Yo y'all,
on Thu, 27 Dec 2001 11:22:58 -0800, Winsor Crosby wrote:
That is interesting and the first negative remarks I have read for
the Epic Stylus.
Don't get me wrong here - I did not mean to bash the Epic. It's all
right for what it is - a P&S for taking decent snapshots. However, if
you want to go beyond that and do some creative photography you'll
soon find that it is taylored so much to making all the decisions for
users who don't know much about photography that it will insist on
doing many things _its_ way instead of the way _you_ want it to. My
main gripe with it - not enough control.
The XA, as opposed to this, just feels right; you control it
intuitively to create your images, very much like what you do and feel
when using your OMs.
I have thought that it would be nice to have a small, pocketable
camera which would be usable in most situations when I am not
carrying my camera bag which would have to include an easy to use
flash. I thought about the XA because of the rangefinder and other
possibilities for manual over ride, but it gets pretty bulky with the
flash
It really depends on how much you use the flash. I don't like flash,
so I only use it when absolutely necessary. So I carry the XA in one
pocket, and the flash (which really is quite small) in another so it's
there if/when I need it, in which case mounting it is a breeze.
Although I'm still carrying both camera and flash they feel
considerably less bulky when carried separately - very pocketable,
IMHO.
That being said, when I go out not expecting any special photo
opportunities the Epic is often the only camera I carry as it is small
enough to permanently "live" in my briefcase or pocket. However, if I
could only own one of the two my choice would definitely be the XA.
enough has been said about the dark corners to make me shy
away. On the other hand there has been universal praise for the
sharpness and clarity of the Epic 2.8 lens.
I don't know, may be I was just lucky with my samples of the XA (3 so
far, 2 of which I still have; the first one I had was stolen), but I
never had any trouble with dark corners except when shooting a bright
sky wide open (which I normally don't, as my standard films are too
fast for this purpose). The number of poster-candidate shots I get
from my XAs is for some reason much higher than what the Epic gives
me. May be it's just that they look more OM-like? Anyway, to my eye
the XAs' results look way better.
MtFbwy,
Volkhart