Okay, so I really do want the Fuji Natura Black, but here's something I could actually acquire which does pretty just about same thing. This is the Olympus XA, a pocket-sized 35mm with a rangefinder. It's an aperture-priority camera, which means that you can't ever adjust the shutter speed. This is fine by me, as I usually care much more about aperture. I'm looking to pick this up on ebay for under $40 - compare to $600 for the Natura Black. I realize I may not have a sizable photo nerd audience yet (Nicole?), but the big difference between the two cameras is that the XA's lens is 35mm/f2.8, while the Natura Black's is a very awesome 24mm/f1.9.
Turns out there's an entire fansite dedicated to the XA series, which will attempt to convince you that the XA is the greatest camera LIEK EVAR. Sign me up!
4 comments:
what about depth of field?
hey celestine, i'm glad you've started a blog.
to answer your question, the XA's lens closes all the way down to f/22, but from what i've read it sounds like it starts to lose some sharpness once you go past f/8. i just got one yesterday off of ebay, so maybe i'll post about it once i've given it a spin.
Yo- That is indeed an attractive little camera. I've been looking for a new pocket 35mm camera since I dropped my LC-A. I may follow suit and look into this camera, I hope you won't be too offended. To me, its greatest attributes are its apeture-priority, its rangefinder, and its price.
The lens going down to only 2.8 is a little bit of a disappointment (if comparing to the Natura, at least.) Also slightly annoying is that the camera doesn't seem to have an ISO setting for 1600- although that would be easy enough to compensate for manually, I suppose. But overall it looks like a great deal and has '85 style to spare.
I'm looking forward to seeing what you shoot with it!
you've clearly done your research! yes, i think not going to ISO 1600 is a real issue, because the camera won't know that the film is giving you that extra stop. (it only goes to 800) it will overcompensate by exposing for longer than it needs to. do you have any suggestions for getting around this? nothing comes to mind right now.
oh and no, i won't be offended at all if you get one!
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