Year 2018

(Nicca) Tower Type-3 35 mm Rangefinder Camera… 1953

Chris and Carol Leave a comment

We sold this camera (to Italy?) a while back and wish we still had it. What a wonderful little RF.

Chris and Carol's avatarChasing Classic Cameras with Chris

Nice little Tower Type-3 (or Type III) 35 mm rangefinder film camera from the early 1950s – made by Nicca Camera for the Sears, Roebuck and Company catalog. The build quality of the Tower branded cameras are no different from the quality of the Nicca camera as best as we can tell. It appears that Sears didn’t ask Nicca to lessen the quality like one might imagine – Sears was known for good value but not necessarily the best quality in our opinion.

By the way, these images were taken with our Sony Cyber-shot  (model DSC-W170) from 2008. It’s a basic point and shoot but sports a Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar lens and 10.1 megapixels. It adds a nice “softness” to our studio shots especially of vintage gear and it’s fun (and simple) to use.

dsc08154 The Tower Type-3 (made by Nicca) is one of the best of the Japanese made Leica…

View original post 226 more words

Looking Up

Chris and Carol Leave a comment

20181011_190115 logo

20181012_181256 logo

Image 1 – Amelia Island airport terminal skylight

Image 2 – Avenues Mall (Jacksonville) dome

Thanks for stopping by! – Chris

Please respect that all content, including photos and text, are the property of this blog and its owner, Yashica Pentamatic Fanatic, Yashica Sailor Boy, Yashica Chris.

Copyright © 2015-2018 Yashica Pentamatic Fanatic, Chris Whelan
All rights reserved.

Happy Saturday! Welcome to Amelia Island

Chris and Carol Leave a comment

lobby logo

20180820_201432 logo

Our new airport terminal building is now “officially” open.

20180416_132438

20180105_155104

20180130_132348

It’s been fun documenting the construction of this building starting back in early January of this year (2018). I think that all involved did an outstanding job.

20180820_202048 logo

The Corsair has landed!

Thanks for stopping by! – Chris

Please respect that all content, including photos and text, are the property of this blog and its owner, Yashica Pentamatic Fanatic, Yashica Sailor Boy, Yashica Chris.

Copyright © 2015-2018 Yashica Pentamatic Fanatic, Chris Whelan
All rights reserved.

Time Capsule – 1960

Chris and Carol 1 Comment
yashica pentamatic set

The original Pentamatic.

A nice example of Yashica’s first 35mm SLR – the Pentamatic. Also known as the Pentamatic ’35’ in its earliest advertisements and sales brochures. This particular camera is from August 1960 – the same month that Yashica started production of the Pentamatic II – a model that was destined for the Japanese home market and not for world export. The Pentamatic II stayed in production only until January 1961 when it was replaced a few months later with the Pentamatic S. The original Pentamatic was first produced in December 1959 but widescale production didn’t begin until January 1960. As of this update (Oct 11, 2018), I still haven’t found evidence of an instruction booklet printed in Japanese – only English booklets so far. I would think that there must be booklets in Japanese and at least 2 or 3 other languages but none found. The Pentamatic II booklet is in Japanese and no English editions have been found.

As always, thanks for stopping by and please check out my camera shop at http://www.ccstudio2380.com – Chris

Please respect that all content, including photos and text, are the property of this blog and its owner, Yashica Pentamatic Fanatic, Yashica Sailor Boy, Yashica Chris.

Copyright © 2015-2019 Yashica Pentamatic Fanatic, Chris Whelan
All rights reserved.

My First Pentamatic – the quest begins

Chris and Carol Leave a comment

It was “love” at first sight! Well, kinda like love – more like a very strong attraction.

The starkness of the Pentamatic’s design caught my eye straight away. Here was a Yashica the likes of which I’d never seen before.

I thought I would share a very popular image of my first Yashica Pentamatic. I say popular because it’s been viewed more times than anything else I’ve ever posted on my Flickr page.

yashica p1 in blue

Designed in middle 1959, Yashica’s first 35mm single-lens reflex camera is a stunning beauty. It appears it was a collaborative effort between Yashica and Nicca with some “help” from the designers at Zunow. The first lenses for the Pentamatic were made by Tomioka and most carried the Yashinon name – a few, like this one, sported the Tominon branding along with Yashica’s Yashinon name. By the way, the serial number on this lens is fairly easy to “decode”. The first 2 digits indicate the focal length of the lens – in this instance, the lens is a 3.5cm wide angle so the first digits are “35”. The next 4 digits are a simple production number that I’m guessing started at “0001”. This lens would have been the 246th lens made (0246).

