Happy SUNday! – weekend project, finished

May 30, 2021May 30, 2021Chris and Carol Leave a comment

…hiding the garbage and recycle bins (and other junk).

The only thing left to do is to let it weather for just a bit before staining it with some cedar tinted wood stain (just like the fence further back). I’m sure the neighbors will appreciate not seeing my bins from the street. Now to do something about the driveway!

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, are the property of this blog and its owner, Yashica Pentamatic Fanatic, Yashica Sailor Boy, Yashica Chris, Chasing Classic Cameras with Chris.

Yashica’s YT-300… a neat little radio from 1959

May 29, 2021May 29, 2021Chris and Carol Leave a comment

It’s time to revisit this early post on my blog. Did you know that Yashica made electronics like radios and even a tape recorder?

Chasing Classic Cameras with Chris

Yashica produced more than just cameras during its boom years. As a leader in the field of electronic photography in the middle to late 1960s, Yashica’s early electronic devices ranged from such diverse items as transistor radios, record players, movie projectors, editing equipment and tape recorders to name but a few.

Most of the earliest electronic devices are rather rare now (as one would expect after 50 years) and only occasionally does something come up in auctions both on the web and in estate sales. I suspect that the more common electrical items such as projectors and editing equipment are still flooding eBay and other on-line auction sites.

Finding an early radio such as the YT-300 and YT-100 is a bit harder. Here we share some of what we’ve been able to collect over the years.

20150716_203028_Richtone(HDR) Nice complete set from around 1960.

Yashica YT-300 Radio Brochure Not a bad price for such a sophisticated…

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The Best of Yashica – 1972

May 28, 2021May 28, 2021Chris and Carol Leave a comment

From the Yashica book The Creative System of Photography. Some of the lenses pictured here are nearly impossible to find today in mint or near mint condition. I do know some intrepid Yashica collectors that have come very close to owning all of this.

To chase down all of this is a pretty monumental task so I’d give it a Chase Factor of a solid 10 (CF-10). Good luck chasers!

HTF Yashica Lens

May 28, 2021May 28, 2021Chris and Carol Leave a comment

This image was scanned from a Yashica TL ELECTRO-X book from 1972 titled *The Creative System of Photography*.

Taken with a Yashica TL Electro-X and Yashinon-DX 21mm f/3.3 lens at f/5.6 at 1/60 second. Image by acclaimed professional photographer Takeji Iwamiya. Titled “Solarization”.

A scan from the Yashica Yashinon Lenses & Accessories booklet dated December 1973.

As you can see in the above scan, as late as late 1973 Yashica was still marketing their 21mm lens alongside the newer and certainly more modern 20mm ultra-wide lens. The 21mm is a retrofocus lens meaning that the mirror on a 35mm SLR would have to be in the up position as the rear element of the lens was just millimeters away from the film plane. A separate matching viewfinder would need to be mounted on the accessory shoe in order to frame your image. Fortunately an ultra-wide lens usually has such a wide view that parallax error would only be a factor at extreme close-up imaging.

Do to the relative scarcity of the 21mm lens, prices are much higher than one would expect to pay for a ultra-wide lens of a more modern design. If you find the lens in excellent physical and optical condition with its matching viewfinder and original lens case, expect to see asking prices generally north of $500 USD. If you’re lucky, you may get a good one with no issues at around half that price. I give this lens set a Chase Factor of 8 (CF-8) for the reasons stated above. I certainly don’t need it in my collection but it would be a nice to have.

Rear view of the Yashica 21mm DX lens with its matching 21mm viewfinder.

Yashica’s last TLR – Chasing a True Classic!

May 27, 2021May 27, 2021Chris and Carol 2 Comments

Yashica’s (Kyocera by this point) last TLR model. This one was part of the last run of the model before production shut down in 1986. Yashica (originally named Yashima) started off in 1953 with the obscure Pigeonflex TLR followed by the Yashima Flex and then continued to build TLRs way longer than the market could bear (or need). The good news is that the 124G can be found today in great quantities and cameras as “young” as 35 years-old.
It’s a very affordable way to get into medium format photography and in the case of this model, be able to use both 120 and 220 roll film giving you either 12 or 24 exposures.

