Olympus XA

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Wertie

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• Feb 18, 2019

• #1

The best one from the Olympus XA series?

 

thinkinginimages

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• Feb 18, 2019

• #2

Wertie said:

The best one from the Olympus XA series?

Click to expand...

The original XA, although the rangefinder could be fiddly to focus. They're all wonderful, though. The design was amazing.

 

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abe4652

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• Feb 18, 2019

• #3

Wertie said:

The best one from the Olympus XA series?

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Yes.

When the clamshell was closed, one could hammer nails into wood with it.

 

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CFletcher

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• Feb 19, 2019

• #4

I had three of the XA series. My favourite was the XA4, which had a 28 mm lens.

 

Dannno

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• Feb 19, 2019

• #5

I had the original XA. It was wonderful. Imagine a full frame camera the size of a pack of cigarettes!

http://danlennerphotos.smugmug.com/

 

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David Tallboys

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• Feb 19, 2019

• #6

Scan from XA2 on the Inca Trail 1981



Belated tip - check the number of posts

 

Howard V

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• Feb 19, 2019

• #7

I couldn’t afford an XA in those years, but I found a closeout XA2. It was a great companion, until the internal plastic drive wheel stripped out tugging on stiff film in cold weather.

 

Last edited: Feb 19, 2019

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Bob A L

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• Feb 19, 2019

• #8

I still have mine - it still works - was my travel companion for years till my iPhone took over

 

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FrancoD

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• Feb 19, 2019

• #9

For me the original XA

I had this combination





but probably the A11 flash also because the A16 was an extra.

f/ 2.8 to f / 22 , 10 sec to 1/500th.

The XA 4 had a wider lens but lost the rangefinder and aperture control.

The bottom of the range was the XA 1

 

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Chris 222

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• Feb 19, 2019

• #10

Franco,

I also owned the combo. The lens was crazy sharp, and I also remember how powerful that side flash was. It just blew me away.

 

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FrancoD

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• Feb 19, 2019

• #11

Chris 222 said:

Franco,

I also owned the combo. The lens was crazy sharp, and I also remember how powerful that side flash was. It just blew me away.

Click to expand...

The 16 was of course the guide number in metres.

So 16 m at f 1 at 100 ISO

Most built in flashes were in the 6-10 GN range.

(GN 16 is 4x the power of GN 8)

 

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OLY23

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• Feb 20, 2019

• #12

Have the original XA with flash, a gift from my wife. Sold photos from it to Stock customers back in the day. I especially remember one shot used by a textbook publisher as a classroom poster sized reproduction, it looked great. The lens was quite sharp with the right film, e.g.,Kodachrome coupled with good technique. It's a classic.

My one regret at the time was not picking up the 28mm. version, it was an intriguing camera reputed to have a very sharp and contrasty lens.