Would any other camera than Olympus XA fit my needs?

<p>Hello,</p>

<p >I'm looking for a film camera with the following features:</p>

<p > </p>

<ul>

<li>Small form factor.</li>

<li>33-37mm focal length.</li>

<li>At least 1/500 shutter speed.</li>

<li>Some sort of automatic exposure and manual override or exposure compensation or, at the very least, exposure lock.</li>

<li>800 ASA option.</li>

<li>Fast and silent operations.</li>

</ul>

 

<p >Olympus XA satisfies all these points with the only downside of only having +1.5 EV exposure compensation manual override.</p>

<p >Is there any other camera with <em>all</em> of these features?</p>

<p>The XA was lovely, but there were several cameras with similar characteristics, and some had arguably better lenses. You can go through the <a href="http://bokeh.digitalrev.com/article/the-10-best-35mm-point-and-shoots-ever-made"><strong> list and short descriptions here</strong></a> to see which might be best for you.</p>

<p>You can always do any exposure compensation you want on the XA by changing the film speed setting.<br>

Exposure lock isn't super important with C-41 negative film. Mattered more on unforgiving slide film.<br>

The Olympus 35-70mm zoom autofocus point and shoot (name varies by region) was also a nice little camera, with a decent lens. The longer zoom ones were not sharp. But beware the light seals, they are cast rubber, and if they go, or the door warps, there's no practical repair.</p>

<p>Like Hector said, there are a number of alternatives, but if you like the XA go ahead & get it. They do a good job. I keep one in the glove compartment of my car for those occasions when I forget to bring my regular camera with me.</p>

<p>Another on the point and shoot side would by Olympus's Stylus Epic / mju2</p>

<p>A Canonet might or might not be small enough.</p>

<p>In keeping with the forum where you have posted this, the XA with it's true manual rangefinder focusing is about as good as it gets.</p>

<p>I once had a Konica Hexar AF and the Contax T2. Excellent cameras but no rangefinder focusing, the 1/250 second maximum shutter speed of the Hexar was not a positive feature, and the Hexar is not really pocketable like the XA.</p>

<p>I considered suggesting the Stylus Epic, but it's just an autofocusing point & shoot with no real ability to manually override anything. Capable of excellent images, but if you are interested in taking manual or semi-manual command of any of the picture-taking process, it's pretty limiting.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>The Olympus Stylus Epic covers most of that. No true override of exposure but it does have spot metering. I have that and also a Canonet GIII QL17 but the Canonet is considerably bigger. Maybe one of the Nikon Lite Touch models?</p>

<p>Love the <strong>Contax T !</strong> But it's very expensive.<br /> I own a couple of Olympus XA units and the lens never impressed me.<br /> But a "sharp" bargain would be the <strong>Minox ML</strong> - Read another Pnet thread that mentioned these <a href="/minox-camera-forum/00XJeT">Minox units</a> <<< click</p><div></div>

<p>Don't see howyou can go wrong with the XA.</p>

<p>Thank you Hector for the link.</p>

<p>The reason I'm looking for 35mm focal length is there're already a few 35mm digital compacts on the market and it seems like they'll make more. I'm planning to get into this camp and stick to this focal length with my film camera as well. I have a 42mm Olympus 35 RC and 24-75mm Lumix LX100 at the moment. 35mm is the most important factor for me on that list.</p>

<p>Out of the recommendation only Nikon 35Ti fits all the needs except it's not compact at all. <br>

Minox ML is nice but it's limited to 400ISO and I frequently push my film to 800ISO.<br>

I didn't know about Yashica T series but they're all automatic and I'm not a fan of vignette. </p>

<p>Thank you all, any more recommendations? </p>

<p>Contax T is basically an XA made to much higher standards. Goes up to ISO 1000. I did not care for the XA (it's way to plasticy for me), but the Contax T is a beauty. Mine got stolen from my car a long time ago.</p>

<p>I see Contax T3 is a beautiful and powerful camera. I won't miss it if I find a bargain.</p>

<p>When I was in high school I found a Olympus XA with a flash on top of a pinball machine. I had really wished there was some way to contact the owner so I could return it but there was no way so I kept it (thinking now, though, I could have given it to the manager of the place) and used it until the rangefinder went out of whack. It was a really nice camera and certainly one of the best made. At f/2.8 it was an okay performer (as expected), but stopped down it was pretty good. The part I didn't like was the wide angle distortion in the corners where people would elongate.<br>

When the camera finally was stolen out of my sister's purse I purchased a Nikon L35 (Nikon's first venture into consumer point and shoot cameras) and I never looked back. It was a great camera that took filters. If the pop up flash popped up and I didn't want flash I just pushed the flash back down and held it with my finger. It then used slow shutter speed to take the photo. Very nice. </p>

<p>See if you can get hold of an Olympus 35SP in good working condition. I had one of these for several years in the early to mid 1970s, and got one again a few years ago. Slightly larger and heavier than an WA, a neck-strap camera rather than a pocket camera -- but a fast and sharp 42mm f/1.7 lens, shutter speeds to 1/500, a large and bright viewfinder/rangefinder, and auto exposure from EV 5.5 to EV 17 or manual exposure from EV 1.5 to 17 at ISO 100 if you can find modern substitutes for PX-625 batteries -- a really nice camera overall, maybe not a Leica M but still a very effective photographic tool. Here's a link to more info: <br>

<br /> https://web2.ph.utexas.edu/~yue/misc/35SP.html </p>

<p>Hi Emrehan,<br>

The ML is a far better camera than the Olympus XA (IMHO) and I have owned both. <br>

I still have an ML. It has loads of great features inc backlight compensation, and exposure lock. It does not though have a rangefinder which is a pretty needless feature anyway on this wide a lens. Mine is a late serial number and has been 100% reliable to date. I do keep it in a Minox leather case which keeps the dust and lint out of it but otherwise take no special care of it. <br>

The ML does indeed go up to 1600ASA and if you don't believe me then take a look at this review where you will see proof of the ASA settings when he films the base. So put it back on your list. <br>

Reliability - read Charles Watkins on this thread re serial numbers :<br>

http://www.photo.net/minox-camera-forum/00VcHr?start=10<br>

General Info :-<br>

http://www.submin.com/35mm/collection/minox/35mm_serial.htm<br>

http://www.submin.com/35mm/collection/minox/cameras/ml.htm</p>

<p>My views on ML as previously expressed<br>

http://www.photo.net/minox-camera-forum/008iST?start=0<br>

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=66990</p>

<p>Kind regards<br>

Gadge</p>

<p> </p>