After about 33 years of making TLRs, this was Yashica’s best.

A beauty – here’s what a modern TLR looked like back in 1985.

The design of the last box that held the 124G (1985-1986).

This gorgeous camera was the first to carry the company name – Yashica Flex made in 1954.

For contrast, compare the Yashima Flex to the Yashica Mat 124G. Their excellent build quality remained throughout the decades. If you’re chasing one of these for your collection you’re in luck because Yashica made a bunch of 124Gs and there’s a bunch still out there. Expect to pay a premium for mint examples but be careful, they’re still older cameras and a host of bad things can happen to them from lack of use and improper storage. Ask lots of questions of the seller if you’re buying online and look for sellers with excellent reputations for selling quality classic and vintage cameras. BTW, not too many of the original Yashima Flex cameras will look like my example pictured above. I was so very lucky to buy mine from the original owner in Japan who obviously kept it in pristine condition both physically and mechanically.

flickr favorite

May 26, 2021May 26, 2021Chris and Carol Leave a comment

Far and away the most popular image on my Flickr site.

Taken in May 2018 outside the Jacksonville (Florida) Ikea. A bright, cloudless sky made the perfect backdrop for the stark blue and yellow boxes that make up the exterior of the store. Recorded with my always with me Samsung Galaxy S8+.

wordless wednesday

May 26, 2021May 26, 2021Chris and Carol 3 Comments

A tale of two boxes from Yashica.

May 26, 2021May 26, 2021Chris and Carol Leave a comment

From 1973, a box for the TL Electro-X ITS (Integrated Technology System). The box reflects the efforts of Yashica’s marketing division to create a more sophisticated looking box consistent with the new look to the TL Electro-X.

The original Yashica TL Electro-X box. This one is from mid-1970.

If you’re looking to add the correct box for your Yashica TL Electro-X be sure to match the proper box to the two different cameras. BTW, except for some external appearance differences, the ITS and the original Electro-X cameras are the same. The ITS was only available in an all black body whereas the original was available in both a satin chrome and black body.

If you look closely you’ll see that this box uses green for the “TL” and “35” logo where the true original uses a red “35” logo and a white “TL”. Oddly this variation of the box is from May 1970 which is right in the middle of the other boxes with the red logo. I haven’t decoded if it means anything changed in relationship to the camera or was it just a marketing exercise to see which looked better.

Light against the sky.

May 25, 2021May 25, 2021Chris and Carol Leave a comment

I had someone add this image as their favorite the other day on my Flickr page and it reminded me of how much I enjoyed taking it. I was out and about in the early evening testing my Canon FD 24mm f2.8 lens on my Fujifilm mirrorless camera body looking for interesting detail shots.

I think the little Fujifilm X-A10 handled this exposure quite well given all that it had to deal with.

It’s difficult for me to focus my manual lenses on my Fuji using the Fotodiox adapter – you’ve got to get the focus spot on, I mean really spot on when hand holding a shot like this. My camera quickly takes a dump (clarity wise) when you bump the ISO to handle any low light situations so you hold your breath and fire away. This one was recorded at ISO 400 at 1/100th probably at around f5.6. Of course, shooting with a 24mm lens helps too.

Reflecting on reflections – a favorite subject.

May 25, 2021May 25, 2021Chris and Carol Leave a comment

Bold reflection of the Fernandina Beach Post Office. Taken with a Fujifilm X-A10 with Canon FD 24mm f2.8 lens.

I think I enjoy the challenge and the opportunities presented by reflections when composing difficult shots. Should both subjects be in focus or only the primary subject? I think of photographing reflections as creating double exposures and I also view reflections as a way of seeing something new in an otherwise ordinary image.