Texas Road Trip - Film Style

See how small the XA is!

I was in Texas over the past week & 1/2.  I visited Houston, San Antonio & Austin both for vacation & for photoshoots.  During my downtime and while not otherwise occupied I did street photography. I used both a Sony A6000 (I know, don't hate on my for referring to a digital camera on my film blog) and this beauty, my Olympus XA.  This is a slick little 35mm rangefinder, that is super easy to use.

Just set the desired aperture (on the sliding dial to the right of the lens) and set the focal distance.  You are good to go.  There is a very small split focusing area in the center of the viewfinder that helps in focusing (although I mainly eyeballed the range) and a speed gauge in the viewfinder.  It's really that simple.   Once you set your desired aperture you press the shutter release.  The gauge tells you what speed was selected.  Obviously, if you want faster or slower shutter speeds you just change your aperture.  It ranges from "flash", through f/2.8 through f/22.  An excellent range.  

The camera is tiny and is super silent.  Perfect for a film street photographer.

The only gripe I have with the camera is there is no shutter lock.  Therefore, if you advance the film and put the camera in your bag (even with the lens cover closed) the slightest touch not he very touchy shutter release button on top of the camera releases the shutter.  I'm sure I have at least 12 misfires.

Anyway, other than that, the camera is uber.  I went through about 10 rolls along with my digital shots.  I'll post some images after I get the film back. 

Mixed lot film & case by The Japan Camera Hunter

Street Photography - Various Film Cameras

OK, for fun I shoot street photography.  Most of this work is with film cameras.  Here are photos with various film cameras.

Canon A35F - In Los Angeles

Nikon FN - Plainfield, IN

Olympus MJU-1 - Indianapolis, IN

Olympus XA - Paris

Prinz Alternative - Plainfield, IN

Vivitar PZ3090 - Indianapolis

Yashica Mat124G - Cincinnati, OH

It's super fun to shoot street photography with film.  I forces you to slow down and think about your shot.

Photos I've Taken - Olympus XA Rangefinder

Photo in downtown Indianapolis from the 7th floor of a building.  Photographed with my Olympus XA point & shoot.  I wrote a blog post on this camera earlier.  Very simple to use and very pocketable.  Using a roll of Fujicolor 200.  Bright but overcast day.

Photos I've Taken - Paris In The Summer

I visited Paris in June for a photography workshop with host Valerie Jardin.  It was great.  A full week of non-stop 24/7 photography.  Not only did I spend most of my time going digital I also brought along my trusty Olympus XA.  Here's an earlier blog post about the XA.

A fun little camera.  Anyway I used both Kodak Portra 400, but also a few rolls of Ilford XP2 Super 400.  A few shots.  All images were scanned to disc instead of printing and then imported into Adobe Lightroom.  I really enjoy doing street photography with digital, during my Paris trip I took a Nikon D600 & a Sony Alpha A6000, but something about film for street photography is just....right.

Paris streets with light leaks

Waiting for a fare

Busy side street

Down a side street

Cameras I'm Shooting - Canon, Pentax, Olympus, And Others - Oh My!

Went downtown Indianapolis yesterday with Stephanie and then went to the Oranje arts event in the evening.  I took a my Sony A6000 digital camera with me, but I also took film.  Yep, lots of film cameras.  During the day I took a Canon Sure Shot 85 Zoom, my Olympus XA, & my Dad's old 110 camera (not sure who made it).  After hours I took a Pentax IQZoom 130M (which I recently picked up at Goodwill) and a Lomography Fisheye II.

I tried out an expired roll of Kodak Max 800 for one of the evening shots, so it will be interesting to see if I got anything.  

Fun stuff.

Olympus XA - Mini Rangefinder

The actual camera that Jim gave me

I was recently given an Olympus XA.  This is a cool little film camera.  Jim Keller from the Indianapolis Photo Venture Camera Club, PVCC, gave it to me since he knew I still shot film.   I've never shot nor did I have an Olympus XA, so yes sir, I'll take it.

With the camera came an A11 flash unit, that screws into the side of the camera.

The A11 screwed on

The Olympus XA was made between 1979 - 1985.  I have no clue how old this camera is, but it's in pretty good shape.  No cleaning needed since Jim kept it in good shape.  The specs, reviews and instructions said this this "one of the smallest 35mm rangefinders".  I like rangefinders.  The camera has a 35mm f/2.8 lens.  The camera shoots aperture priority metering.  Shutter speed goes from 10 seconds to 1/500.  ISO (ASA) range from 25-800.  Focus is manual.  Just set ASA based on your film, and set the aperture to your desired setting.  f/5.6 is highlighed so I'm guessing this is the sweat spot.  Once the aperture is set the camera sets the appropriate speed which is visible in the rangefinder.  That's it. 

For a small pocketable, quasi-point & shoot this is pretty good spec range.  One nice feature of the camera is a clamshell cover that slides over the lens and opens revealing the lens & rangefinder.  This is nice.  The camera is surprisingly heavy.  Also, batteries required.

I took the camera to Paris with me as my walk-around film camera.  I loaded it with Kodak 400 - 36 and ran 4 rolls through it.  I had shot one roll through it before and was impressed.  Guess what, it works perfectly.  It's easy to handle, switch settings and click around.  It's a good street photography camera because the leaf shutter is completely silent.  There is only a slight click.  Wind the film with the small thumb wheel.  

The only problem with the camera was I sometimes set the aperture too small so the shutter speed was too slow for street photography.  About 10% of my photos were out of focus.  That's simply a learning experience.  I had only one image of the 4 rolls that appeared to have a light leak.

I like this camera.  Easy to use.  Super easy to load, and super stealthy.  I'll use it again, and try it with the A11 flash in the future.

Photos from Paris during a street photography workshop with Valerie Jardin.

Shadows at sunset

Eiffel Tower

Large scale grafitti 

Business people power walking

Paris side streets