Oly XA vs. Oly ∞Stylus Epic DLX...

beegee675 · Jul 28, 2014

I go back and forth with these two brothers in my carry-around. The ∞Stylus seems to be quicker on the draw with street stuff, but the XA is sharper...? Anyone who uses both, or are they not really apples to apples? Seems hard to find the ∞Stylus, though.
-Bob G.

Richard S. (rich815) · Jul 28, 2014

I have both too. Cannot deny the speed in focus and motorized film advance of the stylus but my XA gives me sharper images with nicer character I feel. Very subjective of course.

bobwysiwyg · Jul 28, 2014

Can't compare them, but I have two XA's. One is backup to the other. It is my "goes with me anywhere camera" when I can't take anything more sophisticated (or in addition to). Takes great pictures all things considered.

summicron1 · Jul 28, 2014

KEH wants $99 for an XA. The Olympus infinity Stylus is a standard stock item at finer thrift stores everywhere. I saw two at the local Salvation Army today.

nuf sed?

Colin Corneau · Jul 28, 2014

I've rarely seen either camera at second-hand places, you guys must have better luck than me

Isn't the XA/XA2 scale focusing? Preset distance? Not sure it can get quicker than that for street shooting...

(I have the XA2 and it is indeed a great little camera - some great design, there)

summicron1 · Jul 29, 2014

Colin Corneau said:
I've rarely seen either camera at second-hand places, you guys must have better luck than me

Isn't the XA/XA2 scale focusing? Preset distance? Not sure it can get quicker than that for street shooting...

(I have the XA2 and it is indeed a great little camera - some great design, there)

No, the XA has an actual optical rangefinder and an f 2.8 lens of very impressive performance -- I'd rate it as good as my Leica gear.

darkosaric · Jul 29, 2014

I have Olympus Mju as my everyday "just in case" camera, but I had XA2 before. XA2 is faster, in some rare situations Mju auto focus will not fire in split second when needed.
But XA2 died on me in the middle of the street - so I stick with the Mju.

bsdunek · Jul 29, 2014

bobwysiwyg said:
Can't compare them, but I have two XA's. One is backup to the other. It is my "goes with me anywhere camera" when I can't take anything more sophisticated (or in addition to). Takes great pictures all things considered.

Exactly my situation. Just took my XA all over Japan as a back up to my Nikon. Was great when I didn't want to carry the Nikon bag. I would recommend the XA!

beegee675 · Jul 29, 2014

Granted we're talking autofocus vs. RF with maybe presetting the XA for the street, but one still has to deal with either having open lens "on" or quick toggle the flash off on the Mju.... that is, if you want the flash off. Anyone have that wide-open vignetting that shows up on the XA in the Mju?

BG

Richard S. (rich815) · Jul 29, 2014

beegee675 said:
Anyone have that wide-open vignetting that shows up on the XA in the Mju?

BG

That's a feature of the XA!

thuggins · Jul 29, 2014

The Stylus suffers from the "autofocus curse". Before autofocus, programmed exposures tended to go for slow shutter speed and closed down the aperture for maximum DOF (eg. the Trip used a 1/40 shutter speed for its 40mm lens). Once autofocus came around camera companies apparently figured DOF was no longer important, and IIRC the Stylus keeps the lens open to full aperture even in fairly bright light. This alone would explain why the XA images look sharper.

That being said I have gotten some very nice shots from the XA's (nought, 1, 2 and 4) and also the Stylus. I would be hard pressed to say that one is "better" than the others. The Stylus does have the advantage of the built in flash in the event you ever need it.

Not to hijack the thread, but does anyone know where that weird spelling "Mju" comes from? The camera's name (outside the US) was Mu - the 12th letter of the Greek alphabet - doubtless in its use as an abbreviation for micro. A linguist friend once surmised it was the Japanese attempt at a phonetic spelling. If "Pocket Monster" can end up being Pokemon then anything is possible.

MartinP · Jul 29, 2014

The regular 'annoyance' with the Mju is that the flash always fires unless you manually turn it off, which takes two pushes of the finger-nail to achieve. Focus-lock is available with a half press of the shutter, but is not something you can wander about with for any length of time I suspect. It is useful to know that a non-DX cartridge will default to ISO100 in the Mju. There is also a spot-meter (meaning, much more centre-weighted than usual) alternative, on the Mju-II at least, which can help with the lack of a backlight-compensation button.

darkosaric · Jul 30, 2014

thuggins said:
Once autofocus came around camera companies apparently figured DOF was no longer important, and IIRC the Stylus keeps the lens open to full aperture even in fairly bright light.

