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I wanted one of these back in 1975, but they cost a couple of hundred bucks. I just bought one at a thrift store, where it had been tossed in a pile of cheap point-and-shoot cameras. It’s in good shape and it seems to work. Price? Ninety cents. They go for $25-80 on eBay.
The Olympus XA has been described as the camera that professional photographers carry on their vacations. The 6 element F.Zuiko 35mm f/2.8 lens is extremely sharp, especially past f/5.6 where it reaches 56lpm. Unique to carry-along point-and-shoots, the XA has a completely coupled rangefinder down to 0.9 meters as well as full aperture-priority metering. It even has a +1.5 exposure compensation for backlighting.
The design by Yoshihisa Maitani of Olympus is simply brilliant. It has a body not much larger than the Minox 35, but without the cumbersome folding lens mechanism. The electronic shutter is extremely accurate and the XA series takes LR/SR44 batteries that are still commonly available. It is truly a masterpiece design and it is difficult to believe that it was introduced in 1975, over twenty five years ago.
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