Gotta Love the Olympus XA

[Prof_Pixel]

they DO use autosharpening on their high resolution Noritsu scanner.

Without getting too involved in describing a d*****l process, scanning involves a slight loss in sharpness that needs to be corrected.

 

[chuck94022]

Without getting too involved in describing a d*****l process, scanning involves a slight loss in sharpness that needs to be corrected.

Of course. I'm not surprised. I only asked because the photo evidence contradicted the original poster's statement: "no digital manipulation except resizing." Sharpening is digital manipulation, and when evaluating the quality of a camera's images, it should be noted.

I'm not trying to raise a stink here, just wanted to clarify what I was seeing. I like the images.

 

[BardParker]

It's called a "sliding dust barrier". It has never been anything except a "sliding dust barrier". I'm kind of curious as to what kind of weird-ass clams you've seen.

Whatever... Next?

 

[BardParker]

Of course. I'm not surprised. I only asked because the photo evidence contradicted the original poster's statement: "no digital manipulation except resizing." Sharpening is digital manipulation, and when evaluating the quality of a camera's images, it should be noted.

I'm not trying to raise a stink here, just wanted to clarify what I was seeing. I like the images.

Thank you for your comments. I have no experience scanning my own film, and recently got back into film after about a 10 year hiatus, so I send it to professional labs. I did not realize they do autosharpening as a default. I appreciate your discerning eye in pointing this out. I simply meant that I did NO playing around in PS or LR with these images.

It was interesting to me that the little Olympus XA images compared very favorably with my medium format Pentax 645N. Here's a direct comparison:


18210025.jpg by KentWebb, on Flickr
Olympus XA, Kodak BW400CN


52260011.jpg by KentWebb, on Flickr
Pentax 645N, SMC FA 75mm lens, Kodak TriX

Regards,
Kent

 

[Vanishing Point Ent.]

A link to a Magnum essay by Erich Hartmann, all done with an Olympus XA.

Nice photos. Curious about "processed and scanned" only statement by the original poster. Most (except perhaps for the deer shot) appear to have been sharpened at least. Was the scan done by the processor? If so, they also sharpened. If done by the OP, probably he had some sharpening and perhaps curves set in the scanner - curves in the scanner could account for some of the sky separation I presume. Still, for no filters, it is certainly nice separation of sky and cloud. Not trying to drag this into a d* discussion, just curious.

I was doing some research and found this Magnum essay by Erich Hartmann.
All done with an Olympus XA & they were done before Digital Existed...

http://www.magnumphotos.com/c.aspx?VP=XSpecific_MAG.StoryDetail_VPage&pid=2K7O3R1VUF5N

 

[Opiatephoto]

I took a train across the US with my XA, but didn't have time to get off and wander. I'm planning to do it properly next time. I rarely leave the house without my XA now. It's a perfectly sized pocket camera, goes on all my hikes and bike rides with me.

 

[Klainmeister]

Yes, I am resurrecting this thread. I was given an XA many moons ago and came back from a recent trip loving it for backpacking. That little lens packs a punch. So in honor, here are some shots. Thanks little guy!

 

[Fixcinater]

Looks very nice, K.S. What film did you use?

I have a trip to France coming up in a few months and have been thinking of taking my XA daily with Plus-X/Tmax 100 and Pentax 67 for those days when I want to shoot big slides.

 

[Klainmeister]

Those are all Fuji Acros @ 100, developed in Pyrocat HD for 72 for 14 minutes

 

[bobwysiwyg]

Love mine. An added bonus is most folks take no notice of you using it. They assume you're just digasnapping.