Olympus XA2

[Blighty]

I've just seen an Olympus XA2 for sale for £20 quid. I've been after a little P&S for a while and this seems to fit the bill. The seller assures me every thing works as it should. It comes with an A11 flash. What's the forums opinion on this little camera?

 

[Ian Grant]

They were great little cameras, a couple of my friends used them and the images were excellent. That's also quite a reasonable price.

Olympus were always known for the expertise in making small cameras, particularly the half frame reflexes, Pen F's, and the more basic Pen E's

Ian

 

[Steve Smith]

I had three of these at one time. I gave them away to APUG members earlier this year as I already had an original XA.

The XA2 (in common with all the XA series) are nice compact cameras with good lenses and fairly accurate metering. The original XA is the more desired model as it has rangefinder focussing. The XA2 is similar but has scale focussing with icons for close up, groups and distance.

If you are looking for an easily transportable camera to keep with you all the time, I don't think you will be disapointed with it.

They can sometimes appear to act erratically but this is usually due to dirty battery contacts. A quick clean sorts them out 99% of the time.



Steve.

 

[Steve Roberts]

I bought an XA2 and XA3 for £5 the pair recently - the 2 worked fine and the 3 didn't. At the weekend there was an XA2 in our local Oxfam for £7.
For £20 I'd expect not only the assurance but also for the camera to be in very good shape as such things don't have much of a second hand value to Joe Public today.

Steve

 

[df cardwell]

Ebay has lots of good XA-2s for £20-£25. XAs seem to be up to twice that. If you want to work in low light,
I'd go for the XA. Both fine little cameras.

Here is a snap made on a miserably wet day; fly from Detroit to Paris and you don't waste a minute of a vacation.
Raining ? We wrapped up, and the XA went into my raincoat's inner pocket with a couple rolls of Tri-X.

Point, shoot, hold still... makes a nice 12x print. Not a Hasselblad, but it was a lot of fun that day,
not carrying a camera bag but making pictures !

wide open, holding really still

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[Anscojohn]

I've just seen an Olympus XA2 for sale for £20 quid. I've been after a little P&S for a while and this seems to fit the bill. The seller assures me every thing works as it should. It comes with an A11 flash. What's the forums opinion on this little camera?

******
My preference would be for an XA. I sold both when in the retail camera business. I forget what we sold them for new. 20 quid seems a bit high to this miserly sort for an XA2; unless in really excellent condition.. As others have stated and shone, they are decent little cameras. IIRC, the XA had a 2.8 max aperture; the XA2 3.5, which tells me it might be a triplet. I may be wrong.

 

[keithwms]

Control freaks (like me) will definitely prefer the XA to the XA2.

The XA2 is nice though. What troubles me is that I have to rely on the zone focusing and won't know whether I got what I wanted... until I get home and develop and, sure enough, it worked.

 

[Larry Bullis]

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That's really beautiful, df.

I used a brace of XA's in my kayak. I could (and now, I reveal my warped mind) paddle up to a ship anchored out in the Bay, right up next to it, set the XA by scale, and photograph the waterline. This was tricky because my kayak is only 19" wide (very long) so it is pretty tippy; this is not such a disadvantage as it probably sounds, because the body can ride with it and keep the whole thing from falling over. However, any waves that happen to come along reflect from the hull of the ship, adding a lot of confusion to already kind of dicey stability. I have a huge file of these negatives. What in the world would anyone do with that? Sometimes I amaze myself. I think it was more the challenge of doing of it, rather than the resultant images, that I found interesting. You know, some people dance. Some people climb mountains. Some jump out of perfectly good airplanes. Others may choose weird things to do on the water.

The XA is more flexible than the XA2, and far more than the XA4. I've had all of them, but no 3. The aperture priority is great. Still, it is going to give you an average reading. Since many of the ships' hulls were dark, even black, the average reading would give me an overexposure, so I got used to adjusting the ISO setting to compensate. Worked great. I use the ISO setting a lot with it, and not just for the specific purpose mentioned. It enables me to control the shutter speed, and adapt for individual circumstances. I could think in zones, actually.

I only dropped one in the water once; fortunately, it was fresh water. I took the battery right out and got it to the shop fairly quickly. It still works great.

They are wonderful little cameras.

 

[clogz]

My advice: go for the XA with rangefinder.

 

[Blighty]

Thanks for the replies. The bloke (actually, he's a retailer) only has the XA2 although I take the point about the XA being more versatile. I don't want something too involved as I would be using it to record nights out on the p*ss!

 

[bobwysiwyg]

I have both an XA and XA2. The XA is great for carrying around and grab shots when you don't have a full kit. Takes great pics for something as pocketable as it is, and you can still, using your best judgement, alter ISO setting if need be for some exposure control. You just have to be familiar with the zone focus limits. It automatically returns to the 'neutral' setting between close-up and infinity when it is closed and reopened.

 

[clogz]

Moreover, the XA will automatically adopt its rangefinder to the amount of pints consumed.

 

[fiveCARDSdown]

I do think that these are fantastic little cameras, often I find mine a fantastic little bit of kit for its size and performance, perfect for keeping in your pocket or indeed to go places you may not be to welcome with a full sized slr.

I do agree that the rangefinder XA is slightly better but I do find that I use both regularly.

 

[Shelley-Ann]

I have the XA and XA2. I use the XA more, but the XA2 is a cool camera. I purchased mine for $5 at a thrift shop, in great working condition. 20 pounds seems like a lot to me, but if it comes with a guarantee, then go for it.

 

[John Hermanson]

XA Good Choice

I'd go for the original XA. It is aperture preferred (you set f stop, camera sets shutter speed). It also has coupled rangefinder focus. If you can, handle and fire a camera before buying. Avoid XA's which seem to give 2-4 second exposures no matter what it's set to and cameras that are perpetually stuck in self timer mode (both fatal defects caused by cracked circuit boards) XA came out almost 30 years ago. John, www.zuiko.com

 

[ChrisPlatt]

I own and use Olympus XA, XA2 and XA3 cameras.
The XA offers the most creative control but it's a bit fiddly to operate.
The XA2 and XA3 are faster to use and capable of similar results.

Chris

 

[IloveTLRs]

I have two XAs and an XA2. I prefer the XA2 because it's simpler and more rugged. The viewfinder meters in both XAs died quickly, and repairs are cost-prohibitive ($100+ to fix vs $75 to buy a working one.)

I've put 20 or so rolls through my XA2 and have had only a handful of shots out of focus. The scale focus system has always been good to me. When in doubt (i.e. low light) just step back and set the focus on the mountain thingy.

 

[Blighty]

Ladies and gentlemen; many thanks for your advice and input. I decided (after much farting about) to buy this little XA2. It's boxed with instructions and has the flash unit as well. It needs the light seals replacing but it ain't a big job. When i've got it sussed, I'll take some shots and maybe post them in the gallery. Many thanks, regards, B.