[photo-3d] Re: XA or XA2

["Ray Moxom" <raymoxom@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Jim Norman asked:
> Can anyone summarize the relative pros and cons of the
> Olympus XA and XA2 for twinning?

Very briefly - the XA has very high quality f2.8 35mm lenses and aperture
priority auto exposure. The later being a big advantage in 3D work as it
gives some control over depth of field.  Also the well proven method of
joining these cameras to operate in master slave mode ensures matched
exposures and near perfect sync.

The XA2s and XA3s on the other hand have slightly lower quality f3.5 35mm
lenses and there is no control over the aperture. The twinning circuit that
I have seen for XA2s still has the cameras operating with independent
exposure control so that exposures may not always be perfectly matched -
this may be acceptable with print film but is likely to result in less than
perfect stereo pairs with slides.  Perhaps someone could advise if the
method of coupling being discussed for XA2s/XA3s does or does not use master
slave mode.

David Stuckey (P3D list member but currently on vacation in the US) has been
working on a solution to coupling XA2s and XA3s in master slave mode.  Part
one of David's series on coupling the XAs in master slave mode is in the
sample newsletter that can be downloaded from
http://www.sscc.asn.au/sscc/index.htm

Jim Rybak asked:
> I may have missed this but are the XA and XA2 still available?
> If so, who is selling them?

As Jim Norman replied "only on the used market".  Have a look at some of the
used camera websites such as 'Cameta Camera' at
http://www.cameta.com/used2.html

Ray Moxom