Thanks for stopping by! I hope this little tease is enough to cause you to explore my blog (and Flickr site) to learn more about the Pentamatic and its sister models – the Pentamatic II and the Pentamatic S. – Chris

Please respect that all content, including photos and text, are the property of this blog and its owner, Yashica Pentamatic Fanatic, Yashica Sailor Boy, Yashica Chris.

Copyright © 2015-2018 Yashica Pentamatic Fanatic, Chris Whelan
All rights reserved.

Groundbreaking Cameras from Yashica

Chris and Carol Leave a comment

yashica 20 years

From the groundbreaking Yashica Flex S to the exciting TL Electro X ITS – over twenty years of development by Yashima-Yashica.

Playing around in the studio – thanks for stopping by! Chris

Please respect that all content, including photos and text, are the property of this blog and its owner, Yashica Pentamatic Fanatic, Yashica Sailor Boy, Yashica Chris.

Copyright © 2015-2018 Yashica Pentamatic Fanatic, Chris Whelan
All rights reserved.

Pentamatic Model – II

Chris and Carol Leave a comment

The Yashica Pentamatic Model – II instruction booklet – September 1960

pentamatic 2 collage

Front and back covers are scanned from the original hyper rare booklet.

If you look closely at the lower right corner of the booklet you’ll see that Yashica dated the book in the Showa style – 09S35 – that “translates” to 09/60. You add “25” to the Showa date to arrive at the Western date.

Thanks for stopping by! BTW, I am a very active buyer of Yashica gear especially Pentamatics. If you have one banging around in your closet please contact me and maybe we can put a deal together. – Chris

Please respect that all content, including photos and text, are the property of this blog and its owner, Yashica Pentamatic Fanatic, Yashica Sailor Boy, Yashica Chris.

Copyright © 2015-2018 Yashica Pentamatic Fanatic, Chris Whelan
All rights reserved.

The Yashica Pentamatic – Our 6 Year Search – Some Conclusions & Wild Speculations

Chris and Carol Leave a comment

I’ve incorporated some interesting updates since this was first posted.

Chris and Carol's avatarChasing Classic Cameras with Chris

We’ve been hot on the elusive trail of the Pentamatic family of cameras from Yashica now for well over 6 years. We’ve looked under every rock (auction sites), nook (web searches) and crannies (well, just crannies) for anything related to the Pentamatic. Our search has led us to some interesting conclusions – and wild speculations!

20171125_133916 (2)

Some Conclusions

The first Pentamatic was “born” in December 1959 but wasn’t available for sale in the U.S. until April 1960. The Pentamatic was Yashica’s first 35mm single-lens reflex camera and was designed with the help of technology obtained from Yashica’s acquisition of Nicca Camera in 1958 and some involvement with designers from Zunow Optical in 1959. Of course, Yashica designers were involved too as well as collaboration with Tomioka Optical for the first lenses.

The original Pentamatic was a failure. A beautiful, sleek and modern camera at a great price, but still a…

View original post 1,135 more words

Canon”Official 35mm Camera of the 1984 Olympics”

Chris and Carol Leave a comment

Canon 1984 Olympics Camera Strap

Rare Canon "The Official 35mm Camera of the 1984 LA Olympics" Adjustable Neck-Shoulder Strap. ***New Condition - Never Used*** In beautiful red, white & blue. Genuine Canon item. This is the super hard to find official Canon 1984 Olympic camera strap in new condition. This large strap is 2 inches wide by about 30 inches long but is adjustable. A nice addition for any Canon collection and a great Olympic collectible too.

$65.00

DSCF8127

I can mail this worldwide – please request a quote to your country. In the USA it mails for $10.00 via USPS Priority Mail with insurance and a tracking number. This can also be purchased at http://www.ccstudio2380.com

Thanks for stopping by! – Chris