Back in January of 2025, I wrote a post about the Olympus XA. I’ll stop short of calling the post unkind, as “less than enthusiastic” may be a better description. Despite reading all sorts of reviews praising the camera, extolling its virtues and qualities, I remained unconvinced after using it. I just didn’t “get it”, whatever “it” is.
Now, I think I do. This is my third XA. The first two were traded or sold off due to a lack of passion for the camera itself. Please understand that I have never had any complaints about the image quality, which is better than I initially expected. I still don’t know why it took me so long for me to learn to love it.
Nearly six years into this blog, I have had dozens of compact film cameras come across my desk to be cleaned up, tested, sometimes repaired and then passed along. Most have been plastic point-and-shoots. In all honesty, they largely look and feel the same to me. Yes, some have different sets of features, but in the end, they just don’t inspire me to get out and shoot.
There is a class of compact cameras that does inspire me, and the XA has now joined that class. Among them are the Minox 35 series, Rollei 35, Canon Demi and a few other obscure cameras. Perhaps it is because I don’t like to give up all control of the image. The Olympus XA is a beautifully compact camera that still allows me a degree of creative control.
Outside of the studio, aperture-priority is usually my preferred mode on cameras that offer it. The XA operates in this mode all the time. Rangefinder focusing is easy and fast. Controls are simple, and easy to manipulate. It’s simply a user-friendly camera that also gives me the creative control I want.
This one came to me practically new, in the box, with the A16 flash. Unlike the first two, there have been zero problems to taint my experience. Everything runs smoothly, looks, new and feels new. It looks neither used nor abused.
This camera has accompanied me on several trips now, coming out to play when the scene begs for a photo. Some of these trips involved rough off-road travel on ATVs where I dared not take a more sophisticated camera. My day job takes me into remote wilderness areas in all kinds of weather. Dust, sand, heat, moisture and rough handling are all enemies of a fine camera.
I brought the XA on these trips because it was light, occupied little space, and still allowed me to shoot film quickly without any cumbersome setup. Perhaps subconsciously I wanted to know if Maitani’s little gem was indeed the stuff of legend, and could live up to its hype. Well, it is, and it does.
And then there’s the size. This camera goes lots of places because it can. I don’t think twice about throwing it into the pocket of a ruck sack, along with sufficient water, food, GPS, first aid kit, maps, notebook and tools. I should mention that it rides in a small padded case; as I refuse to abuse it. That said, it may be bouncing over sagebrush and rocks for the better part of the day, and it needs to survive.
In fact, it could be argued that it has survived better than I have. During one cross-country jaunt in a side-by-side ATV, we emerged from deep sagebrush and nose-dived into an unexpected arroyo. The XA, in its little case, flew out of the ruck sack, smacked into the dashboard and tumbled to the floor, along with everything else that wasn’t tied down.
After recovering from the short drop and sudden stop, I proceeded to gather up my gear. My new Yeti water bottle was dented, my maps were crumpled, my favorite pen was missing, and my new XA was somewhere among the debris. After locating it, I opened the case to find it had survived without so much as a scratch.
I, however, was in worse shape. I could feel a piece of the ceramic crown on my molar floating around in my mouth, with the taste of blood. Apparently I also hit the dashboard, a bit harder than I thought. Human bodies heal…camera bodies do not. I’m confident that my arguably more delicate digital cameras wouldn’t have fared so well in the same situation.
I may never know why it took so long to make peace with this camera. Maybe I just needed to prove it worthy of the task for which it was designed. Regardless, the more I use it, the more I like it. It really is a gem. This little XA has earned my respect as well as its own spot in the display case.
