RickM wrote:
The XA gets mentioned fairly regularly on the list and, though i've never
actually seen one, from the various pics of them, they look well designed...
Other than it being easier to carry around due to its size, why and when
would you use an XA over an OM?
Those are the reasons.
The most easily available seem to be the
XA2 and XA4 -- if i were to buy an XA, what's the practical *user*
difference between the XA2 and the XA4, or the other models?
The XA has a rangefinder and aperture priority AE. An exceptional piece
of design tha also happens to be a really cool little camera that takes
excellent images.
The rest have only zone focus, no rangefinder, and only program
exposure, so no choice about DOF, etc. Some? All? of the rest have
slower f3.5 lenses, presumably both to lower cost and for more wide open
DOF to get along with zone focusing. The XA-4 Macro has a 28mm/F3.5 lens
that can focus to 30cm. That may be unusual in compact cameras, but is
the same as the 28mm OM lenses and is only 1:7.5, hardly macro. Also,
one needs the little measuring thingie that came with it or a measured
piece of string to get it to close focus distance from a subject.
The Stylus Epic is another clamshell design that also has a sharp f2.8
lens and adds autofocus. It's smaller and lighter than the XA, but just
not as 'cool' to me.
Moose
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