Hi Ken,
you wrote:
>> What I wonder is if the XA is a fine matchup with TRI-X?
>> Since this camera's lens seems pretty sharp at F8-11 and
>> the vignetting is manageable at those aperatures I can
>> imagine this camera being pretty much permanently
>> installed with TRI-X.
That was my reasoning for using my XA with HP5 Plus for a
while there. I got some very pleasing results and basically
had so much fun that I was sorry to put ISO100 slide in it
again. But I did and the HP5 is in my XA4 Macro now.
Also, with ISO400 neg you can shoot wide-open in fairly low
light and still get quite reasonable results (i.e. better
than using flash).
>> Actually, a little vignetting with B&W film is ok with
>> me. It helps the edges of the prints a little.
Especially if the enlarger vignettes also. But I guess you
mean aesthetically.
>> So this lens only has a four-leaf iris? How is flare
>> with this lens?
Only time I've noticed a problem is with streetlights in
night shots, at some apertures a 4-pointed star effect is
noticable. (Though strictly speaking this is caused by
diffraction rather than flare).
>> Is battery consumption with the XA pretty good? My major
>> gripe with the newer P&S cameras is that they suck on
>> batteries like breathmints.
The batteries last almost forever. I got my XA secondhand in
1987, the cells that it came with lasted until 1994 with
fairly frequent use. The replacement set is still going.
I suspect that the reason why current P&S cameras are so
heavy on their batteries - despite having high-capacity
lithium cells and (presumably) low-power electronics - is
that their default 'auto' flash modes mean that the flash
has to charge up *every time* the camera in switched on.
Hope this helps.
Regards,
Brian
PS. As you'll have gathered from the various postings, I'm a
big fan of the XA, but it doesn't suit everyone. Trying one
first is definitely the best plan.
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