Film Olympus XA Rangefinder

[Lawrence A.]

Of all the XA series, the original rangefinder is my favorite. Here are some from the past couple of years, most of them taken with HP5:

1.

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2.

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3.

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4.

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[Edward Conde]

I like #2! i own the XA, X2 & XA4.. I agree the XA is a special camera.. the XA4 tho is right up there.. the wide 28mm is fantastic!

Olympus XA | Lomography 400 (BW Conversion)

 

[Lawrence A.]

Thanks Edward. No. 2 is the one I like best, too. The XA4 is on my short list of cameras to aquire. I've just never found it when I had the money to buy it, and it does tend to be more expensive.

 

[Edward Conde]

Thanks Edward. No. 2 is the one I like best, too. The XA4 is on my short list of cameras to aquire. I've just never found it when I had the money to buy it, and it does tend to be more expensive.

Yeah.. i found a clean version.. $60.. cheaper than ebay so i was happy!

 

[Edward Conde]

Lawrence,

Have you ever used the backlit option on the XA? I am just trying to figure out when to use it.

thx

 

[Lawrence A.]

Lawrence,

Have you ever used the backlit option on the XA? I am just trying to figure out when to use it.

thx

Once, I think. I'd flip it on any time you want an extra stop and half of exposure -- when your subject is overall very light, since your meter assumes it is medium gray. To tell you the truth, though, I just change the ASA by the amount I want to over or under expose what the meter is reading. I actually learned about metering on an old Olympus zone focus program camera -- one of the 35EC models -- and since that had no compensation settings, I changed asa. The backlight option would be great at the beach, but old habits die hard, and I automatically go for the asa dial. If you keep in mind that your meter "sees" averages to medium gray, you'll get a good idea when to flip it.

 

[Edward Conde]

Some recents with the XA & Ektar (I love that combo!)

 

[Qppoiz]

I love my XA. I always have it on me, except that I left it at my mother's house last time I visited....

 

[Lawrence A.]

Nice. It is certainly small enough to have on you all the time! Another gem from the genius of Yoshihisa Maitani.

 

[docfox]

The Olympus XA was a great travel camera! Mine lived in my briefcase for years and documented all kinds of work reports. It was a small camera with a great lens.

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It was sold as a cased kit with the tiny A16 electronic flash.

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The 35mm f/2.8 F. Zuiko lens was razor sharp. It was focused by the relatively large lever under the lens and the viewfinder had a coupled (superimposed) rangefinder. You set the ASA with a small lever under the lens and the desired f-stop using the body slider at the left. Shutter setting was automatically set by the photocell to the left of the viewfinder. The A16 flash was screwed to the camera by turning the wheel on its face. It's only control was an ASA selector. The A16 was powered by two AA cells.

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The top deck had a (really sensitive!!) shutter release switch that was disabled when the lens cover was closed. It also sported a frame counter and a rewind knob.

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The bottom had a switch to select "backlight" (+1.5 stop exposure), perform battery check or arm the self-timer. It also provided a rewind button, an off-center tripod socket and a battery compartment that held two A76 button-cells. The bottom of the focussing lever can also be seen in this photo.

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You opened the camera for loading by closing the lens cover and lifting the rewind knob. A 35 mm film cartridge was placed in the left chamber and the leader tucked into the take-up spool which could be rotated to "grab" the film. Then you closed the back and thumbed the advance wheel (upper right) until the film counter read "1".

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The sliding cover gave very good protection to the lens. Mr. Maitani did his usual fine and innovative design with this tiny traveler.

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[Edward Conde]

Just sold mine... I use the XA4 more than any of my other XAs... must be that 28mm XA is a RAD camera..

 

[Franklin Bruner]

My XA W/A11 was purchaced off the "throw-away" cheep shelf for 2 bucks 8 years ago. Think the sorter musdt have though it was a instamatic kind of thing. I've used it as a backup and a pocket walk around. I remenber wondering if a regular sized 35mm film would fit cause it was so small ! The film I use is out of date, Kodak, Fugi, and all maner of rebaged "drugstore" film. At .25 a roll it's all good. Journally I keep it, as I said, as a backup in one of my Canon P bags but this thread has promped me to hall it out, check the batteries, and vow to take it with the next time I leave the house and walk the Earth!

 

[Lawrence A.]

Just sold mine... I use the XA4 more than any of my other XAs... must be that 28mm XA is a RAD camera..

Noooooo! You need them ALL.