Saturday, June 2, 2018

The Olympus XA!

Olympus XA w/A11 Flash

Before I stumbled upon this camera at Goodwill two and a half years ago, I had never heard of it. It wasn't on my radar so I had to do a quick Google search to learn more about it. It is a very compact rangefinder with a clever clam shell cover system. This is one of the few cameras that will fit in your pocket with no issues. For $3.99 (with the attached A11 flash) I couldn't pass it up.

This camera is an aperture priority camera which is a rarity. You select the aperture and the camera will determine the correct shutter speed. There's a shutter speed display in the viewfinder but I didn't know that until recently. (Besides, I'm not sure the reading is accurate in the viewfinder.) The shutter speeds run from 1/500 to about 10 seconds in low light. This is truly an amazing camera that is capable of handling just about any situation you can throw at it.

As with a lot of old cameras, the rangefinder patch is pretty faint on my example. But it's still usable without being frustrating. The focus lever has a very short throw so it's quick and easy to get your focus dialed in.

I have used this camera quite a bit over the past few years because of its size, convenience, and performance. If you have the opportunity to pick one up, you definitely should.

Film: Expired Kodak BW400 (C41 processed black and white film)
Developer: Unicolor C41 Kit
Scanner: Epson V550


Next month's camera: Petri 1948 Folding Camera (120 Film)


Olympus XA Rangefinder
Olympus XA Rangefinder
Olympus XA Rangefinder
Olympus XA Rangefinder
Olympus XA Rangefinder
Olympus XA Rangefinder
Olympus XA Rangefinder
Olympus XA Rangefinder

Zeiss Ikon Ikoflex 1b TLR