This is why I sold Mju II f2.8 version, and kept Mju I f3.5 version. Also Mju I seems to be build from harder plastic than Mju II.

baachitraka · Jul 30, 2014

May I ask, which is the toughest and pocketable camera that have form factor of Mju?

darkosaric · Jul 30, 2014

baachitraka said:
May I ask, which is the toughest and pocketable camera that have form factor of Mju?

All zoom Mju are bigger than fix lens versions. Mju II is the smallest and lightest, but Mju I is the toughest.

baachitraka · Jul 30, 2014

Hmmm..very tempting given the price. But I should find a way to use my OM-1ns...

darkosaric · Jul 30, 2014

baachitraka said:
Hmmm..very tempting given the price. But I should find a way to use my OM-1ns...

The thing with Mju and XA that is good is they are fitting in pocket or backpack nice, without any problem, shape of closed camera is great (in comparing with rollei 35 for example - which is also small, but not pocketable).

Quality of Mju I is more than enough (I paid 5 for Mju I), many times it proved to me that best camera is the one you have with you

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baachitraka · Jul 30, 2014

Good photos there...may my wife find that camera little more useful than OM-1n ;-)

Ko.Fe. · Jul 30, 2014

Would be AF faster comparing to far from to be perfect XA RF?
Sure.

But for street photography on 35mm lens even at 2.8 the fastest way and still accurate is to scale. My XA is faster to any AF camera, in scale mode

XA has two marks. One for distance, one for 5.6. Set to both marks and everything on the street is in focus.

beegee675 · Aug 1, 2014

Darko, I was reading the replies, and didn't get a chance to delve into your photo links. When I finally did, I was amazed... they are wonderful! Are they mostly darkroom prints? And the brush-on emulsion... I haven't seen anyone use that in 30-40 years. What cameras do you find yourself using for these shots?

To anyone who hasn't yet seen your pix, go to Darko's links and take a look at some really nice street photography.... just makes you want to go out and shoot. -BG

darkosaric · Aug 1, 2014

beegee675 said:
Darko, I was reading the replies, and didn't get a chance to delve into your photo links. When I finally did, I was amazed... they are wonderful! Are they mostly darkroom prints? And the brush-on emulsion... I haven't seen anyone use that in 30-40 years. What cameras do you find yourself using for these shots?

To anyone who hasn't yet seen your pix, go to Darko's links and take a look at some really nice street photography.... just makes you want to go out and shoot. -BG

Many thanks !
Those 3 prints are made with Mju I (f3.5 version), I think Fomapan 100 (not sure), developed in Rodinal 1+100. Printed on Adox easyprint RC paper 18x24cm size, Focomat V35, Ilford PQ developer.

baachitraka · Aug 1, 2014

How do you get those borders? Looks like home made emulsion for me...

darkosaric · Aug 1, 2014

baachitraka said:
How do you get those borders? Looks like home made emulsion for me...

Borders I get with standard Focomat mask that I filed with rasp (original negative mask was 24x36mm, I wanted bigger, to get black borders).

Paper that I used was some beta ware from Adox - they had problems with this paper, and they offered it at great discount for some short time at fotoimpex. Maybe scanning of the paper did some changes as well - so it does look different.

elekm · Aug 1, 2014

The Olympus Stylus DX is a point and shoot and can be swapped with most other point and shoots, when it comes to features and convenience. The Olympus has a smooth, compact shape but there isn't anything in its performance that will set it apart from the dozens of other similar cameras.

The Olympus XA is a different category - almost a specialist camera with a very good non-zoom lens, a rangefinder and very quiet operation because of its manual film advance and electronic shutter release. For sure, the XA is a cult camera these days.

I bought one for $3 at a church sale, but the going price is much more for one that is fully functioning.

You can buy the Stylus and nearly any other point and shoot for about $5 or so at most thrift shops.

GarageBoy · Aug 22, 2014

My gripe with the Stylus is that the camera took forever once you pressed the shutter- especially if the flash wasn't charged up (even with flash off, it would charge before it'd let me take the shot)
I got used to digital compacts that are way faster

Oly XA vs. Oly ∞Stylus Epic DLX...

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