5 Frames with the Olympus XA2 – Wyatt Ryan

By Wyatt Ryan

I’ve spent the last year and a half relearning how to shoot film. I learned four years ago originally shooting, developing, and printing B&W. The last 9 months I’ve shot almost exclusively medium format, fully mechanical cameras. I never really had an interest in point and shoot cameras, until I found this Olympus and a Canon Sure Shot at an estate sale. After cleaning out the horribly corroded battery terminals, I discovered they both worked perfectly after sitting for what must have been a few years unused.

With two new cameras loaded up with fresh batteries, I was off to shoot what rolls of 35mm film I still had laying around. My first roll of film I ran through the XA2 ended up being a total disaster (didn’t know to unlock the rewind crank). I still developed it to see if the camera worked, but all the film sprockets were mauled and the film barely went on the reel. I tossed it and threw in another roll of Superia 400. I’ve since put a few more rolls through the camera, and will be trying a roll of E100 next.

I developed all of the following shots in FPP C-41 and scanned them on my Epson V750.

Fuji Superia 400.
Fuji Superia 400.
Kodak Portra 400.
Fuji Superia 400. Early morning hike with my dog Miah.
Fuji Superia 400.

Overall, I love this little camera. It’s quiet, incredibly portable, and simply fun to use.

I wrote up a full review of this camera here.
You can follow me on Instagram here.

 

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About The Author

By Wyatt Ryan
Dog dad. Photographer. Hiker.
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Comments

Ed on 5 Frames with the Olympus XA2 – Wyatt Ryan

Comment posted: 30/07/2019

The dog and the tree image remind me of an Andrew Wyeth painting.
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Wyatt Ryan replied:

Comment posted: 30/07/2019

Thank you Ed! Which painting of his does it remind you of?

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eric on 5 Frames with the Olympus XA2 – Wyatt Ryan

Comment posted: 30/07/2019

Great photographs and I believe great dog friend. I have not tried a XA, only a Miu for Olympus compact, but it seems to deliver great quality for his size, I do not know if it is better than my Contax T, it seems to be a correct challenger.
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David Hume on 5 Frames with the Olympus XA2 – Wyatt Ryan

Comment posted: 31/07/2019

Hey Wyatt - Have you put any E100 through it yet? I'm thinking of using an XA2 on a trip and maybe E100 but I've not shot any in it yet. FWIW I read your full review, and the answers to some of the things that puzzled you are in the manual, which can be downloaded pretty easily. The green light for instance is shutter speeds under 1/30s. I did a little comparo of the XA2 and Trip 35 over on emulsive. Anyhow - if you put a roll of E100 through it let me know how it went! Cheers!
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