The Figital Revolution

The Olympus XA 4 is a wonderful merger of Zone / Scale Focus, sophisticated photographic creative control and an amazing 28mm macro lens… released in 1985! In a previous video blog I compared the Olympus XA to the LOMO LCA and LCA+  for the purposes of pointing out strengths and weaknesses to both systems- the Olympus XA 4 strikes the perfect balance between these two very different cameras and has now found itself as my everyday carry camera.

VIDEO:

IMAGE:

TEST EXPOSURE…Olympus XA 4 focused at 1′. Exposed on Kodak Ektar 100… exposure was hand held at under 1/30th of a second (interior light glows at exposures under 1/30th) at F5.6  (at the 1′ focus setting the minimum f stop is f 5.6. Note the nice crisp detail and beautiful  out of focus (OOF) rendering. Yes I know it is not “Leica Sharp” but damn it is really good for a Point and Shoot from 1985! One additional thought… I love the new Kodak Ektar 100!

LINK:

Fantastic sites with lots of information on the XA line…

http://diaxa.nfshost.com

The XA Way

Posted in LCA, LOMO, Olympus XA, Olympus XA 4, analog photography, film capture, film scans, kodak ektar, lomo lca, stephen schaub | Tagged Olympus XA 4, xa 4, compact film camera, macro film camera, travel film camera, retro film camera | 10 Comments

10 Responses

1. on February 6, 2009 at 8:07 am Clemens

   funny, stumbled on your blog while searching the net for a xa4. it’s definitely hard to find one. so, anyone reading that and willing to sell… dont hesitate !

   
   
2. on February 6, 2009 at 8:26 am figitalrevolution

   Yes they are hard to find but I managed to find 2 mint condition XA 4 in two days…and yes I bought both. Keep looking as they are out there but the price is higher than any other XA line camera.

   One note… in the video I mention that the XA 4 has 1/3 stop inc on the ISO… I mis spoke and it is full stops from 25-1600 and of course with DX.

   Cheers-
   Stephen

   
   
3. on February 7, 2009 at 12:17 pm Marc

   Very informative video. I have the XA but now I’ve got to have the XA4. Thank you for doing this piece.

   
   
4. on February 7, 2009 at 1:34 pm Adrian

   Very nice video Steven. I share your enthusiasm for this great camera (and for its more common XA brother too).

   One very minor correction… when setting the focus to either of the two close-up settings (1 or 1.7 feet) the green warning light will glow if the shutter speed falls to below 1/90 second. For all other focus settings it glows when the speed is less than 1/30.

   Thanks for sharing your knowledge and enthusiasm for this camera.

   
   
   • on February 7, 2009 at 2:13 pm figitalrevolution

     Thanks for that bit of great information… it will be very good knowledge to have when I leave for Italy next week as I plan on using the close up feature a lot!

     Cheers-
     Stephen

     
     
5. on March 16, 2009 at 5:14 am justin

   hey man, i’ve recently gotten a mint condition xa 4, just wondering where can i try my luck to get the flash adaptor for the xa 4.

   i;ve tried ebay, no luck. haha

   cheers!
   Justin

   
   
   • on March 17, 2009 at 8:19 am figitalrevolution

     The XA 4 will take the standard A11 and A16 flash… there may be a way to modify it to take other flashes but I am not aware of how… I almost always shoot that camera without a flash.

     Cheers-
     Stephen

     
     
6. on June 18, 2009 at 3:30 pm Darren

   I just got one from eBay – it arrived today.
   Seems in very good condition.

   Am excited but only have 200 ISO film and it’s a dull overcast evening.
   Will test it properly tomorrow.

   Wide angle and close-ups are two of my favourite things so having both in one camera is very cool indeed.

   
   
7. on August 16, 2009 at 7:44 am alan

   great clip..

   i managed to get an xa4 for 5 dollars in a thrift store.
   i believe this camera is one of the greatest compacts ever a real masterpiece.
   the lomos are toys when compared to this. so much intelligence and genius went into the xa and the xa 4.
   i avoided these cameras for years my mistake, if you come across one grab it.

   
   
8. on May 11, 2010 at 8:02 am PF

   Thnx!!!! This was just the extra info i needed to find myzelf an XA4!!!

   
   

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