Useful rather than essential possibly? Nice? A classic certainly, but to be honest I never completely got on with my XA - but for a long time I wouldn't have wanted to be without it... Why? Well, there are times when something as small as this camera is is what you'd want, whether it be for pocketing or discretionary purposes. Much like my Mju-II in that regard, though one advantage this had over the Mju-II is having control. Control of aperture, of focus, and importantly, of flash! Yes I know one can disable the Mju-II's flash, but it's a pain, especially in the dark. I often propped the XA up on something if the subject was static, then I set it to f8 or so and let it time through an exposure, and the results were always spot on. Not just good enough; spot on. If I couldn't improvise a tripod then, well, I'd go for f2.8 and see what happened, but then the focus (and it was hard to see) was often critical, but, again, it generally all worked out fine.
Did it take good photos, the XA? Well, it did, certainly, but so does my Trip. Does my Trip fit in my pocket? Not easily. Did I like the rangefinder focusing of the XA? No. I just don't get on with rangefinder focusing; even that on my Leica M2 is something that, for me, gets in the way of making an exposure. The XA was also prone to vignetting, but I don't analyse that sort of thing too much - it's just a characteristic and why not?
Did I use the XA much? No. Why? All of the above, plus the shutter on my XA alternated between being ultra-sensitive and in need of a good squeeze. This is a common issue with XA's as the contact pad beneath the smart red button often becomes worn through use and age.
But, yes, I did very much like using this camera: it's just such an iconic design. As with many Maitani classics the mastery of form and function is just so perfect with the XA; the clamshell and the placement of controls on something so small is a triumph. The strength of the clamshell isn't as good as that in the later Mju series, but, well, it's pretty smart! It's neat, it's made of metal, it has a backlight option, a timer... oh, and the lens is pretty good too!
The eagle-eyed will have spotted a certain amount of past tense being used... Yes, I sold it. I do regret not being able to marvel at the design, and to hold some Maitani in my hand, but I was just not using it and sold it to fund my foray into 6x9 medium format. I do still have my OM's of course, so Maitani is still doing ok in my camera drawer.
