Mju II or XA - which one to get?

<p>I am looking for a small pocketable film camera with a sharp lens. There are three cameras which I am interested in, and I would like to have the one with the sharpest lens /best IQ, but of course cost has to be reasonable too. Could anyone tell me which one of these three should be the one to get - 1) Olympus Mju II /Stylus Epic; 2) Olympus XA; 3) Yashica T5 /T4 Super? Many thanks in advance for your input.</p>

<p> Between the two OMs, the MJU-II is clearly the sharper one. The XA handles better, is more intuitive t use, and can make very long exposures for night use.</p>

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<p>I have both the Mju II and the XA and would say that the image quality of the mju II is slightly better. The lens is a tad sharper and shows less vignetting at open aperture. Also shortest distance is shorter than with the XA. A disadvantage of the Mju II is that you have to switch off the auto flash mode every single time you open the camera, which is very annoying if you shot in low light and don't want to use flash. Maybe the Yashica can do this better. Before I bought the Mju II I had a short look via the search function and found some statements that the Yashica has a slightly sharper lens, but the Oly is faster. I don't think there is a big difference. I got my Oly second hand for about 20 Euro - can't really complain. An excellent camera for little money.<br>

The XA is also very good. It is much quieter and you can controle the aperture. Sometimes an advantage!<br>

Prices on ebay are low. Buy both and sell the one who's features you like less. Or keep both;-)<br>

Another alternative might be a second hand Contax T, T2 or T3 or a Leica Minilux or a Ricoh GR 1 or a Minolta TC or a Konica Hexar. These cams are really excellent but more expensive.</p>

<p>You know you can walk into just about any Walmart and buy a Mju II right off the shelf? I think Olympus is trying to go for the Argus C3 record with this camera!</p>

<p>The Epic (Mju II) also has a top shutter speed of 1/1000 second. It's 4 element lens is a bit sharper than the 6 element XA lens simply because the XA lens had to be designed as a retrofocus design to allow focusing without needing a collapsible lens. While there are a few NOS Epics around, why not consider a used Epic <strong>plus</strong> used XA? You can likely find both used for the price of a new Epic. Both cameras excell at specific tasks. The award for user control of exposure and focus goes to the XA. The award for best sharpness (some say that is a marginal win), ease of use (auto everything), and weather proofing goes to the Epic.</p>

<p>I have the Miu II but I stopped using it and moved to a Yashica T4. The Miu lacks the infinity lock focus feature, needed each time I shoot trough glass. I tried the old trick of blocking one of the autofocus windows with a finger, but it is cumbersome and does not always work. The position of the flash in the Miu was also a guarantee for red eye each time a shot was taken. I found the T4 a better pocket, inexpensive camera that meets my needs. The Miu is still around the house, somewhere, but I haven't used it for years.</p>

<p>My previous response may have been deleted. Sorry, for putting a url in my signature. For overall control, I vote for the XA, but for sharpness, the Stylus Epic has consistently amazed me. John</p>

<p>Mju II cannot do aperture priority AE. If that is what you are looking for, go for Mju II. To me, XA is much better in control. And I cannot live with a camera that you have no control on aperture setting. XA's manual focus at nights is a nightmare.</p>