Olympus XA1, The Car Wash Revisited

Analog Diary: Film photography favorites, image making with an Olympus XA1, at the car wash, again.

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The Olympus XA1, though not really favored by most as one of the fine flavors of the Olympus XA clamshell series, is still one of my favorite film cameras for its point-and-shoot simplicity. It comes fitted with a fixed focus 4-element Zuiko D 35mm f/4 with an aperture range from f/4 to f/22, shutter speed is automated from 1/30 to 1/250 second. Framed images are in focus from 1.5m onward.

The camera, however, does not come with the red membrane touch shutter that the others in the clan have, but a standard press-down button in the norm of other Olympus cameras from a slightly earlier period. Exposure control is a selenium cell unit fitted surrounding surround the lens as per the hugely popular and successful Olympus Trip 35.

Olympus XA 1

The camera does not need or require a battery to run or to manage its exposure system. A red pop-up flag system blocks the shutter from being released if the image is underexposed, simplicity itself.

Olympus XA 1

Post-processing on Olympus Viewer 3 (OV3) includes a slight Crop to adjust for scanning misalignment, Shading Compensation to adjust edge darkening, a slight drag of the Tone Curve to darken the image ever slightly, and Brightness & Contrast to add volume to the image.

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