Old Florida window – long since forgotten.
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Chris
Page 207 of 255
Yashica Pentamatic I & II – 1960
The original Pentamatic ’35’ and the Pentamatic II. The original Pentamatic made its debut in March 1960 and was first available for sale in April 1960 (production started in December 1959). The Pentamatic II was rushed into production in August 1960 and was only for sale in Japan. The only change between the two cameras… was the lens!
The P1 (left) came with the Auto Yashinon f/1.8 5.5cm lens. The P2 (right) came with the Auto Yashinon f/1.7 5.8cm lens. The goal of Yashica was to improve on the semi-automatic operation of the lens over the standard lens on the P1.
Serial numbers. The SN on the top camera is on the original Pentamatic camera body. The number, NO. 126013189 contains a date code and production sequence number. This camera was made in December 1960 and was the 13,189th camera made. The bottom camera’s serial number (Pentamatic II), NO. 126004171 decodes to: December 1960 and it was the 4,171st made since August 1960 (the start of production on the P2).
So both of the cameras were in production at the same time in the same factory. We’re highly confident in our analysis of the serial numbers. We have enough examples in our database and enough experience in decoding Yashica serial numbers to say that we are 100% correct.
The whole process of releasing the Pentamatic II was rushed – the top plates were only slightly modified to accommodate squeezing in the “II”. The engraving was moved about 1 mm to the left so as to have room to engrave the “II”. On the back of the camera it only took a change in the serial number engraving to reflect the P2.
The Pentamatic II didn’t get any upgrades to the body… no self-timer and no hot shoe. The lens is a totally different lens and we’ll cover those differences in our next post.
Thanks for your visit!
Studio Camera: Fujifilm FinePix S9900W
Chris
c1911 Post Office – Amelia Island
A favorite of mine to photograph – the interior of our c1911 post office here on Amelia Island. For the most part it’s survived its 115 year plus history pretty much intact. I’m told that this is exactly the same way this door has looked since 1911. Amazing.
Beautiful quartersawn oak – excellent casework and attention to detail. Can you imagine replicating this today?
Thanks for stopping by!
Chris
First Look… Yashica Pentamatic II – Finally!!!
After years of searching, we’ve finally acquired our first Pentamatic II. A rather rare camera that was only released in Japan and only for a short time. It’s estimated (by us) that less than 6,000 bodies were made. How many of those survived to the present day is of course unknown.
Much more detail about this Pentamatic coming soon.
Studio Camera: Fujifilm FinePix S9000W
Chris
Peek-a-boo
Talented artist with wonderful designs (and colors)! Take a stroll over to her beautiful blog.
Diving in Puerto Rico – 1989
I’ve hardly scanned any of my hundreds of pictures from our time living in Puerto Rico – 1988 to 1991. We lived in a big poured concrete house on top of the highest hill overlooking the Caribbean on the U.S. Naval Base at Roosevelt Roads (Ceiba). Hurricane Hugo (1989) blew out almost all of our windows – we weren’t there as we had evacuated a day before the storm hit. Our belongings were water damaged and our cars were scratched and sandblasted by the fierce winds but we were safe and our cats made it through the storm just fine (interior safe room with plenty of food and water).
We feel for the good people of Puerto Rico. It’s a tough little island and I’m sure they’ll pull through but the recovery will be slow and painful.
Here’s a photo I did find on my PC. It’s me getting ready for a dive at one of our favorite swimming spots on base.
Photo by Carol
Our house is circled in blue with the line underneath. This area was known as Nimitz Drive and was senior enlisted base housing. It looks like the forest (jungle) has taken over.
Large scale view of eastern Puerto Rico. Our house was in the small red circle. We could easily see the island of Vieques from our upstairs windows. The large red circle is where Hurricane Maria made landfall.
Hoping that Puerto Rico can recover quickly.
Chris and Carol
Weekly Photo Challenge – Layered
In response to this week’s photo challenge – layered.
One shell – layered
Many shells – layered
https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/layered/
Thanks for stopping by!
Chris
Newest Pentamatic – another fine Yashica joins the family.
A recently acquired Yashica Pentamatic for our collection. This one came to us from a fellow collector here in the southeast US.
This one includes the Auto Yashinon 5.5c f/1.8 lens that puts the lens as a very late production model (maybe mid 1961). Here’s a chance to check out our Pentamatic from many angles.
The angled shutter release button is in a perfect position for maintaining a solid grip on this heavy body while releasing the shutter.
The lens serial number, No. 60521000 is unique in the fact that it’s a whole number (21000).
The cold shoe is mounted on the camera’s left side top plate. Actually a very good spot for it.
This unique lever controls the rewind knob which pops up from under the cold shoe (it moves from the “A” position).
The body serial number, NO. 126013189 decodes to: 12 = December, 60 = 1960, 13189 = 13,189th made since December of 1959.
The lever is now in the “O” position which allows the back to be unlocked.
Pulling up the rewind knob completes the opening.
Our love affair with this fine camera continues. We just can’t get over the clean lines and excellent design.
If you want to acquire a nice Pentamatic for your own collection, they come up occasionally on US online auction sites and infrequently on auction sites in Japan. Nice examples can be had for under $50. Super nice examples will go closer to $100 with some guarantee of functionality from the seller.
Buckets
Buckets along Centre Street, Fernandina Beach, Amelia Island – Florida.
Chris
Seagull 4B-1
A great camera that I’ve never considered. Looks like she found a good one!
When I return to the UK for the summer, I take my new cameras back with me. This is mainly due to the humidity here. Everything goes moldy or grows fungus especially if you leave the air condition off. There isn’t much you can do about it in Japan when there is 90% humidity for days on end. This website gives some advice if you can’t afford a special cabinet. I am thinking of investing, but for now, I am saving all the little silica packs.
Anyway, it also means I can buy new-to-me cameras to play with when I return. However, the choices are getting smaller as my blog list gets bigger. It also meant I took all my medium format cameras back, but still had some film left in my fridge. Instead of throwing or giving it away I searched for a reasonably priced 120 film camera. The Fujipet
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Chasing Classic Cameras with Chris 