XA in color and things that go ka-lack

<p>Got a roll of Fuji Superia 200 back recently that was processed and scanned by Dwaynes. By design, the 6 element 35mm f2.8 Zuiko lens of the XA does have some light fall off that never completely goes away but it is a sharp optic and careful composition makes the fall off less noticeable. A few color images now.</p><div></div>

<p>Here it is again resized.</p><div></div>

<p>A view from a different direction.</p><div></div>

<p>Here's a shot where I have exploited the light fall off to emphasize the darkness of the sky. While not to everyone's taste, this was what I was hoping to achieve.</p><div></div>

<p>Many users of the XA (as well as XA-2, XA-3, and XA-4) have described the sound the shutter makes during long exposures as a kind of "ka-lack" (or cla-lack). The XA meter and shutter can often do a respectable job of metering and exposing under low light with care taken to keep camera steady. A couple of interior images.</p><div></div>

<p>The interior shots, btw, were either f4 or f5.6, whereas the outdoor images at f11 to f16.</p><div></div>

<p>Nice sharp photographs, with excellent colour from the Superia 200. I guess the diminutive dimensions of the lens contributes to the slight vignetting but, as you point out, one can work around it. Thanks, <strong>Mike</strong>.</p>

<p>Never owned an XA, but they have a good reputation and quite a following....your pics show the quality that can be had. I actually like a bit of vignetting, and often burn around the edges when I'm printing B&W.</p>

<p>Thanks, Rick and Tony. <br>

The XA lens is a retrofocus design which allows the camera to be so thin without having to resort to a collapsible lens. Possibly the light fall off is a result of this design?</p>

<p>The XA sure is a nice little camera, so compact and so cute, but I never took to it. A bit too small for me and boy is that electronic shutter touchy. I ended up giving it away. You seem to do well with it, Mike.</p>

Great lens it is, vignetting and all. Great camera too.<br>A little correction though, if you permit Mike: the lens is not a retrofocus design. A retrofocus design is used to make the distance between lens and film longer, not shorter. And because it increases distance, hence decreases the light's angle of incidence on film, a retrofocus lens has less vignetting than a regular design of the same focal length. ;-)

<p>Owned a Nikon F with a few lenses at the time I purchased my XA when they first came out. No question about the image quality from that truly pocket camera. At first it was the camera's size that attracted buyers. Wasn't long before the lens quality drew attention. Great camera. Carried it everywhere for about 10 years.</p>

 

Thanks, Q.G. A welcome correction. Your knowledge is a valuable resource. Now that I think about it retrofocus design enabled wide angle lenses to reach focus in SLR's. Anyway, that XA lens is certainly an interesting design. One note to XA users or potential ones: although the clamshell case does protect the lens reasonably well, some dust eventually can enter and cause problems. Also, as these little beauties are getting quite old, some of the electronics are beginning to fail. My original XA went south about a year ago. An XA-2 that I owned since 1982 failed ten years ago. I have an XA-3 that works intermittently. Nice thing about the XA-2 is you can snag a fully functional one for less than the price of a disposable camera.

I used to carry an XA in my front jeans pocket on (extended) walks (woodlands and swamps mostly, with some clambering and getting wet a lot. It got squeezed and bumped quite a bit in that pocket, but i managed to keep it reasonably dry) and since i was afraid i might wreck it that way so i did get me a spare XA. Never needed that spare.<br>Though i know someone who dropped her XA and had a hard time getting it repaired, the thing needing to go back a couple of times because still not working properly, the shutter release not always responding to the 'touch'. I don't really know whether that was because of the camera or just someone in the ('official') repair shop not doing it right.<br><br>Really nice little cameras. With reasonably sharp lenses, showing some distortion and quite strong vignetting. But still quite good. Though i don't use them anymore (haven't used 35 mm film for ages now), they are 'keepers'. I have one of them 'on display' on my desk. No idea whether they still work. No battery in them.

<p>Q.G. you jogged some memories with the mention of carrying an XA in the front jeans pocket. I did that for nearly a couple of decades with my XA-2 (that my dad gave me from stock at our family's camera store). Mine survived falling out of a shirt pocket onto concrete once with only a few surface scratches. The "hesitant" shutter release seemed to be more common on the XA-2, at least from experiences from our customers. My original XA-2 sometimes did that as it "got older". I do protect my current XA a bit more, but my XA-2 just goes in a pocket. </p>

<p>Mike are you in Aurora, IL or Batavia? I recognize the outlet mall.</p>

Actually it is Jackson, Mississippi.