5 Frames With the runt of the litter: The Olympus XA1 – Brian Nicholls
The Olympus XA1 was ntroduced in 1982. This little gem of a clamshell 35mm compact was the simplest and cheapest of the XA series. It has a fixed-focus f/4 to f/22 x 4 element Zuiko lens, a shutter range of 1/30 to 1/250 sec and programmed exposure via selenium solar cell (like the Olympus Trip) surrounding the lens. There are two film speeds of 100 and 400 ASA via a switch on the base of the camera. The build quality is identical to its siblings the only difference being their varying degrees of sophisticated features.