The last of the XA2

These are likely the last pictures that I will make from the Olympus XA2.  The lens is good and I like the zone focus on this camera, but the meter just doesn't work right.  I may try taking it apart some time, but I think I'm more likely to look for another example of this camera.  I can't really complain too much; it cost me just four bucks, and I think it has earned its retirement.

Even if I don't decide to try repairing this camera, I'll hold onto it as a source of spare parts.  When I got it from the thrift store it was missing the pressure plate.  I was able to take one from an XA with a mouldy lens and put it in this XA2.  The XA also donated the little ballbearing that holds the front open to another XA.

Fingers Crossed

I'm still hoping to hit on a method of keeping my Olympus XA2 in the game.  I have had some inconsistent results from the camera which seem to be attributable to the light meter.  My impression was that the meter was reading too much light in bright conditions, resulting in under exposure.  I decided to test that idea by setting the camera's ASA index to the box speed of the Kodak Gold 200 which I had loaded, and shoot the whole roll that way.  Sure enough, the negatives were all very thin, even those exposed in low light situations.  So, the next roll will be shot at a stop slower.

These shot don't look bad, but they required additional exposure compensation in scanning.  Others on the roll did not have recoverable detail in the shadows.

Cars and Trucks and Mr. Lewis

We have had a nice stretch of sunny days in Albuquerque.  It seemed a good excuse for a little road trip going east on Route 66 to visit the Lewis Antique Car and Toy Museum in Moriarty.  Here is the proprietor, Mr. Lewis.

He looks rather formidable in my portrait of him; I'm sure he can be that, but he's actually a very friendly guy who is happy to talk about his car collection and his life in Albuquerque and Moriarty.  My pictures of his collection of 700 vehicles doesn't do it justice for a couple of reasons.
    The restored classics, many of which have appeared in films and TV series, are in a poorly lit barn. Mr. Lewis said that the recent cold weather had knocked out most of the overhead florescent lights.  That was actually ok with me as I was really more attracted to the outside collection which fills several acres in the back of the property.  Unfortunately, my Olympus XA2 camera did not perform as I had hoped and only about half of the pictures on the roll were usable.

My first car was a blue '48 Plymouth much like this one.  I drove it for a couple weeks before it developed an oil leak which ended up sending a piston through the side of the engine.  I spent the rest of that summer installing a motor in the car which I got from a salvage yard somewhat resembling Mr. Lewis's museum.

The trip out to Moriarty in my pickup was a bit of an adventure in itself as I generally avoid freeways.  There looked to be a couple hundred trucks backed up in the west-bound lanes due to an accident, but the east-bound road was clear.  I switched on the radio and tuned it to the NPR broadcast on KUNM of Native America Calling.  The program was about the reversal of the decision to halt the pipeline construction near the Standing Rock reservation.
    On the way home, I stopped at the Blake's just down the road from the Lewis museum for a corndog and some fries.  Then I got back in the truck and headed back to Albuquerque.  When I switched on the radio again I found a program devoted to the first day of Black History Month with some great music from the Civil Rights Movement of the '50s and '60s.  I hoped that the folks at Standing Rock were listening.

Albuquerque Color

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.

El Día De Los Muertos

Left-Handed Salute

Last Saturday's car show presented some rather extreme lighting conditions.  It seemed a good opportunity to try the XA2 again as my previous outing with it showed some exposure inconsistencies.

I held my left hand over the top of the camera throughout the roll of Fuji 200, and it seemed to me that the exposure was good in all the shots.  At the end of the roll I tried recreating the problem, but only saw a slight color shift when I shot without shading the meter sensor.  So, I'm left wondering if the problem I saw before was due to some other issue.

Car Show Color

Many of the cars at this big car show are starting to seem like old friends as I have run into them many times around town since moving to Albuquerque four years ago.  I think I first shot this '36 Ford coupe three years ago at another show site with my Argus A2F.

My XA2 generally performed well with the Fuji 200.  I was surprised, though, to find a couple shots underexposed by about two stops that were made in bright sun.  A quick google search reveals that it is not an uncommon issue with the camera.  People often recommend changing batteries, but I suspect the programming and placement of the auto-exposure system.  I came across a comment by light-seal guru, Jon Goodman, suggesting that shading the light sensor under a high sun with your free fingers would alleviate the problem.

Shooting the XA 2

National Train Day in Albuquerque provided a nice opportunity to put my newly refurbished XA 2 through its paces.  I couldn't find anything to complain about in its performance; it handled a variety of circumstances with aplomb.

Some of the day's events took place at the Wheels Museum which is housed in one of the  Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Shops buildings.  The big old buildings which are mostly empty now all have a marvelous quality of light due to the banks of high windows.  The shops were famously photographed in the '40s by FSA photographers including Jack Delano.

I don't recall having much previous experience with a three-zone focus camera in the past.  I wasn't sure how well such a system would function in low light at medium and close distances.  The little Olympus seemed to take it all in stride.  I'm thinking I may even like this simpler XA 2 better than the XA rangefinder model, which is a nice camera, but a little fussy in use compared to the XA 2.  The XA 2 also has a simpler lens design which seems less prone to vignetting.  Four bucks well spent.

a good day at the junk shop

It has been quite a while since I found anything interesting at the local thrift shops.

Of course, the first thing that caught my eye today was the Olympus XA 2 and its four-dollar price tag. I popped a set of batteries in when I got home and the camera came to life and the shutter seemed to be working perfectly. I was patting myself on the back while loading a roll of film in the camera when I noticed that it was missing the pressure plate. Oops...  Another bit of good luck -- I happen to have an XA with some fungus on the lens which I had already used as a parts donor. Popped the pressure plate off and put it on the XA 2. I'll give the camera a chance to show its stuff tomorrow, which is National Train Day.

 The Kodak Brownie 44 A is pretty uncommon in this country, though they probably go for a dime a dozen in the UK where they were built. This one has three apertures: f8, f11 and f16, fixed focus and a fixed shutter speed of about 1/40 sec. Mine is missing the clip-on cover which attached with a couple lugs on the camera's bottom. I believe the fact that there are three rather than two apertures means that the camera was built after 1964; it was designed for Kodak by the award-winning British industrial designer, Kenneth Grange. The shutter and the back latch were very sticky on the 44 A. I took off the front to get at the shutter, and some Ronsonol there and on the latch got everything working smoothly. I'm curious enough about this camera to be tempted to pick up a roll of 127 film to try it out; I think this may be one of the first Kodaks with a plastic lens. I was hoping its rather large size for a 127 shooter would mean I could run some 35mm through it, but it doesn't look to me like that would work.

 The Sekonic Auto Lumi meter looked like it was new from the dealer and I could see at the shop that the needle was reacting strongly to light. However, the dial on the front was completely stuck. I took the thing apart and found that the grease behind the dial had dried out completely and was keeping anything from moving properly. More Ronsonol, and Bob's your uncle.