The Olympus XA2 is a curious little camera with a unique set of features. Shutter speed and aperture are automatic with no manual over-ride. There is manual scale focus with the middle range as the default. The viewfinder is quite bright. The 35mm 4-element D-Zuiko lens is very sharp. Somehow, all of those things together help to capture moments of my world view better than most of my other cameras.
My XA2 has a tendency to under-expose outdoor shots. On a morning walk downtown I set the ASA to 100, a stop lower then what the film is rated at. That worked mostly ok, but the camera's metering was still a bit erratic. I may have to look for another example of this camera as I really like the pictures it makes.
9 comments:
I have been really blown away by Olympus optics. My OM lenses are some of the sharpest I have shot and the color rendition is quite nice. I've not used any of their point-and-shoots though.
The XA rangefinder has a 7-element lens, but I don't see it performing better than the more modestly appointed XA2 with its 4-element, and I like the way the simpler camera handles better than the XA.
You're not alone in preferring the XA2's handling over the XA. I see comments like that all over the Net.
After your comment on my post about shooting in the cold, I decided to load one of my small Olympuses with a roll of Tri-X and carry it in my coat pocket everywhere until I shot the roll. I'm about a third of the way through now. We'll see how it goes!
You just can't beat an Olympus in your pocket! They are clever little things and really worry free for the most part. I enjoy having the Infinity and have found I am shooting more and walking more with it.
I think the color rendering is some of the best I've seen.
2017 is unfolding nicely though your lenses!
I played with the XA2 shutter today and could see that the performance was definitely erratic. I was about to give up on it when it occurred to me that the shutter blades might just be a bit sticky with dirt or dried lubricant -- a common problem. There are a couple slots in the inside lens ring which might let you remove the rear lens group, but I don't have a suitable tool. So, I got out the hair dryer, set it to "hot" and heated the inside of the camera for about twenty seconds. After working the shutter repeatedly it looks to me like it is working pretty reliably at this point. I am going to try another roll of film at the rated speed and see what happens.
Good luck and hope this remedy works!
As will be seen in the next post, my fix didn't fix anything. The aperture did seem to be changing appropriately, but perhaps not the shutter speed. It is hard to know what is going on with a fully automatic exposure camera. So, time to look for another example of this nice little camera.
Absolutely love the shot of the escalator Mike - not sure what it is about it, but I feel like it really draws you in.
Thanks. I liked that one too, though it doesn't seem to be rocking the Flickr world.
Post a Comment