Moose makes a number of good points in his post regarding the XA vs the
Rollei and I would second them. I don't know how the Tessar compares but
I would trust Moose's observations. In comparing lenses I found the
Sonnar to be slightly superior to the XA, no light falloff at wide
apertures, a bit sharper, and a bit better contrast as well.
The XA is also a fair amount lighter than the Rollei. I own both cameras
and the XA was, for many years, my primary climbing camera. A lot of it
boils down to what you want. If you want a light, go anywhere snapshot
camera the XA is clearly superior. The Rollei has that beautiful,
precise mechanical build quality that you just don't see anymore - but
is not as pocketable, light, or convenient to use.
I also own the third camera Moose mentioned - the Stylus has an razor
sharp lens, and is a very decent little autofocus P&S, a great little
shapshot camera, but it is a P&S so you loose a fair amount of 'creative
control.' Mine served my eldest daughter very well when she went to
Europe years back - unlike the youngest she never really go the photo
bug and didn't want to 'have to fiddle with settings' the Stylus allowed
her to come back with some great photos. The Stylus is a great camera
that has fallen sharply in value, you could probably pick one up for a
song and a dance here or on eBay.
Jim Couch
==============================================
List usage info: http://www.zuikoholic.com
List nannies: olympusadmin@xxxxxxxxxx
==============================================
|