A sliver of sky

February 18, 2022February 18, 2022Chris and Carol Leave a comment

Camera – Samsung Galaxy S4

Sometimes it’s the camera you have with you that takes the best images. Thanks for stopping by! – Chris

Comments are always welcomed as I’ve learned quite a bit from reader feedback. As always, thanks for stopping by, and while you’re at it, feel free to visit my camera shop at http://www.ccstudio2380.com (CC Design Studios hosted by Etsy). – Chris Whelan

Please respect that all content, including photos and text, is this blog’s property and its owner, Yashica Pentamatic Fanatic, Yashica Sailor Boy, Yashica Chris, Chasing Classic Cameras with Chris.

Canon AV-1

February 17, 2022February 17, 2022Chris and Carol Leave a comment

I’ve added this lovely Canon AV-1 to my online camera shop at http://www.ccstudio2380.com. If you’re not familiar with this model it’s worth your time to read a bit more about it as it has some very interesting features and is super simple to use (it’s a great camera to use when you’re just starting into film photography).

This one is from 1981. A nearly perfect example of this not often seen Canon 35mm SLR. The AV-1 (Aperture Value) camera is pretty unique in that you select the aperture you want on the FD lens and then the camera selects the proper shutter speed for true auto exposure photography.
The AV-1 accepts all of Canon’s FD mount lenses (tons of them to choose from) and works directly with the dedicated Canon Speedlites like the 133A, 155A, 177A, and 199A.

This one is in collector’s condition – it’s that nice.

Load the film, set the ASA (far left dial) adjust the shutter dial (red A), pick an aperture (here it’s set to f8) compose and focus your subject then fire away.

The AV-1 accepts all of Canon’s FD mount lenses which is a bunch!

The AV-1 uses an easy-to-find and not expensive 6v A544 battery that’s sold pretty much everywhere. I buy these batteries online in groups of 5 to save even more.

Thanks for stopping by! – Chris

Comments are always welcomed as I’ve learned quite a bit from reader feedback. As always, thanks for stopping by and, while you’re at it, feel free to visit my camera shop at http://www.ccstudio2380.com (CC Design Studios hosted by Etsy). – Chris Whelan

wordless wednesday

February 16, 2022February 16, 2022Chris and Carol Leave a comment

Thanks for stopping by! – Chris

At least they caught their mistake.

February 15, 2022February 15, 2022Chris and Carol Leave a comment

This errata sheet was included with the Yashica brochure (pictured below) from 1974.

Yashica’s “Infallible” System needed to be corrected.

There aren’t too many of these sales brochures still floating around so I ended up buying one that is a bit rough condition-wise (but complete). It even has some prices written on the cover as a bonus.

The date code (lower right corner) is **E074** which I take to be July 1974. It’s one of the few brochures from this period that both the English and Japanese versions use the same images inside.

The sales brochures for the Yashica Electro AX and FFT cameras are pretty hard to find online here in the US on eBay and Etsy or through the Japanese auction sites. The owner’s manuals are even harder to find!

Here’s the back cover of the Japanese sales brochure. It uses the same date code ***074***.

Small stuff I know but I’m trying to document as much as I can on these last two models (AX & FFT) from Yashica in their M42 screw-in mount camera line (1972-1974). Thanks for stopping by! – Chris

Canon and the Olympics – 1980 – fun stuff to collect

February 14, 2022February 14, 2022Chris and Carol Leave a comment

There’s plenty of Canon Olympic stuff out there – a rather hard one to chase down is the Canon F-1 1976 Montreal Olympic camera in mint (working) condition with its box and although they are easy to find the 1984 Canon New F-1 camera is still quite expensive in mint condition with its original box. There are lots of other Olympic collectibles to be found such as lens caps, bags, jackets, straps, and pins. Have fun with it!

Media vest. This was a lucky find! It was still in its original package unused too.

FIFA World Cup 1986 Canon T50 – no special markings on the camera just the colorful box.

Thanks for stopping by! – Chris

Paul’s awesome Yashica site!

February 11, 2022Chris and Carol 2 Comments

My good friend Paul Sokk from Australia has an absolutely awesome Yashica site that covers pretty much everything Yashica has made since day one (1953). Check out this recently updated section about Yashica’s 35mm SLR cameras. http://www.yashicatlr.com/Pentamatic.html#pentaj

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to tell Paul hello! – Chris

1975 – an important year for Yashica

February 11, 2022February 11, 2022Chris and Carol Leave a comment

A dream collection of Yashica cameras – if only it was 1975 again! This photo is from the Yashica publication intended for US camera dealers and represents only a small portion of what was available from Yashica in 1975. Conspicuous in its absence is the flagship TL Electro-X ITS with its distinctive gold electron logo on the pentaprism.

From ‘Yashica A New Horizon’ – 1975 marketing brochure. If you look closely at the copy stand in the area just below the bulb on the right you can just make out a piece of black tape. On my copy stand, it says Yashica and since Contax didn’t make one (at the time of this image) they just covered up the Yashica name.
How cool would it be to own everything pictured?

My good friend Graham Buxton-Smither had this to say about the Contax image above – “It was an aspirational piccie back in the late 1970s – one could only dream about owning such gear – even more so when you added the Zeiss lens range. You are absolutely right about the copy stand – it’s Yashica’s Cope Stand II. Two other Yashica items are shown – the Microscope Adapter and the Magnifier. All is not as it seems with other gear too! The motor drive/250 back is the one later used by Olympus with the OM1n; the hammer-head flash is a lower-powered National, quite unlike the RTF540; the bellows is simply a basic Novoflex rebranded (the Contax Auto Bellows is far superior with swing/tilt), and the radio control kit is nothing like the actual one eventually produced under the Contax name. It’s still a great piccie though! I’m adding a photo to the Yashica Group showing the ML 55 2.8 + 27mm Tube on a Contax RTS Fundus that shows the true Contax 250 back and drive.” I’ve included an image of Graham’s Contax that he mentions above (see below).

This shows the ML 55 2.8 in 1:1 macro mode using Yashica’s 27mm Extension Tube. It’s attached to my lab kit – a Contax RTS Fundus with the Professional Motor Drive and 250 Back. I often use it with the AC Control Box when observing an item over extended periods of days or weeks.

If you’d like to visit Graham’s Flickr site which is just like visiting a Yashica and Contax museum you can find him at https://www.flickr.com/photos/164456136@N06/

Thank you for stopping by and hopefully, I’ve piqued your curiosity a bit! – Chris

What’s up with that ‘electron’ thingy?

February 10, 2022February 10, 2022Chris and Carol Leave a comment

My good friend Paul Sokk (www.yashicatlr.com) asked me this just yesterday and I vaguely remembered writing something about it after finding a definition from Yashica.

Probably Yashica’s most famous ‘electron’ camera the TL Electro-X ITS.

Yashica wasn’t alone in its use of the symbol. According to Paul it likely started with the Seiko ES shutter on a Minolta Electro Shot 35 camera and since then it was used for the most part to identify cameras with electronically controlled or timed shutters.

Here’s a snip of a brochure in my collection (mid-1970s) that presents Yashica’s definition of the symbol.

Looks like something Doc would have liked from **Back to the Future**.

BTW, I’m pretty sure but with no proof from Yashica that ‘ITS’ meant ‘Integrated Technology System’ or something along those lines. The gang at Yashica never bothered to define it officially in a brochure or user manual. I like ‘It’s The Same’ as Paul reminded me of in an email recently.

Thanks for stopping by! – Chris