Contact Sheet: Olympus XA
I picked up the Olympus XA off eBay from a seller in Japan. It arrived quickly and looked clean. I loaded a roll of Kodak Gold 200 to test it.
I shot around the house, a bike ride in the WI driftless region, and the neighborhood. All was going well until I pulled it out of my pocket and found the rewind lever missing. Maybe I lost it from the car to the coffeeshop. It wasn’t in my pocket or on the road. Did I lose it on the trail? Retrace your steps. Check the stem bag. Low and behold it was in there. As soon as I grabbed it, all the pieces fell apart, but I had them. Luckily I had a baggy and stashed everything inside. Once home, wearing a headlamp and using the smallest screwdriver I could find, I began assembling it and attaching it to the camera. My sausage fingers didn’t help, but I successfully re-attached it.
With the roll complete, I tested my work and all was good. The film was packaged and sent to The Darkroom in LA. When my phone pinged with a text a week later that my scans were ready, I was happy to find no light leaks and vibrant colors. Kodak Gold 200 is a beautiful film that shines in the sunlight.
These aren’t all the shots. Some were misfires and others were soft. The XA has a very sensitive shutter button, so I need to be careful not to expose a shot while composing. It reminds me of my Canonet rangefinder, but in a point and shoot body. The XA is a rangefinder with manual controls. It’s shutter priority, so I can set the aperture and run and gun. This camera is a great everyday carry.
Kodak Gold 200
