Tag 120 Film Camera

Yashica-Mat 120 Film Camera Set – 1960

Chris and Carol Leave a comment

For those who may have missed this post from two years ago here’s a reblog of it. This is one of the nicest sets we’ve ever come across in all our years of collecting Yashicas.

Chris and Carol's avatarChasing Classic Cameras with Chris

dscf3786 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 and exempt purchase. No taxes paid but it could not be purchased or sold on the Japanese domestic market. 

dscf3787 It was Yashica’s first crank film advance TLR and it had auto cocking of the shutter. First released in April 1957.

dscf3798dscf3799dscf3800dscf3801dscf3805dscf3806dscf3812

The quality of the images taken with a Yashica-Mat are outstanding – Yashica used high quality Yashinon f3.5 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. It produces large 6 x 6 cm negatives or slides.

Thanks for your visit!

Chris and Carol  ^.^

View original post

More Yashima Flex – The Dark Knight

Chris and Carol 2 Comments

The Yashima Flex represents Yashima’s first TLR with their name on it – their true first TLR was the uniquely named Pigeonflex.

Here are a small collection of studio images of the aptly named The Dark Knight.

25262272564_d4dcebb6c5_o (1)

Studio camera: Fujifilm FinePix S9900W

25271445622_d2455a93b9_o (1)

This Yashima Flex is the best TLR from any manufacturer in our collection. It is in pristine condition and is fully operational.

25297161411_6ed34c9d99_o (1)

The attention to even the smallest details like the metal lens cap shows that Yashima was serious about building the best quality cameras at the best price (a great value for the customer). 

25318404703_dcb8344dbc_o (1)

The lenses were supplied by Tomioka Optical and the shutter was from NKS. As you can see from this 1954 made camera the company name was Yashima Kogaku Seiki Co., Ltd. and they produced their TLRs in a small factory in Nagano Prefecture along the shores of Lake Suwa in the small town of Suwa (the east shore of the lake).

I purchased this camera from a collector in Japan who apparently had it on display in a controlled environment as the camera has done well over these past six-plus decades.

Thanks for stopping by and if you want to learn even more about this camera and its place in history please visit my good friend Pauls’ amazing site at http://www.yashicatlr.com

My camera shop can be reached at http://www.ccstudio2380.com – I’m running a big sale starting today! Check it out! – 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.

Yashica-Mat 120 Film Camera Set – 1960

Chris and Carol 9 Comments
dscf3786

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.

dscf3787

It was Yashica’s first crank film advance TLR and it also featured auto cocking of the shutter. First released in April 1957.

dscf3798

dscf3799

dscf3800

dscf3801

dscf3805

dscf3806

dscf3812

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  ^.^

Yashima-Yashica Rookie – 1956

Chris and Carol 1 Comment

We were finally able to assemble our Yashicaflex Rookie ‘stuff’ for some studio shots. We’re still missing some items to make the set complete but so far the collection is looking good.

014

The outer box (or shipping box) for the camera and its leather case is on the left. Of course the camera is in the center with the Rookie leather case to its right. The Rookie instruction booklet is in the lower right of this image and a colorful Rookie sales brochure is just below the lens cap. A warranty (service certificate) card identifying that this camera is a Yashicaflex Model R is just below the box and finally another sales brochure that features the Rookie is on top of the box.

018

Original 1956 sales brochure.

015

Sales brochure from 1956.

017

Certainly an entry level twin-lens reflex camera with some nice features.

016

The Rookie could take standard 6×6 cm images or with a accessory kit take 3 more images on standard 120 film and produce 6×4.5 cm negatives.

The Rookie wasn’t popular in Japan and Yashima-Yashica gave it a very limited run. I suspect that some popularity exists today just because it’s seldom seen here in the U.S. and it’s rather hard to acquire a really nice example. We like the camera, the name is goofy and didn’t play well in the marketplace.

As always… we appreciate your visit! Thanks, C&C