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[OM] XA question - long post

Subject: [OM] XA question - long post
From: EricSwansn@xxxxxxx
Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 19:32:09 EDT
I had trouble posting to ask if this list is appropriate for XA questions but 
in figuring out what I did wrong Shawn told me I'm in the right place so I'll 
push right along.

I recently bought a used XA. It is my third. The first rusted out due to high 
humidity, little use, and my ignorance. The second was stolen by someone with 
very talented hands on a crowded bus in Jakarta 2 1/2 years ago. I am not an 
avid photographer so I have simply lived without a camera. I realize this is 
heresy and would be like living without food for some of you on this list.

I am leaving next week for a 2 month trip to Wales so I went to get a camera 
for the trip, knowing that I wouldn't be able to find anything equivalent but 
hoping to find something I could use. I travel constantly for work so I 
visited a local camera store in the town I happened to be in 6 weeks ago. 
Imagine my surprise when I saw an XA on the used camera shelf. I bought it, 
had the store person install fresh batteries, and bought a roll of Fuji 400 
print film. 

I shot the roll, trying to cover a variety of shots including outdoor sunny, 
indoor flash, using the timer, and anything else I could think of. I had the 
prints developed that afternoon at the same shop. The camera worked well 
mechanically but the outdoor pictures (it was a bright sunny day) looked a 
little light to me, overexposed. The flash pictures were taken at a local 
Mall which was pretty well lit to begin with. I didn't notice anything 
special about them. I asked the guys in the store what they thought. They 
sort of agreed that the outdoor shots might be a little light but we didn't 
reach any conclusions.

My second roll, also Fuji 400, included many flash shots in a dark area. This 
is where the real problem occurred. The shot are definitely overexposed. Wide 
shots are kind of washed out. You can see everything but they are kind of 
grainy and blah. On a close shot of a Caucasian woman her face is completely 
washed out showing only lips and eyes (with red dots) while the 
African-American woman next to her looks better but still kind of washed out.

To be more specific about the symptoms. On sunny day shots with plenty of 
blue sky, the sky at the center of the frame will be white fading to a nice 
blue to the right and left edges. This is more extreme in shots towards the 
sun but is still very noticeable in shots away from the sun. This isn't a 
terminal problem but it bothers me. The subjects of these pictures look 
alright but I still think the whole thing is a little overexposed.

The flash pictures on the second roll were taken backstage at a theater. It 
was before the show so some worklights were still on but it wasn't well lit. 
I took one shot without flash, holding the camera still for the slow shutter 
speed, and it looks too bright to me, given the dark environment. Taking low 
light, no flash pictures is one of the things I really like about the XA. If 
I can hold it still, or prop it up on something, it will make the picture. I 
mention this to show that I've seen what my other XAs did in low light with 
no flash and the shot I'm referring to looks too light to me.

So, does anyone have any comments or suggestions?

If it helps, the camera serial # is 2552444 and the flash is an A16. The 
batteries are V76PX which the chart at Wal-Mart says are equivalent to SR44s.

Are XAs internally adjustable? Can (or should) they be calibrated regularly? 
Who would I see to have this work done?

In the short term, since I'm leaving a week from today, can I compensate for 
an internal mechanism that tends to overexpose but setting the ASA a click or 
two high? (I'd want to go high wouldn't I?) I just bought some film this 
afternoon so I will probably try an experimental roll tomorrow taking sets of 
the same shot but varying the ASA setting.

And as long as I've got your attention here's an amateur's question. What 
film do you recommend for vacation pictures where you only have one camera 
that will need to take pictures outdoors, indoors, rain, shine, and anywhere 
else you happen to want a shot? The film I bought this afternoon is 200 ASA. 
Does that make sense?

Thanks for any thoughts and information and your patience wading through this 
long post.

Eric

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