Stop by my camera and photo gear shop hosted by Etsy for some really interesting items. I ship almost anywhere in the world quickly and securely. Give my shop a look! Thanks
If there’s something you don’t see that you have been looking for give me a shout – I may already have it in my collection or I know where to get it. Email me at ccphotographyai@gmail.com
Thanks, Chris
So the Yashima Flex is pretty unique as it is a one-off. Here’s a pretty rare find – an original box for the Yashima Flex from 1953. The box structurally is sound and the graphics are clear and still appealing. There is some embedded soil that stained the paper on the top of the box but that’s to be expected as the top receives the most fallout from pollutants.
This is spot on to the actual color of the box (faded I’m sure after all these years).
These boxes are often called presentation boxes as they were inside of an outer cardboard shipping box. As best as I can tell, the boxes were never intended to be a place to store your camera when not in use so most were disposed of as soon as the camera was used. There’s no reason not to store your camera in its leather case in the box other than it wasn’t very convenient to do so. Finding an intact box for a camera made in Japan sixty-five years ago is pretty amazing especially considering that there weren’t many made.
Yashima was a startup just like hundreds of others in post-war Japan. How their boxes looked in a dealers display mattered so these early 1950s boxes often were made extremely well. To give an idea of its size here are its dimensions. About 7 inches tall, 5 inches wide and 4.25 inches deep ( 170 x 124 x 110mm).
Yashima’s pride and joy! Not quite as good a representation of the actual color of the box compared to pictures earlier in this post.
Thanks for stopping by! Chris
Earliest known inspection tag from Yashima Kogaku Seiki Company (Yashica) – 1954
It seems at first glance to be nothing important, but to a fanatic Yashica collector, this is golden. It’s the earliest known tag from Yashima complete with serial number and inspector’s stamps.
What it is. Most cameras from Japan came with some sort of inspection tag, form or sticker. This one says it’s an Inspection Form (across the top). What makes this find special is that it was included with the first twin-lens reflex (TLR) camera that bore the company name – Yashima. The Yashima Flex TLR camera was produced between 1953 and 1954 before changing the name to Yashica Flex in subsequent models and the company became known as Yashica in 1958.
This would have hung from the camera body and the serial number of the camera is recorded on the tag (here the last two numbers are blocked). The inspector would have entered a date next to the word Showa – or that would have been entered by the camera store at the time of sale. Here’s a scan of the reverse side of the tag.
Super cool inspection stamp!
This could be the instruction book (leaflet) that would have come with the camera but since none have been documented yet it could be something else entirely. ***My good friend Paul Sokk has suggested that it could be filled with a pad of papers for recording data about your photographs.***
Update August 22, 2019 – Paul was correct! A+ for him. It is a pad filled with forms for recording your exposures (images).
The form that is inside the green booklet. You would record the date, time of day and even the weather!
“Store the record of your photo data. Print your photos on this paper to better preserve your photos”.
This is the set I just purchased from Japan. It shows the size of the green booklet as it relates to the camera box. It is not an instruction booklet.
More about this exciting find soon!
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 © 2015-2019 Yashica Pentamatic Fanatic, Chris Whelan
All rights reserved.
The Yashica FR II is one of my favorite cameras to use. The viewfinder is big, bright and clear and coupled with the fast Contax/Yashica DSB 50mm lens it’s a joy to shoot with. The focusing screen on this Yashica uses a diagonally split focus spot that makes it super easy to get an accurate focus quickly even in dim lighting (perfect for my gettin’ older eyes!).
This Yashica FR II (FR2) has been fully inspected, serviced and tested. It will come to you with a fresh battery and the original lens cap. Just load a roll of film and you’re good to go!
Here’s some of my other cameras and gear in the shop at http://www.ccstudio2380.com
More can be found at http://www.ccstudio2380.com which is hosted by Etsy.
Thanks for stopping by! – Chris
Yashica TL Electro-X 35mm SLR Film Camera with an Auto Yashinon 50mm f1.4 DS-M Lens from Tomioka Optical
This is a museum-worthy camera set from my personal collection of exceptional Yashicas. It's been inspected, fully tested and is ready to pass on to the next collector. For additional images of the set and a more detailed description of the camera please visit my camera shop and studio at http://www.ccstudio2380.com I mail practically worldwide (there are a few exceptions) and if it's purchased directly from this post I'll mail it for free, fully insured and tracked to your home or business.
