The Olympus XA!

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)

introduction

I knew it was a bad idea to count up the number of film cameras I own. I thought I had maybe 12 and had a great idea of using a single film camera each month for an entire year. As it turns out, I actually own 18 vintage film cameras. 

So I've decided to spend the next year and a half using these cameras and sharing my results here. I’m not setting any rules regarding film (black and white? color?) or how many pictures I can take in any given month. My only rule will be that I will only carry one single camera for the entire month.

The Line-Up:

Manual Cameras:

Agfa Solinette

Agfa Isoflash Rapid C

Canon Demi EE17 (half frame)

Medium Format:

Ansco Color Clipper (w/flash)

Petri

Ansco Titan

Franka Solida III

Zeiss Ikon Ikoflex 1b

SLR’s:

Sears TLS

GAF L-17

Konica Autorex (full and half-frame)

Rangefinders:

Olympus XA

Konica Auto S

Chinon 35 EE II

Vivitar 35ES

Yashica Electro 35 CC

Ricoh 500G

Fujica 35 EE

I will try to mix it up from month to month but—due to the disproportion of certain camera styles—this won’t be mathematically possible. Actually, I think I’ll shoot these cameras in alphabetical order because it’s a pretty good mix that way.