Olympus XA

I had three of the XA series. My favourite was the XA4, which had a 28 mm lens.
 
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Scan from XA2 on the Inca Trail 1981



Belated tip - check the number of posts
 
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.
 
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I still have mine - it still works - was my travel companion for years till my iPhone took over
 
For me the original XA

I had this combination



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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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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.
 
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.
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)
 
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.
 

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