$220.00
The camera was assembled in September 1973 at Yashica’s newest factory (at that time) which was located in Hong Kong – its bottom plate is stamped “HONG KONG” which is rarely seen today. The 50mm lens is an extremely fast f/ 1.4 designed and built by the famous Tomioka Optical Company (which was fully part of Yashica by this time).
This set will come to you with a fresh battery, the original Yashica 57mm lens cap, the proper instruction booklet (dated 09/73) and the Yashica booklet ‘Yashinon Lenses & Accessories’ (dated 08/73).
This is a great opportunity to acquire an important camera in not only Yashica’s history but in the history of 35mm SLR development.
Thanks for stopping by and good luck! – 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.
The Yashica TL Electro-X. It would not be an overstatement to say that this camera was Yashica’s most successful 35mm SLR – ever! I’m not sure what the total sales record is for this camera but success is measured beyond just the number of cameras sold. It was the first SLR with full electronic control of the shutter and it used an innovative LED display in the viewfinder to help adjust the camera for the proper exposure.
From Yashica: Electronically operated metal focal plane shutter with speeds from about 2 seconds to 1/1000 with in-between shutter speed settings possible, and B. Thru-the-Lens (TTL) light measuring system with IC computer and electronic exposure readout. It had a “brain”.
This gorgeous example is from my personal collection and it’s available for purchase in my Etsy camera shop at http://www.ccstudio2380.com
It includes the famous Tomioka Optical designed and built Auto Yashinon 50mm f1.4 DS-M lens. The camera and lens are in collector quality condition – full mint condition and the camera works as new. The lens is perfect and the glass is crystal clear. Adding to the uniqueness of this set is that the camera was built at Yashica’s new factory in Hong Kong in September 1973. The baseplate is appropriately marked “Hong Kong”.
Assembled in Hong Kong with parts made in Japan.
Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check it out in my shop at http://www.ccstudio2380.com
There’s plenty of awesome cameras available in the shop with more being added from my collection almost daily.
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.
Here’s some eye candy from that brochure –
How about finding this under the Christmas tree then or now?
Really the first introduction of the partnership between Yashica and Contax.
The marketing brochure (cover) from 1975.
The original letter (not a copy) that was sent to each camera dealer in the US. Each was signed by the President (or more likely an underling).
I personally haven’t collected anything with the Contax branding but that hasn’t meant that I wouldn’t want to – just no more room for another branch in the collection.
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 © 2015-2019 Yashica Pentamatic Fanatic, Chris Whelan
All rights reserved.
I’ve got lots more in the shop so stop on by. Everything is on sale at 10% off and many include free USA shipping.
Thanks – 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.
Here’s Jens Erik’s Yashica – his TL Electro-X matches the one depicted in the Yashica ad from 1969 and it clearly shows that the “X” is black vice the typical red and that the gothic “Y” that would normally be on the pentaprism is “missing”.
An example of an early version of this popular Yashica. The lens is not the lens that would have been on the camera at the time of its release. I’ll call this version the Type 1.
Updated info as of September 2019. It now appears that this no “Y” version wasn’t unique to this Danish or any other European distributor. I’ve just acquired my own version of this camera through a seller in the United States with no indication that it was purchased outside of the US initially. In my opinion, Yashica’s first version (pictured above) of their wildly popular TL Electro-X was the version missing the “Y” on the pentaprism – production looks like it first began in October 1968. My newest camera for my collection is from December 1968 as its serial number is 81200636. There’s one for sale on the Spanish eBay site that has the serial number 81000991 (which is October 1968).
Below is an example of the more typical Yashica TL Electro X design. The “X” is in red and there’s no hyphen before it and of course, the traditional gothic “Y” on the pentaprism.
Yashica TL Electro X Type 2 – with red “X” and gothic “Y”
Yashica sales brochure from the early 1970s.
Update #1: So Yashica’s first design for the TL Electro-X was the one without the “Y” on the pentaprism (Type 1) and the second and much more available TL Electro X with the “Y” is the Type 2. There also appears to be a large gap in production between the T1 and T2 of about eight or nine months. At this point in time, we don’t have a reason for the changes or for the gap.
Yashica sales brochure in German from around 1972. The ITS model with its distinctive gold electron design on the pentaprism is on the right.
Thanks again to Jens Erik for sharing his Yashica with me (and you).
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.
Chasing Classic Cameras with Chris 