I have been exchanging emails with the owner of a great website about Yashicas. As I live in Japan I sometimes see hard to find models and have sent him a few. He wanted to do something in return, so I suggested he send me a camera in return. He did, and this is the […]
via Yashica FR II — Camera Go Camera
A must visit blog with great camera reviews and excellent photography! Check out her wonderful posts! Chris ^.^
Canon A-1 from 1980
The Fujifilm X-A10 with the FotodioX Pro adapter mated with our Canon FD 24mm f2.8 wide angle lens. Makes a nice 36mm on the APS-C sensor.
Yashica A-III from 1959
The Fujifilm X-A10 mirrorless camera body is performing well under studio conditions. The Canon FD 24mm (36mm) handled these two classics very well. Just the right amount of view and fantastic depth-of-field.
Seen here with the Canon FD 50mm f3.5 macro lens.
We highly recommend this set-up if you’re wanting to experience the Fujifilm X-series cameras and their APS-C sensors and Fujicolor film simulation modes.
Chris & Carol
Still playing with our new addition. Our slightly used Fujifilm X-A10 (16.3MP) mirrorless camera mated with one of our favorite Canon lenses – Canon FD 50mm f3.5 macro lens.
It was the most inexpensive way to get one of Fujifilm’s X series bodies and to make use of our collection of Canon FD lenses from the late 1970s and early 1980s.
f8 ISO 1000
f5.6 ISO 800
Shallow depth-of-field at f5.6 (above). At f32 almost the entire spool is in focus (greater depth-of-field) below.
f32 ISO 1000
The Canon FD 50mm lens 35mm equivalent is 75mm on the APS-C sensor.
The camera… $189, adapter… $59.95, lens $75
f8 ISO 800
Shot with Fujifilm film simulation mode Velvia Vivid. Little to no post production. We’re happy campers (and photogs)!
Chris and Carol ^.^
We picked up this paper while visiting New York in June 2002.
Worthy of a front page headline by the New York Daily News in June 2002? It’s the Daily News… of course!
Popular CD’s at J&R Music World.
And of course – TV
Happy Monday morning y’all!
Chris
Local Pizzeria and its classic Ford pickup delivery truck.
Chris
We’ve been wanting to get our hands on one of the Fuji X series mirrorless cameras for some time now. We enjoy our Fuji S9900W bridge camera very much – we use it almost exclusively as our studio camera.
We have so many classic film lenses in our collection that we never get a chance to use them. The first adapter we decided on was the Canon FD to Fujifilm X mount.
We choose the Fujifilm X-A10 body. It’s simple (inexpensive) and has the APS-C CMOS sensor and since we’ll be shooting with an adapter with manual focus lenses, we’ll shoot in aperture priority mode anyway. No need for all the other bells and whistles.
The Fuji X-A10 has 6 film simulation modes – PROVIA, Velvia, ASTIA, Classic Chrome, monochrome and sepia. My only wish was that it had ACROS.
The adapter we choose is the Fotodiox Pro (B&H $59.50 free S&H). It has a removable tripod mount which we like. Well built and it feels solid – mounts easily and securely.
This Canon Macro Lens FD 50mm is one of our favorite lenses for macro work. Below are a few sample shots.
16.3MP, APS-C CMOS sensor and under $200 lightly used. Great way to experience Fujifilm X Series cameras.
Studio Camera: Fujifilm FinePix S9900W
Chris
Yashica’s first 35mm single-lens reflex camera with the Praktica-thread (M42) mount lenses was the Yashica Penta J… at least here in the United States and in Japan. Elsewhere (most of the world) the camera was known as either the Yashica Reflex 35 or Reflex J (Australia and possibly the U.K.). As best we can tell, they were all the same cameras with different top plates to accommodate the different names (logos).
Part of the demise (lack of sales success) of the well-built Pentamatic series of cameras that preceded the Penta J, was that Yashica decided to go with a Pentamatic exclusive bayonet mount lens system. Sturdy and well designed to be sure, but being unique limited the available lenses that could be swapped between cameras. The Praktica design M42 screw thread mounting system was in widespread use at the time and Yashica’s bayonet design just went against the flow.
