The Olympus XA was a 35 mm

135 film

The term 135 was introduced by Kodak in 1934 as a designation for cartridge film wide, specifically for still photography. It quickly grew in popularity, surpassing 120 film by the late 1960s to become the most popular photographic film format...

 rangefinder camera

Rangefinder camera

A rangefinder camera is a camera fitted with a rangefinder: a range-finding focusing mechanism allowing the photographer to measure the subject distance and take photographs that are in sharp focus...

 built by Olympus of Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. It was one of the smallest rangefinder cameras ever made, together with the Contax T.

It was designed by Yoshihisa Maitani

Yoshihisa Maitani

Yoshihisa Maitani was a designer of cameras for Olympus after joining Olympus in 1956 he went on to work for them for a further 40 years. He was involved with the design of many of their most well known cameras including the Pen and Pen F half frame cameras, the OM System, the XA and later the...

 who had joined Olympus Optical Co Ltd in 1956. He was the chief camera designer and managing director of Olympus Optical Co Ltd., having developed a number of legendary cameras during his career. These included the Pen series, the OM series, the XA series, the IS series and the [mju:] series of cameras.

The original model, the XA, was sold from 1979 to 1985. The original XA features true rangefinder focusing, a fast 35mm f2.8 lens, and aperture priority

Aperture priority

Aperture priority, often abbreviated A or Av on a camera mode dial, is a setting on some cameras that allows the user to choose a specific aperture value while the camera selects a shutter speed to match. The camera will ensure proper exposure...

 metering. Later cameras, models XA2 to XA4, featured scale focusing

Scale-focus

Scale focus, or zone focus, is a type of focusing system used by many inexpensive cameras from the 1940s and 1950s. These cameras have an adjustable focus, but lack a focusing aid such as a rangefinder. It is necessary to determine the distance to the subject and set the focus using a scale printed...

 instead of rangefinders. Model XA1 used a fixed-focus lens. The Olympus XA is small and light in weight, made with a protected lens for pockets.

• Olympus XA: small rangefinder with aperture priority 35mm f2.8 lens
• Olympus XA1: simple mechanical camera with a selenium meter
• Olympus XA2: scale focus camera, automatic shutter 35mm f3.5 lens
• Olympus XA3: Same as XA2 with "DX" automatic film speed recognition
• Olympus XA4: distance focus camera, 28mm wide macro lens

XA

• Lens: 6 elements 5 groups F.Zuiko 35mm
• Aperture: f/2.8–f/22
• Shutter: 10s~1/500s leaf shutter
• Focusing: 0.9m to infinity rangefinder
  Rangefinder
  A rangefinder is a device that measures distance from the observer to a target, for the purposes of surveying, determining focus in photography, or accurately aiming a weapon. Some devices use active methods to measure ; others measure distance using trigonometry...
  
  
• Exposure: aperture-priority metering with +1.5 exposure compensation for backlighting
• Battery: 2 LR/SR44
• Size: 102×64.5×40mm
• Weight: 225g
• Year: 1979–1985

External links

• Diaxa website - gives model details and opinions