Olympus XA always fires at same shutter speed

darkosaric · Jan 31, 2020

So,

I got cheap XA, and is looks fine, new batteries, battery check light and sound works fine. Also by changing f stop or iso - I see in read in viewfinder that shutter speed goes up and down. But it always fires on approximately 1/60s. Even when in viewfinder says 1/4s, it fires the same. The same behavior is all the way to 36exp, closed or opened door.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

glbeas · Jan 31, 2020

Have you checked that with a shutter tester? A focal plane shutter runs at the same speed all the time, just varies the time the front shutter and rear shutter starts and stops.

AgX · Jan 31, 2020

But typically with a focal plane shutter one at least can hear and see the different open intervals at speeds lower than sync speed.
Moreover the XA has no focal plane shutter.

bernard_L · Jan 31, 2020

Could it be stuck in flash mode? Although in principle the central shutter should be able to sync with electronic flash at all speeds, maybe flash mode is stuck and so is the shutter speed?? From the manual:

Setting camera's aperture lever to flash symbol switches the A11 on, and sets the XA for autoflash.

The manual says nothing on the shutter speeds that will sync with the shutter.

glbeas said:
A focal plane shutter ....

This an Olympus XA. From the manual:

Shutter: Electronic between-lens shutter

darkosaric · Jan 31, 2020

It could be that it is stuck in flash mode. When I change f stop, i see that they are changing, but the speed it the same from flash mode, f2.8 up to f22. It even fires with the lens cover on, same speed.
Well, I can still use it as single shutter speed, and adjust f top according to the scene...

AgX · Jan 31, 2020

Sorry to say, but it seems not that easy to explain, as the XA, in contrast to other compacts from that period has got no fixed shutter speed at "flash" setting.
Thus speeds of 1/30 and faster.
But maybe, Mirko, you just expected very slow speeds and erroneously perceived all speeds as 1/60. Then indeed the "flash" is always in function.
You might give it a try with the flash attached. In case it charges at all aperture settings, it is the flash setting. If not you are not wiser at all.

eli griggs · Jan 31, 2020

The XA has a good Automatic exposure mode, so put it in a dim situation, meter with a good camera or meter, and then set off the self timer.

You want to be making an exposure of about four seconds or more, without touching the camera, and need to listen carefully to the sounds it makes.

You should be able to hear the opening and shutting of the shutter, so do this somewhere quite.

I recall that my XA would do exposures of up to about 30 seconds, which I think is a default setting.

Good luck.

IMO.

darkosaric · Jan 31, 2020

eli griggs said:
set off the self timer.

Self timer, in almost total darknes --> the same.

Kino · Jan 31, 2020

Sorry to report but you probably have a non-repairable camera. I had one like that; an electronic chip failed and it only would fire at one speed.

eli griggs · Jan 31, 2020

Yes, it sounds like it's the chip, however you can easily make a shutter speed tester with a photocell, diode, flash light and "Audacity " software, which is free, to find out if the shutter speed is consistent, at 1/60th a second, and if it is regular at that speed, use it as a dedicated camera at that speed, say for a 50 ISO film, which will be fine, given the F-Stops are manually adjusted.

If you are just going to trash it, I'd be interested in knowing what you'd want for it; I'd like to add, even a one film XA camera to my casual bag.

Seriously though, run down the consistency of the shutter, and the do it again using f-stops as a confirmation test and consider using it, as is.

IMO

Ariston · Jan 31, 2020

Kino said:
Sorry to report but you probably have a non-repairable camera. I had one like that; an electronic chip failed and it only would fire at one speed.

Someone was posting in another thread that electronic cameras are just as repairable as mechanical cameras. Maybe he can offer some help...

AgX · Feb 1, 2020

In that thread it was said that the real trouble starts when one has to substitute a non standard part. This can also be the case with mechanical cameras and a full equipped mechanical workshop.

M-88 · Feb 1, 2020

I have one corpse of XA at home. It showed correct exposure in the viewfinder all the time, but shutter was sporadic and fired at whatever speed it deemed correct (an at the same time - never matching with indicated value in viewfinder). So I disassembled it and found that the "problem" with XA is that much like OM-2, it has two light meters, one for viewfinder indication and other one which actually trips the shutter. Ideally, when camera is fully functional, these values match and it works correctly. However in my case and in OP's case as well, something's not right.

So all in all, it might be a light metering circuit, it might be a chip responsible for giving the impulse for the shutter, it might be an electromagnet (which is so deep down that you have to disassemble the whole thing just to clean it properly). There are too many "if"-s and I doubt reparability of XA as a whole...

darkosaric · Feb 1, 2020

Thank you all. I will use it as single speed camera, with f stop manually adjusted. I paid 25€, so it is still ok, no big loss. I had XA and XA2 before, this XA has very clear view finder, and rangefinder yellow patch is in great condition.

AgX · Feb 1, 2020

M-88 said:
I and found that the "problem" with XA is that much like OM-2, it has two light meters, one for viewfinder indication and other one which actually trips the shutter.

In that period other compact cameras too had two circuits with two cell. As those from Agfa.

John51 · Feb 2, 2020

I took a chance on a cheap XA with the same fault. It had alkaline batteries fitted. Replaced them with fresh silver oxide batteries and it worked fine. Luck of the draw I guess.

Chan Tran · Feb 2, 2020

The XA has 2 metering circuits. One to display in the viewfinder which the OP find it's working and one to actually control the shutter speed.
It's the Olympus way of doing things. Having 2 independent metering circuits. The OM 2 also has 2 metering circuits.

glbeas · Feb 2, 2020

It does sound like the timing circuits are dead, most likely culprit would be an electrolytic capacitor that dried up over the years. An electronic tech could swap in a new one if you knew where to find the parts. I hear the sometimes tantalum caps are used instead when replacing as they wont go bad again like the electrolytics can.

Olympus XA always fires at same shutter speed

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