Vignetting on olympus XA

Markok765 · Feb 23, 2009

How can I get the heavy vignetting that I see in photos with my olympus XA?

archphoto · Feb 23, 2009

Could you post one or two pic's here ?
It would be extremely helpfull in dermining the cause of it.

Thanks,
Peter

Markok765 · Feb 23, 2009

archphoto said:
Could you post one or two pic's here ?
It would be extremely helpfull in dermining the cause of it.

Thanks,
Peter

Peter,

For example,

I would like to have the darkened corners of the frame. Do you know what setting I would use to achieve this?

bobwysiwyg · Feb 23, 2009

So, I didn't misread your post, you want vignetting? Was the photo you posted shot with an XA?

Markok765 · Feb 23, 2009

Yes, the photo posted was shot with a XA, and I would like to know how I can get vignetting on my XA.

bobwysiwyg · Feb 23, 2009

Hmm? I have an XA and XA2 and I can't honestly say I've tried every combination of settings, but I've never experienced it. I will have to what this thread.

Markok765 · Feb 23, 2009

I heard that you could get it by shooting at F22, but thats a bit hard to do without a ton of light.

Barry S · Feb 23, 2009

I bought an XA when they first came out and wasn't happy with the amount of vignetting, so I exchanged the camera. It still showed some vignetting, but (interestingly) less than the first camera I had. If you want to really show off the vignetting, use a contrasty film--meaning transparency film and shoot with the lens wide open. The photo above looks like it may have had photoshop or darkroom work, but it may also be due to the contrast of the film and processing. Is that cross-processed? That can also add contrast.

archphoto · Feb 23, 2009

What I see in the photo is a mis-alined lens, looks more like at shot with a TC and a lens that does not cover the shift.....
You have a problem with your camera I am afraid...

bobwysiwyg · Feb 23, 2009

Being curious by nature, my XA is loaded, though only with some T-Max 100. The lighting in the backyard is very bright sun with snow on the ground. Took a couple of shots at f22 as well as f2.8 though the latter stretched the meter a bit. I'll have to see what turns out.

walter23 · Feb 23, 2009

Markok765 said:
I heard that you could get it by shooting at F22, but thats a bit hard to do without a ton of light.

It would probably be the other way around; I'd shoot a high contrast slide film with the aperture wide open. The image you linked to looks cross processed, which I think increases contrast as well.

You could mechanically introduce vignette by adding a home-made vignetter (like a lens hood). Just figure out your field of view and attach a black paper tube around the lens, sized to slightly obstruct your field of view. May take some trial and error but that's a way you can introduce vignette.

naeroscatu · Feb 23, 2009

perhaps shoot normal and burn the corners when you print the negative. this way you can induce the kind of vigneting is more appropriate for your subject.

Chan Tran · Feb 25, 2009

Yup I would say that too! Burning the corners isn't difficult if you do your own darkroom. If you get your print by giving it to the lab very likely that they won't print it optically any way so you can get vignetting easily by doing the scan yourself, photoshop it and give it to the lab. No quality lost, actually I think you get better quality scanning it yourself.

jolefler · Feb 28, 2009

Coverage of the film plane ....

goes up as the lens is stopped down, doesn't it? I'm betting wide open, if yours will do it at all.

Jo

thuggins · Mar 2, 2009

I have not noticed significant vignetting with the XA. However, my XA2 vignettes very strongly, as well as being VERY contrasty. I thought at first that the meter was underexposing by 1/3 to 1/2 stop. But after experimenting with the exposure, it does not appear to be the meter. It appears the lens is just very contrasty (even for a Zuiko) and prone to vignetting.

I've become curious enough to look for another cheap XA2 to see if this was typical for the model.

andrewc · Mar 6, 2009

XAs are known to vignette at the widest setting, f/2.8. Try that and see how your shots turn out.

Vignetting on olympus XA

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