Olympus Scale Focus Camera Archives

Olympus XA2 – A Brief Guide to my Every Day Carry Camera

By Sean Arntz / April 12, 2023 / Point & Shoot, Scale Focus / 13 Comments

The Olympus XA2 is tiny, it is quick to turn on, it’s zone focus, and has a brilliant lens. In my humble opinion, it is the best EDC (every day carry) and travel camera, and a good first camera if you are starting with analog photography too.

This is my second XA2, I came across this blue XA2 in an Amsterdam thrift shop. I put a battery in to check if it works, and it did. I bought the camera for 50 Euros – what a steal. I don’t hoard expensive and rare cameras, I am not a collector. It was okay to let my GAS take over and fork over the cash for this camera. I had some Nikon SLR with me for vacation, this XA2 was a fun little bonus for the remainder of my trip. I popped in a roll of Portra 400 and proceeded to document my trip.

Olympus Trip 35 on Holiday – Part 1 – Keeping it Simple in New Zealand – by David Hume

By David Hume / October 28, 2022 / Scale Focus / 24 Comments

The Olympus Trip 35 is a compact 35mm viewfinder camera released in the late 1960s that sold millions of units and had a long production run. It’s a famous benchmark camera for sure. (A look at the Olympus website is instructive here.)

It was a pretty basic camera in the Olympus lineup and came out after the Pen EES of 1962 that shared the electronic exposure system and before the more advanced Olympus 35DC compact of 1971 (that needed a battery) and the OM-1 of 1972. Obviously it was spot-on for the time it was made – its sales success attests to that.

Olympus 35 EC and EC2 Review – An Alternative to the Trip 35 – By Michael Sherman

By Michael Sherman / March 16, 2021 / Scale Focus / 11 Comments

I discovered the Olympus EC while looking for a 70s rangefinder alternative to the overpriced but highly lauded Olympus Trip 35. I was impressed at the specs of the Olympus EC line of cameras. They sport a battery operated light meter, a five element Zuiko 42mm lens, a shutter lock and an ISO setting up to 800 ASA.

Olympus Pen EE-3 Review – A Weekend in Prague – by John Hanson

By John / May 8, 2020 / Scale Focus / 14 Comments

The hardest decision for me when taking any trip is deciding which camera to take with me. Many of you reading this will share this problem I’m sure. I manage to get away so infrequently that it seems a wasted opportunity if I don’t get some memorable photographs out of the trip. So which camera to take?

Olympus Trip 35 Review – Learning to be More Spontaneous – by Andrew Morang

By Kodachromeguy / May 5, 2018 / Scale Focus / 6 Comments

In the past, I always used manual cameras. I measured the light, set the exposure, and focussed myself . Even in a car, I like to be in control and only drive manual transmission, which is almost unheard of in the United States. The point-and-shoot craze of the 1990s completely passed by me. But now I have this funny little Olympus Trip 35, a “point-and-shoot.”