Got back some first films; surprising results

[Jeremy Z]

Well, today I just picked up some processed film. They were test rolls from each of three cameras.

1) Yaschica Electro 35 GS (I've had this one for years)
2) Olympus XA (got it a few weeks ago)
3) Canonet GIII QL17

The film was all processed at the same place, by the same incompetent person. (scratched prints from dirty machine, dust on negs, etc)

Before going on, I should mention that I'm making the judgement from the scans that came on the photo CD. I'll make real enlargements later, when I get the darkroom set up.

But guess which one consistently gave the sharpest results? The Olympus XA. The Yashica's were sharp, but lacked contrast.

The Canon's were also close.

I don't know if the Yashica (an early one) has a multicoated lens, so the comparative lack of sharpness could be from more flare or less contrast.

At these smaller apertures, I would have thought the Canon & Yashica would have certainly pulled ahead.

But the XA had a couple aces up its sleeve:

1) hair trigger shutter reduces camera shake compared to the others
2) Multicoated Zuiko lens is fantastic

Please note that these are just initial observations, and I will have to wait until I see some bigger, proper B&W prints to know for sure.

Anyone else been surprised like this by the little XA? "Beating" much larger cameras, with excellent lenses, even though it should not be able to?