Now fast forward to 1965 ish… Yashica introduces the new J-5 AND the J-P! In between those years Yashica had introduced the J-3 and J-4. Why would Yashica go back in time and bring out another 35mm SLR in 1965 that was the cousin to the 1961 Penta J? Notice we say cousins… not brothers. They shared the same platform with one another but as you can see in the image below the top plates were of a different design.
Stay tuned… more to come on these Yashica classics.
Many thanks, Chris and Carol
“Line 5” has corroded
snake oil flows
through aged pipelines
it slithers 12 miles
through Native land
pushing fossilized lies
~ Words and Photography ©2017 Tanya Cliff ~ to contact me Posted in #noACP, #noDAPL, poetry
Please stop by Tanya’s blog. Exceptional writing and insite.
Chris
Clean design and simple controls. A stunning camera.
Released in 1962, the Penta J (Reflex 35 J in other markets) was Yashica’s first 35mm SLR designed to accept the popular M42 screw mount lenses vice Yashica’s exclusive Pentamatic bayonet mount that preceded it. The Penta J shared more body parts and took its design cues from the Pentamatic S (1961-62). Interestingly the Penta J lost the self-timer lever that the Pentamatic S fought so hard to get.
The Penta J was designed to accept a clip-on exposure meter that coupled to the shutter speed dial. No TTL metering – that was a long way off!
The ASA/DIN dial was not coupled to anything. It was a reminder to the photographer as to what the speed was of the film that was loaded in the camera.
The standard lens for the Penta J was the semi-automatic Yashinon 5cm f2 lens.
The Yashica Pentamatic S (below)… the Penta J’s cousin.
The Pentamatic S pictured with the standard lens for the Pentamatic II.
So there you have it. The Yashica Penta J and the Pentamatic S. Cousins in the Yashica family.
Comments? Please feel free to share what you know and what we may have missed. Thanks
Studio Camera: Fujifilm FinePix S9900W
Chris
That date* might be a bit misleading as the sales brochure this was scanned from is undated (as is most Yashica marketing stuff). Our only clue as to the date is that it (the brochure) features the newly released J-3 and doesn’t include any other Yashica SLR. No Penta J or Reflex 35 (same camera different markets) and no J-5.
We like it because it features the Yashinon lenses available at that time. If you look closely at the mounts of the lenses, you’ll see the M42 screw-in mount. Yashica does state in the brochure that all of these lenses are available in both the Yashica Pentamatic bayonet mount and the M42 mount. My friend Paul, see An Interview with Paul Sokk – Site Author of the popular YashicaTLR.com , has proposed that Yashica may have distributed these lenses to dealers (market dependent) with both mounts – meaning that they were shipped with the “new to Yashica” M42 mounts but could be converted easily at the dealer level to bayonet mounts for the Pentamatic. Sounds very possible. At this time, Yashica also sold adapter rings for mounting their M42 lenses to Exakta mount bodies and for mounting Praktica mount (M42) lenses to their Pentamatics. Confusing? Yes. Yashica guessed incorrectly when they choose to design their own bayonet mount for the Pentamatic back in 1959. Was it Yashica or was it Tomioka’s designers? How about the ex Nicca and Zunow designers? We may never know but it doomed the Pentamatic right out of the gate.
Excellent snapshot of the lenses that were available at the time. The dual mounts (bayonet and M42) reflects Yashica’s indecision as to which mount to embrace.
Cover of the sales brochure that was included with our Yashica J-3 when new.
It is generally believed that all of these lenses were made by Tomioka Optical of Tokyo.
While some early Pentamatic bayonet mount lenses bear the Tomioka and sometimes Tominon names, most only carry Yashica and Yashinon. The same applies to the M42 mount lenses. Some can be found with Tominon but most simply have Yashinon. We don’t have positive proof that some lenses (both types) may have been made by another lens manufacturer. But whom? Taiho Optical (which was the former Nicca Camera hidden away in Suwa) but was really Yashica, or or or. We just don’t know. Pure speculation to think that another company did, but then again, no proof that there wasn’t another maker.
Thanks so much for your visit! If you made it this far you just may be a “Yashicaphile” or just Yashica junkies like us. Do you have something to contribute??? We’d love to hear from you and would love to include your info in our blog. Thanks! ^.^
Chris & Carol
