Olympus XA1, Running on Expired

Analog Diary: Film photography favorites, image making with an Olympus XA1, and a roll of expired Fujifilm Superia X-Tra 400.

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The Olympus XA1 35mm film camera was never in the limelight, which shines over the rest of the Olympus XA capsule camera series. The camera, however, is a favorite of mine. It is an easy and fun point-and-shoot, and in this case, especially effective for a quick look around. With no focusing necessary, all it takes is just a deliberate panning action to grab all the images around you.

The XA1, fitted with a D.Zuiko 4-element in 4-groups 35mm F4 lens, has a universal focus range from 1.5 meters to infinity. Fil ISO speeds acceptable are only ISO 100 or 400 film. Exposure is automatic by a built-in selenium meter, and the camera operates on a programmed shutter speed range from F4 at 1/30 second to F22 at 1/250 second.

Olympus XA1

When carried without the optional proprietary flash units that can be used across the model range, the XA1 is small enough to slip even into your shirt pocket, and ready the instant you pull the slide cover back (provided you have forwarded the film to its next frame). The shutter release is a simple push-rod button, integrated with a red pop-up flag that locks the shutter when underexposure is detected or the capsule shell is closed.

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Olympus XA1, Serene

Analog Diary: Film photography favorites, image making with an Olympus XA1, and a roll of expired Fujifilm Superia X-Tra 400..

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I was on the Olympus XA1 and a roll of expired Fujifilm Superia X-tra 400 here, with a batch of shots at the end of the roll preempting the series. Interesting captures at the Central Market public bus transport terminal in downtown KL.

Olympus XA1, Fujicolor Superia X-TRA 400

The Olympus XA1, though not the favorite among Olympus XA-series camera enthusiasts, is actually one of my favorites.

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Olympus XA1, Early At the Farmer's Market

Analog Diary: Film photography favorites, image making with an Olympus XA1, and an early morning shoot at the Farmer's Market.

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A late addition to the 'At the Farmer's Market' series, posted earlier with images from the Nokia Asha 300. On this visit, I also took the Olympus XA1, which was loaded with a roll of expired Fujicolor Superia X-TRA 400, and finished the roll with these no-flash images. The time was very early, dawn was just about to break, and the stalls were illuminated only by their LED or other light sources.

The visit was quite a while ago, actually. Having the film developed at the lab was a long wait, as we had to wait past the 'lockdown rules' when moving along the neighborhood crossovers was easier. I also did a double whammy with the scanned images, as I had the original scans post-processed and posted back to the original folder before realizing the mistake. I was not up to making another set of scans, so I continued with the final enhancements and print finishing with the already post-processed images.

Olympus XA1, Fujicolor Superia X-TRA 400

The images did good, however, thanks to the D.Zuiko 35mm F4 lens of the XA1 and, though expired, the Fujicolor Superia X-TRA 400. Both are with characters of their own. The Olympus XA1, never in the limelight or heavily mentioned in the Olympus XA family of capsule cameras, is still fitted with an outstanding Zuiko lens, and the Fujicolor Superia X-TRA 400, daylight balanced, is truly a fine-grain all-purpose, high-performance, and high-speed color negative film.

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Olympus XA1, At the Mall

Analog Diary: Film photography favorites, image making with an Olympus XA1, a street shoot in the mall.

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Taking along the Olympus XA1, the simplest of the XA Capsula cameras produced by Olympus over three decades ago, is as easy as grabbing one and slipping it into your shirt pocket or purse as you are on your way out the door. The XA1, a full-frame 35mm film camera, is complete with its own capsule cover that slides back to open up the lens when you are ready for the action.

This true point-and-shoot camera is exceptionally easy to use and maintain, firstly because the electro-mechanical shutter system is powered by a selenium cell, the camera does not need a battery for its operation.

The fixed focus D.Zuiko 35mm F4 is, of course, focus-free, and images are sharp from 1.5 meters onward, and the programmed shutter ranges from F4/1.30 second to F22/1.250 second automatically depending on the ambient lighting situation.

Olympus XA1

Would you rather carry around a film camera instead of relying only on your handphone? Images captured on film may come out better than digital images when shot in natural lighting, as it has a higher dynamic range, and film grain is aesthetically pleasing. All said and done, when all photo images can always be enhanced with a little bit of sharpening, scanned film images can also be given the same treatment in your process workflow.

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Olympus XA 1, A Single Point of View

Analog Diary: Film photography favorites, image making with an Olympus XA1, images from a single point of view.

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One of the interesting aspects of street photography is that you do not have to be constantly on the move, but rather the opposite, stay in one place (for the duration of the shoot) and let the world move around you instead.

Stay in just one spot in one location, and you may start to notice things about aren't so obvious as when you are walking past the scene. The world slows down for you, and does sometimes comes to a complete standstill. You don't actually have to travel to try this either.

Olympus XA 1

What about the camera? As far as I can tell, the camera that you have now is just fine. My preferences are, however, for small compact cameras that I can carry around without drawing much attention to them. Do you shoot in digital or analog? I do both, depending on which camera I grabbed on the way out the door.

Olympus XA 1

The XA1, by the way, is my favorite among the XA'a and is the simplest of the XA clan. Most times available at fantastically low prices on the auction market, the camera has a fantastic fixed focus D.Zuiko 35mm f/4 lens, takes only ISO 100 or 400 film, needs no batteries to function, weighs as light as a feather, and is compact enough to fit in your shirt pocket.

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Olympus XA1, Soft, Sharp, and Saturated

Analog Diary: Film photography favorites, image making with an Olympus XA1, a fun and exciting point-and-shoot 35mm compact.

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The Olympus XA1 has only 2 film ISO (ASA) speed settings - ISO 100 and ISO 400. While ISO 100 speed film has finer grain, ISO 400 film has light-sensitive materials that are larger in grain size and require less light for proper exposure. Photos, however, may show up with visible grain.

When using the faster ISO 400 speed film, in a typical bright light situation, you can get away from motion blur and achieve great depth of field as the fast film speed lets you shoot with a faster shutter speed and smaller aperture.

Olympus XA 1

One of the fun things you can do with the Olympus XA1, when you are stuck with the slower ISO 100 speed film, and where the light is insufficient for you to get a properly exposed shot, is to use the exposure lock trick.

Olympus XA 1

What you need to do is the first point the camera at the brighter light source, half-press the shutter release to activate the metering, then turn the camera to frame the composition and take the shot.

The shots, of course, will have a varying degree of underexposure, which can be enhanced with post-processing.

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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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Olympus XA1, Street Scene Abstracts

Creative Arts: Image making with an Olympus XA1, post-processed street scene abstracts.

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I recently did a hipster-style walk-through of a public place, taking snapshots of the people and activity with the Olympus XA1 held at hip level, with image framing done visually without looking through the camera's viewfinder.

The resulting images are quite interesting and diverse. While some are sharp and properly framed, others turned out unframed, unfocused, and blurred by camera and body shake. Getting these images together into a visual storyline was done with the tone curve tool in post-processing.

Olympus XA 1

The Tone Curve tool, as available on Olympus Viewer 3 (OV3) as well as most image editors, is a graphical representation of the tonal range of your image and the tool allows you to manipulate the brightness and contrast of the RGB color gamut of the image or the individual red, green and blue channels by picking the color separately from the drop-down list.

The tonal range of an image can be changed by first placing cursor points on the diagonal representation of the image and then by dragging the points up or down from their original location. The line can be removed at multiple points along the line for varying results, and curves are controlled by using several anchor points placed along the line.

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