[photo-3d] Olympus XA: FWIW

[Mark Shields <beamsplitter@xxxxxxxx>]

A while back I decided to get an Olympus XA, already having an
XA2 and liking a lot of things about it, but frustrated about
others. Of course the possibility of twinning is there, but you
have to like the camera first.

This time I decided to go ahead and shoot Kodachrome (200) for
the test roll--hang the wait--I wanted keepers if the camera
worked right (sorry to you E6 shooters--I've never found an
E6 film I could swallow).

I did finally finish the roll and get the pictures back. I was
very pleased. I had been delighted as I went along to have the
rangefinder, and being able to focus closer (2.8 feet to the
XA2's 4 feet) was a decided advantage. I also loved having
aperture priority auto instead of programmed. So I have two
utterly gorgeous cha-cha shots: one of huge icicles on
rhododendron along the Youghiogheny River Trail (rangefinder
required), and one of a wispy stone arch bridge atop Beaucatcher
Mountain in Asheville, NC. There is also one gorgeous flattie
(youthful bicycle riders do not hold still for cha-cha), a
fistful of cat cake closeups--not sure if I have a good pair
or not, but they are well-focused, and a bunch of other shots
which were strictly for test purposes, and showed that the
camera's autoexposure worked well, etc.--nothing worth looking
at. While almost any lens/shutter system will have some light
falloff in the corners (vignetting), I found the XA to be
much better than the XA2 in this respect (one of my chief
hates about the XA2).

In sum, I'm very glad I got the XA. I've heard that twinning
them can produce mismatched exposures, but if I decide to try,
I'll jigger the film index on the two cameras, use a ND filter,
or whatever. I'll never buy another XA2.

Mark Shields

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beamsplitter@xxxxxxxx
http://www.stmattpitt.org
"Let the little children come to Me," Jesus said, "and don't keep
 them away. The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."
  -Matthew 19:14

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