Have you ever wondered what the ‘ITS’ stood for? For most people, probably not – but if you’re a Yashica Fanatic probably yes.

Yashica TL Electro X ITS from 1973

Undated sales brochure for the TL Electro X ITS. By the way, the marketing people had the name ‘Tomioka’ removed from this cover image of the lens – it’s the big empty space on the left side of the lens ring.

After years (yes, years) of searching almost everything Yashica published I’ve come to the conclusion that the intent of the marketing behind this camera was to promote Yashica’s first real system 35mm SLR. No, it doesn’t have an interchangeable back or viewfinder like the Canon F-1 and the Nikon F, but it did have a host of quality lenses and accessories. Oh, and no motor drive.

So ‘ITS’ most likely means ‘Integrated Technology System’ since the TL Electro X was advertised as having a brain – a built-in IC brain with an electronically controlled focal-plane shutter and electronic LED exposure control.

Mint set from September 1973 with the later Yashica (Tomioka) Auto Yashinon-DS 50mm f1.4 lens. Take note of the writing on the box about electronic photography.

In later years when Yashica teamed up with Contax and Zeiss to develop the Contax RTS – ‘Real Time System’.

Thanks for stopping by! – Chris

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