Oly XA Flash Question

Greetings all:

I've lurked here for the past few years and generally hung out at the other site regularly before the recent ownership change. I'm a long time XA owner and recently had my A16 flash short out after a battery leakage issue. I swabbed out the battery compartment with alcohol and baking soda to neutralize the leak, but have been unable to revive it. Is there anything else I can try before seeking a replacement. This is more a sentimental issue as I've used this same camera and flash since purchasing it new in 1980. Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

The flash is, of course, newer than the camera, but not much!

I have an XA flash which you can have for the cost of postage. I'ts an A11 though, not A16 which I think is less powerful.

Steve.

options for a dead a16

the value in this situation is the case - take the case, gut it, and use it to mount a hot shoe on top of the A16 body. Then any $10 surplus flash can be used, often with a much brighter guide number. You can stop down with an xa after triggering the flash by moving the aperture up past 2.8, so that is what you would do to not have the highlights blown when using a flash with a guide number bigger than 16.

I use the a16 also as a sort of handle to help hold the camera by. I know the xa is supposed to be compact, but sometimes it is almost too small to hold onto, particularly when using it in the winter with at least one hand still gloved.

Thanks Steve and Mike

Steve:

I'm looking for a fix first, but thanks for the offer; it's appreciated!

Mike:

I was intrigued by your reply. Could you provide a bit more detail. What would I remove. Do you have an image of your setup? Would love to see it. Thanks.

Jeff

hot shoe conversion

I have not had to do this ... yet.

The A16 I have is still ticking. I have seen the mentioned converion on some xa site or other. There was even a description of the ways and means. I believe the two lower pins are what the camera shorts to trigger the flash. These would have to be linked to the contacts on the hot shoe. The A series oem flashed auto quenching of the flash is via the onboard sensor eye adjacent the flash tube window. So the flash control does not reside in the xa.

The only functionality you loose once going to a third party flash is that in sliding the aperture up to above f2.8 does not turn on the flash. You will have to manually fire up an offboard flash if you make the conversion.

I had this done once. But I traded it away, when I lost the camera. I've since replaced both XA & A16, but it took awhile. The flash, cost more than the camera.

The problem I have with the flash, is it's tendency to " pop-up ", ( activate ), by itself. I determined that the body & flash combination flexing, caused it. Solution: keep the AA batteries out of the flash, until ready to use.

Also, the recycle time is way too long. Solution: use Lithium AA's which weren't even invented,when the camera was being made. By the way, on my 1st XA, the flash was too cold, so I gelled it.

Finally, I've discovered an interesting way to get flash fill & always ready sharp images.
You have to under that while the flash will synch at all speeds, the aperture, when the flash is popped up is always f 4.

The red f 5.6 indicates that by setting, the f-stop slider at f 5.6 & the focus to the red focus number, ( 8 ft ), ( 3 meters ), the camera will be set to hyperfocal focus & everything will be in focus.

And when the flash fires it will produce -1 stop flash fill.

-- I just wanted to share --

If you elect to open the case of the flash and remove it's innards, don't do it unless you know your way around electronics, and more specifically electronic flashes. Even on small flashes, the capacitor can carry dangerous voltages.