5 frames with the Olympus XA that were ruined by the addition of my finger

There seems to be a lot of love for the Olympus XA (and its sequels) on this site.  I’m not here to add to that. Sure, it’s a fine camera with a lens that is very sharp and contrasty, which is why I decided I wanted one. The more I shoot it the more I enjoy shooting it because it’s light, small, and tough. The problem is of course that I’m unintentionally ruining some of my favorite shots.

Just looking at the quality of the Zuiko lens here, I think it renders Kodak Tri-X with a characteristic punch. Though I usually shoot black & white I’m excited to shoot more color with this camera on a personal level; what I have so far has pleased me immensely. I’ve always liked the look of photos taken with Olympus compacts. The nature of compact cameras being what they are though, there are always tradeoffs and for me it becomes what compromises you can realistically live with. The XA has less than most others because it is a true rangefinder camera; if I fudge the focus it’s entirely on me.  If I stick my finger too close to the lens that is also entirely on me.

For years I’ve been shooting a photo project documenting my job driving jeep tours with a bunch of dress-up cowboys, and most of these photos are of co-workers who are real characters (in many ways).  I like them because they have my friends in them, if for no other reason.  In fact I debated quite a while whether to even put this piece out, and certainly none of these photos are making it into my permanent portfolio.

Because as someone who at least pretends to be a real photographer I don’t really want mistakes of mine out there for everyone to see; bad for my professional image, right?  The problem is that these really are ones I would have used, and my family being pack rats and all, I have a hard time throwing anything away.  Not if I can find a way to turn mistakes into something helpful and good!

Now it is my own fault for not watching where my big meaty hands are when holding this rather petite camera, and looking back through the archives here I couldn’t find anyone who had the same problem that I had.  If nothing else it will teach me to look at each roll of film as I shoot it instead of putting it off until I have a larger batch, then I would have been more aware of the problem.  It’s also not like I had a huge issue either: out of a dozen rolls of film I’ve shot with this camera so far there were maybe an average of one or two exposures per roll that I’d say I ruined.  The ones that I did though, haunt me.  So this is an ode to them in a hope that they will find new life.

Also, I think it should be noted that for all the praise that a camera gets, beware of opinions that are near-universal.  The human error notwithstanding it’s a nice little camera but again, there’s no such thing as perfection.

Lab-developed.  Scanned/finished by myself using the Pakon F335 and Affinity Photo.
You can find my varied work at The Resurrected Camera or for strictly photo project work (which is all-cowboy all the time), my Instagram: @thefamouspdog.

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