Olympus XA

The AirPods of Film Cameras

Compact,

in the best way possible.

Olympus XA is (one of) the smallest range finder camera that smoothly slides in almost any pockets.

If we don’t look at its thickness, the XA is only about 3/4 of iPhone 12 Mini’s size. The legendary designer Yoshihisa Maitani chose to give the XA a matte plastic finish. Originally, he wanted to significantly reduce the cost, and the characters that plastic brought were extremely light weight and unexpected durability.

Strapped on my wrist, I can take the XA with me all day and not feel a damn thing.

Mobile.

Mechanical.

Minimal.

There was a day Yoshihisa Maitani saw a car accident, a scene so dynamic with people and fire.

When he wanted to grab his Olympus OM to capture the scene, he realized that his camera’s not with him.

This moment inspired him to design a model that is absolutely portable without sacrificing precise mechanical controls.

Olympus XA completed the mission perfectly. Manual focus and manual aperture always keep the image under control, while the shutter speed is automatically adjusted to minimized the operation.

Legendary Design

Olympus XA was sometimes called “Space Capsule” due to its cute circular bulge and packaging design.

A gesture of “slide open” was first introduced to 35mm rangefinder cameras by Olympus XA.

Replacing the concept of lens cover, is a shell wrapping around the front of the camera body, which can be pushed to the side to reveal the lens and power up the camera.

It somehow reminds me of iPhone’s Swipe to Open design even though it was launched 28 years earlier than iPhone. Somehow I am almost sure, Olympus XA inspired Sony’s famous DSC-T series compact cameras, which also utilized the “slide open” feature to shrink volume and simplify experience.

The Magical Lens

Although the lens of Olympus XA is in the camera body, it does perform unexpectedly better than any of its competitors at this price point.

Especially, the 1st generation of Olympus XA was packed with a 35mm F2.8 6p lens in a module that is not quite larger than some flagship phone’s camera modules in 2021, while delivering outstanding image quality.

Yet, there’s no way you can compare it with a $2000 Leica lens or a $600 Sigma lens. Plus, it is ultra-difficult to precisely focus at F2.8. So, shoot at F5.6 at all times if possible.

Yoshihisa Maitani

There’s one common thing between the chief designer of Olympus’ camera department, Yoshihisa Maitani, and Steve Jobs, simplifying using experience.

Olympus Pen, Olympus OM, and Olympus XA , the 3 historical pieces by Yoshihisa, each became a classic image of the time. The XA, being the latest, lightest, cheapest model, was yet the most difficult one to design.

Long before the XA, Yoshihisa first proposed and achieved the idea of “why can’t photography be just as easy as pressing the shutter” with Olympus Pen EE in 1961.

Later in 1979, the XA took his enthusiasm for simplification even further.

“Creating a truly fast, portable, simple camera, one that is not only easy to use but also feels like air on the go” became Yoshihisa’s upmost priority during the design process of the XA.

Shrinking camera’s size was only one of the many difficult tasks. Yoshihisa’s ambition was to have it maintain incredibly fine imaging quality while being unbelievably affordable.

Eventually, there came the revolutionary plastic unibody design, which forms simplicity, affordability, and portability, all into one camera.

Overall.

To me, Olympus XA is an elegant piece of art. It’s modest exterior provides the maximum portability and ease of use. Yet the plastic material does have a problem while being affordable and light weight, and that is fragile. I broke my XA a little bit recently, yet it did not stop my passion and respect about its design and experience. It was a fine friend, one that understands and needs no compromise.