Testing our Fujica GW690 medium format camera and Fujifilm Neopan Acros 100 film. Captures the details, grays, shadows and textures nicely on this 130 year old brick wall on Centre Street.
Processing: The Darkroom
Scanner: Canon CanoScan 9000F Mark II
Film: Fujifilm Neopan Acros 100
Camera: Fuji Photo Film Fujica GW690 ca.1978
Nerd heaven! After years of speculation and almost constant searching, we’ve been able to confirm that Tomioka Optical began making lenses for Yashica’s new Pentamatic 35mm SLR camera in the latter part of 1959. The two lenses pictured below confirm (via serial numbers) of an October 1959 start of production. Yashica had filed for a trademark of the name ‘Pentamatic’ in September 1959 (in Japan). Since their new camera used an exclusive mount for its lenses, Yashica designers had to have shared their design with Tomioka as early as the summer (August ?) of 1959.
Using the rule of twos, these lenses are the earliest in our collection.
By serial number the left lens was built in October 1959 and it was the 92nd lens made. The right lens was built in December 1959 and by then Tomioka had built 1,630 lenses for Yashica.
No. 59 = 1959 10 = October 0092 = 92nd made
No. 59 = 1959 12 = December 1630 = 1,630th made
Here’s our lens matched up to an advertisement in ‘Popular Photography’ magazine from the June 1960 issue. The lens in the ad is No. 59100581 which decodes to – October 1959, lens number 581 in the sequential production run. So in October, Tomioka had made nearly 600 lenses and by December they were up to 1,630 made. Certainly possible that they were averaging nearly 600 lenses per month in late 1959.
It’s a good find for us as the early serial numbers were just a guess on our part as to how they decoded. Having two lenses made before 1960 helped firm up our speculation. Lenses made in 1960 drop the month code in favor of a model number or code. A typical 1960 lens would have a serial number of: No. 605xxxxx which would be 60 = 1960 5 = model code xxxxx = production sequence number.
Serial number No. 60515001 decodes to 60 = 1960 5 = model code 15001 = 15,001 made since production began in October 1959.
If you’re a collector of Pentamatics or are just interested in Yashica cameras in general, this is important info. We know, total nerd stuff!
Thanks for your visit.
Chris
Nothing beats Spring here in Florida. Our backyard habitat is alive with color and texture.
Cameras: Fujifilm FinePix S9900W , Sony Cyber-shot W170 , Samsung Galaxy S4 , Canon A-1 , Asahi Pentax 6×7
Many thanks for your visit. Enjoy your Spring!
Chris
A beautiful “in the box” classic from Asahi Pentax
A classic 35mm SLR from Asahi Pentax. Nice clean lines and good balance.
Thanks for your visit!
Chris
Yashica’s best in pro-black…
Featured… TL Electro-X (1971) TL Electro-X ITS (1973) J-3 (1962) Yashima Flex (1954)
Thanks for your visit. Comments always appreciated.
Chris
On the 103rd anniversary of his birth – March 7, 1914
On the streets of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn ca. 1921. My dad’s dad drove a milk wagon delivering milk in the neighborhoods of Brooklyn. My dad grew up around horses and continued that trend while assigned to a CCC camp at Ft. Dix, New Jersey just before WWII.
U.S. Army ca. 1943. Military Policeman assigned to the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
His favorite camera. Purchased new in 1953.
Remembering a great man on the day of his birth. Forever missed.
Chris
Pretty close to the way it looked when it was unboxed back in 1960. This one was part of a short production run of only a handful of cameras. It was for sale at US Military Exchanges (stores) in Japan as it is marked *EP* which meant an exempt purchase. No taxes paid but it could not be purchased or sold on the Japanese domestic market.
It was Yashica’s first crank film advance TLR and it also featured auto cocking of the shutter. First released in April 1957.
The quality of the images taken with a Yashica-Mat are outstanding – Yashica used high-quality Yashinon f/ 3.5 80mm lenses made for them by Tomioka Optical of Tokyo.
They are a joy to use and it’s a great camera to get into medium format photography with. It produces large 6 x 6 cm negatives or slides.
Thanks for your visit! Please visit our camera shop for some interesting vintage photo gear at http://www.ccstudio2380.com
Chris and Carol ^.^
Rustic and rusted barn barely holds on in the early morning mist. Otto, North Carolina, 1986.
Camera: Canon F-1n
Lens: Canon FD 80-200mm f4 zoom
Film: Kodak Kodacolor II
35mm rangefinder camera from Minolta. This one is from about 1963. Neat little camera – a bit small for my hands so it’s hard to reach the lens to focus comfortably. The rangefinder focuses well but doesn’t snap out at you although the view is bright. No film test for this one. The shutter fires and the speeds appear to be on time – the rear lens element is “ate up” (Southern term) with fungus and when I got rid of the fungus I was left with an etched lens. Maybe some polishing might bring it back. The light meter appears to be accurate too.
It’s a pretty little thing. I like the gray leatherette body and it certainly looks nice under my studio lights. We like to collect complete sets when we can and this one has its original box, leather case (black), silica-gel pack and the owners manual. It would have been extra nice had Minolta made the case gray like the camera.
Although the box has some damage from handling it over the years, it’s still quite solid. It was covered with soot, dirt, dust, grime and I’m sure some DNA – it was so dirty that the Minolta logo was not visible! I used a new bar of ‘Mr. Clean Magic Eraser’ lightly made wet to gently ‘erase’ the dirt. It’s amazing how well it did without damaging the delicate 50+ year old paper. A new way to restore some of our older boxes in our collection.
Nice image from inside the owners booklet.
We wish we had a chance to run a roll through it to test the f2.8 45mm Rokkor lens… but as is typical with these vintage rangefinders, the rear lens element is trashed with fungus.
Thanks for your visit. We hope you know a bit more about this unique camera.
Chris and Carol Photography ^.^
Every now and then as a collector of all things Yashica, you get a little lucky. In this case my luck was finding an accessory that I wanted so badly back in the day (early 1970s). It’s not actually an accessory – more of what I’ll call ‘studio support equipment’.
Pentamatic S on the copy stand.
I know. It’s just a simple copy stand. They’re for sale everywhere. But not a built in 1971 Yashica branded copy stand – and in its original box too! Collector heaven.
The grids are about 20 x 20 so it’s actually quite large.
It’s definitely from another time and place. No official name for it – just a copy stand. It’s built pretty well – lots of real steel parts and no plastic. I believe the plastic looking parts are Bakelite. I’ll need to modify the tripod screw bracket a bit for use by my digital Fuji.
