I had read so many reviews about this camera. An Olympus, my favourite, and sort after…want it. I searched eBay and set a maximum price for myself, which was actually quite low. I bid that maximum on a few items and watched each one go over my maximum bid. Then finally one stuck and I got it. A bonus was that it was listed by a charity shop so the money went to a good cause too.

I got one in great condition, with a box and the A11 flash attachment. The seals needed changing and I did a terrible job in my rush to actually use the camera. Later I took the seals out and tried again, still not perfect but much better. The main place to make sure they were in good condition was the door hinge.  I find this is the area where most light leaks occur on my wombled cameras.

The camera turns on by sliding the cover , which then sits over the rewind knob. There are soooo many websites with details about this camera. Here are just a few:
35MMC
XA dedicated site
and the ever wonderful
Ken Rockwell
Matt’s Classic Cameras

The last two sites I always find interesting and informative.

Anyway, this truly is a popular camera and deservedly so. Without the flash attachment it will easily fit in a pocket and the cover keeps the lens safe. It is well built and study enough to throw in a bag, though I would keep the flash attachment off if I did this.

For my test roll I was so excited that I barely thought about what I was doing, almost lomography style. Then I settled down a bit.

It is a zoned camera with 3 zones, which you can see at the side of the lens. Here is the best bit for me and what makes it a fantastic street camera…when you close the lens cover the zone button automatically resets the middle setting. Fantastic and very thoughtful. How many times have I written that I forgot to set the zone? Loads! With this camera it always resets to the most commonly used setting. Though only having 3 settings does mean the depth of field is quite large.

And that is basically it, put in the 2 x SR44 (I used regular 357), load it up with film , set the ISO (25-800) on the front of the lens and you are away.

Here are my test shots with the camera.

Can you see the notepad? I tried to take a photo with details of the camera and film I was using. Obviously that didn’t work so from now on I will take a selfie in a mirror to remind me of the camera….or just test fewer cameras at once. I took the picture of the shop to remind me to try Britains’s best pork pies. I love pies and that is a bold claim.

As you can see the camera worked well, a few shots had speed issues but that was my fault for continuing walking at the same time.

Keep or sell: I set out to buy this camera, but I found I wasn’t using it much so I sold it.