being used. Since there are only the two settings, use the one which is closest to the ISO of the film you're using. Reading the manual would've given you this info.
Minimum focusing on the XA3 is 3.3 feet IIRC, not 9 feet. 9 feet is the middle setting. When I shot mine I would sometimes cover the DX to get 100 ASA on 200 or even 400 film. The backlight lever helped a lot though. This was sharper than the XA - but only if you got lucky on focus.
too funny. i just bought a XA2 on a fleamarket last weekend. sadly the battery in the flash leaked a lot so that doesn't work anymore. but the cam works. 5euros well spent :D
Awesome little camera!
So, I'm going for a compact film camera. Which should I choose? XA or Agfa 1035?
Great review!
My xa has a "lower pitch" than yours when I turn the self timer or battery check on.I wonder if that has anything to do with the batteries or,maybe the speaker is different...hm
It works fine though...
When are you coming back to RUclips? These old videos are so good.
really good job! thank you.
I got the XA4 on a trade.
Shame about the iso, would have love an override function. How would it read a 3200 speed Tmax film, for example?
Tmax and Delta 3200 are really 800 ISO films anyway so you just develop it for that instead of pushing it like normal. I get what you're saying but you would get excellent results at 800
Put a piece of plastic tape over the shiny part on the film cannister, and the camera won't read it. Then you can set the ISO manually.
@@campyonlyguy The XA doesn't read DX codes off 35mm cartridges, so your premise (and advice) is faulty. You can set ISO p to 800. Why? the camera was first sold in 1979, when 800 was faster than almost anything available. Also, the camera was carefully designed for a specific user and purpose. Shooting high speed film is outside that design.
You always forget the olympus xa1 which isn't a electrical shutter
you sound a little bit like tom servo from mystery science theater
Seth rogan