The Olympus 35 SPn is a relatively large and quite impressive-looking rangefinder camera. It is about 5 inches/13 cm long, 3 inches/7.5 cm high. At the time it was originally released in 1969 it was probably regarded as compact. When the 35 SPn went out of production in 1976 it was notably bigger than rivals like the Konica Auto S3/35 FE, the Minolta Hi-matic 7sii (and variants) and the Olympus 35 RD, all of which had similar specs.
The invite dropped into my whatsapp in early February last year. Stag-do in Budapest! Long weekend! Now, I’m a habitual traveler, I love traveling and the majority of my photography falls in with that. I shoot quickly and on the move. A stag-do though poses a specific problem… Late nights, (possible) seedy bars, clubs and ‘activities’. So what camera do I take? Do I take my beloved Yashica Lynx? No it’s way too big and obvious despite being perfect for night photography.
As much as I love the immediacy of digital photography, I occasionally get overwhelmed and overloaded by the sheer volume of images I take with my digital cameras or my iPhone. Earlier this year, it got so bad that I packed my already pared down set of digital cameras, and got them ready for sale on eBay. In the meantime, I purchased a pair of classic compact 35mm film cameras which I always wanted to have, the Rollie 35SE and the Olympus XA. The XA, in particular, was one of those mythical cameras from my past, but one which I never had a chance to use.
I started shooting film 2 years ago, and in the summer of 2017 decided to go all in and sold all my digital gear. 99.99% of what I shoot is black and white Ilford films and I’m quote happy doing that, most of the time. Last May I was preparing for a trip to San Francisco and I had the feeling it would be great to shoot some colour as well. For this I wanted to pick up a small compact camera to always have handy if I see something where colours are important.
The Olympus XA, what can I say about this legendary little camera that hasn’t been said before? The XA is like a pebble that just sits perfectly in your hand, it just feels right; it was the future as seen in 1979 and now we’re here, in the future, it suits me perfectly.
