Olympus XA

The meter on my "used" XA is erratic. I have checked it against my

SLR meters, and it sometimes agrees, but usually registers 1+ stops

under. I used a roll print film,(400 ISO) and the pictures came out

fine. I then used a roll of slide film(100 ISO), and set the ISO at

100, 200 and 400 for the same scenes. The slides set at 200 seemed

the best exposed.

I am guessing that the meter reading may not be reflecting the acual

shutter speed.

Anyone have any this problem with these old cameras?

Thanks

Harry

It'll happen. My XA2's shutter stopped firing, after exactly 20 years of use, but the XA, which I bought used, still ticks on. Economically it's probably cheaper to buy another one than have it fixed.

 

One thought: have you cleaned the battery terminals?

Harry, XAs are not noted for their linearity. Asahi Camera tested it when it came out. With low EVs, the exposures are about one stop under, with high EVs, about one stop over. But the change is not linear; it depends on the aperture used. F/22 was the most consistent, f/8 the least. And that was for just ASA100! The reviewer wrote: well, I suppose it's alright for negative color film, with its wide exposure latitude.

 

I took a series of pictures with mine on Kodachrome 64, from f/2.8 to f/22, on an overcast day, ASA set to 80. The wider apertures were almost completely burned out, the smaller ones extremely dark. It was like the shutter speed was the same for all apertures. The Olympus Service Center in Tokyo checked it out and told me: nothing wrong, it's working as it should! But the counter guy added, look, it's not really meant for slide film.

 

So, there may be nothing 'fixable' with your XA.

Thanks for feedback. I will use the meter as is for prints and set ISO one stop higher for slides

Harry

I have an XA, and one warning I was given was that they don't like alkaline batteries. The voltage tails off and causes the meter to misread. Try using the silver-oxides before you give up. My XA does just fine with Ektachrome 100. (which I was pleasantly surprised by)

The battery issue may be important. When my XA stopped working (back in the '80's) Olympus repaired the camera and said I should NOT use the Lithium battery (D/L 1.3n ???) I had in it.

 

I sold that camera and now have an XA I picked up "as is". The shutter speed needle doesn't work, and the camera wont expose correctly at F:16 no matter what. But I use B&W film in it and set it at F:8 and go with that. The camera usually resides in the glove box of my car.

 

If I want to shoot chrome in a P&S "carry everywhere" camera, I use a Rollei 35 and my "gray filter"...or a hand held incident meter.

My XA's metering system seems accurate enough for negatives under all resonable lighting environment.

 

I have read that the needle in the viewfinder does not reflect the actual shutter speed, its only a rough guide so its only the final result that can be used to gauge the accuracy of the exposure.

 

I like to shoot with my Rollei 35 too but sometimes its too heavy and a bit slow to operate as compared to the XA. The only thing I wish the XA could have is one or perhaps two higher stops max ISO setting.

 

Any possbile tricks to set higher ISO on the XA anyone?

Olympus has always said to only use silver oxides in all their SLRs, so I'm assuming they'd want the same in the XA.

I am using Lithium batteries with mine and it is working in perfect order.