Olympus XA (First Impressions)

Summary

In this humorous review, the creator dives into the pros and cons of the Olympus XA, a compact 35mm film camera. While praised for its small size and rangefinder capabilities, the camera’s quirks—like its diamond-shaped bokeh and limited ISO range—are explored. The reviewer struggles with accidental shots due to its sensitive shutter and finds fault in some design choices but acknowledges the XA’s engineering ingenuity. Despite some decent photos, they ultimately prefer their Leica M6. Sponsored by Squarespace, the review also touches on website-building tools for creatives.

Takeaways

• 📸 The Olympus XA is a full-frame 35mm film camera, known for its compact size and rangefinder focus system.
• 🙌 The camera allows customizable ISO, but only goes up to 800, limiting the use of high-speed films like HP5 at 1600 or Portra 400 at 6400.
• 🤔 The reviewer found loading the film in the camera difficult due to the small size of the camera and his larger hands.
• 🧐 The reviewer criticized the diamond-shaped aperture design, which produces diamond-shaped bokeh, though they admit to rarely shooting wide open.
• 🔍 The camera uses aperture priority, and the viewfinder provides feedback on the selected shutter speed, allowing for adjustments.
• 👍 Despite its size, the Olympus XA produces decently sharp photos, although the reviewer found them lacking in passion and noted softness and vignetting.
• 🔧 One of the reviewer's complaints is that the shutter button is extremely sensitive, causing accidental shots.
• 🎯 The rangefinder system is a highlight, offering manual focus control, but the follow-up models XA2 and XA3 replaced it with scale focusing.
• 💡 The camera is highly regarded for its portability and small size, but the reviewer found it ergonomically challenging due to its compactness.
• 👎 Ultimately, the reviewer found the Olympus XA not suited to his personal style, preferring his Leica M6, but acknowledged that it could be a good fit for others seeking a compact, manual film camera.

Q & A

What camera is being reviewed in this video?

The camera being reviewed is the Olympus XA, a compact full-frame 35mm film camera.

What is unique about the Olympus XA compared to other cameras?

The Olympus XA is a small, full-frame 35mm camera with manual focus and aperture priority mode. It's praised for its compact size and engineering, with a cult-like status for offering impressive features in such a small form factor.

What are the main complaints the reviewer has about the Olympus XA?

The reviewer dislikes the diamond-shaped aperture that produces diamond-shaped bokeh, the limited ISO range (only up to 800), the soft and vignetted images at wider apertures, the overly sensitive shutter button, and the difficulty in leveling shots.

What positive aspects of the Olympus XA does the reviewer highlight?

The reviewer appreciates the compact size, the customizable ISO settings, the rangefinder focusing system, and the fact that the camera has aperture priority mode, allowing the camera to choose the correct shutter speed based on the selected aperture.

Why does the reviewer mention the Olympus XA's ISO range as a drawback?

The Olympus XA's ISO range only goes up to 800, which limits the ability to push high-speed films like HP5 to 1600 or higher. The reviewer often shoots high-speed films, so this limitation is significant for their style of photography.

What is the reviewer's overall impression of the Olympus XA's image quality?

The reviewer finds the image quality to be decent, with sharpness for a compact camera, but notes that the images tend to be soft, vignetted, and lack passion, especially when shot wide open.

What does the reviewer say about the Olympus XA's ergonomics?

The reviewer finds the Olympus XA too small for their hands, describing the experience of using it as challenging, especially with their 'big cholesterol hands.' While the size is a selling point for portability, it can be difficult to handle.

How does the reviewer feel about the rangefinder on the Olympus XA?

The reviewer finds the rangefinder decent but not very bright, sometimes difficult to see, and occasionally requiring adjustment to properly see the overlay ghost image. However, they still appreciate that it's manual focus and allows them to confirm focus.

What is the reviewer's opinion on the follow-up versions of the Olympus XA, like the XA2 and XA3?

The reviewer criticizes the XA2 and XA3 for removing the rangefinder and relying on scale focusing, which they consider a downgrade compared to the original XA's manual focus system.

What alternative camera does the reviewer prefer over the Olympus XA?

The reviewer prefers their Leica M6 over the Olympus XA, finding it more suitable for their photography needs, despite acknowledging that the M6 is a more expensive and 'super douchy' option.