Tag 1960s

Newest Pentamatic – another fine Yashica joins the family.

Chris and Carol Leave a comment

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.

DSCF6233

DSCF6235

The angled shutter release button is in a perfect position for maintaining a solid grip on this heavy body while releasing the shutter.

DSCF6236

The lens serial number, No. 60521000 is unique in the fact that it’s a whole number (21000).

DSCF6237

The cold shoe is mounted on the camera’s left side top plate. Actually a very good spot for it.

DSCF6238

This unique lever controls the rewind knob which pops up from under the cold shoe (it moves from the “A” position).

DSCF6239

The body serial number, NO. 126013189 decodes to: 12 = December, 60 = 1960, 13189 = 13,189th made since December of 1959.

DSCF6240

DSCF6241

DSCF6243

DSCF6244

The lever is now in the “O” position which allows the back to be unlocked.

DSCF6245

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.

How to date a pretty little Yashica… *

Chris and Carol Leave a comment

More exactly, how to decode the serial numbers on the Yashica YE 35mm rangefinder camera.

*Not an official Yashica dating site.

DSCF6188

We touched on this briefly the other day, but the Yashica YE serial number might have a date code embedded in it. We say might have because we are working off only a 25 camera database – possibly not enough to make a definitive call.

In the example above, the serial number (No. 392745) appears to decode to: 3 = March, 9 = 1959 and 2745 = 2,745th made.

The earliest camera in our database is: (No. 128049) which would be 12 = December, 8 = 1958 and 049 = the 49th made.

The latest in the database is: (No. 699821) which is 6 = June, 9 = 1959 and 9821 = 9,821st made.

Reports on some sites on the Internet claim that only 4,000 cameras were made. The serial numbers, if consecutive and continuous would seem to contradict that. For the moment, let’s keep an open mind about the serial number decoding. More info is needed to fill in the December 1958 and post June 1959 production numbers from Yashica.

If you have some additional info or serial numbers to share, please feel free to share that with us.

Thanks!

Be sure to check out some of our fine art prints available at https://society6.com/ccstudio2380

Chris and Carol

Finally! A Pentamatic II will be joining our Yashica family!

Chris and Carol 4 Comments

Success! After literally years of searching and countless missed bids, we’ve acquired a Yashica Pentamatic II. One of Yashica’s lowest production cameras – ever. Estimated at less than 5 thousand – and since it failed in the marketplace and wasn’t distributed outside of Japan, it wasn’t considered a collector’s camera and many were simply dumped whenever they broke. It’s hard to estimate how many exist today, but a wild guess would be around 1 to 2 thousand (and that may be high). Production started in August 1960 and for the most part ended in very early 1961 (late January) when the Pentamatic S came out worldwide.

yashica p2 japan

Yashica Pentamatic II – the hardest Pokemon of all to catch!

Our camera has the original short lived Auto Yashinon f1.7 5.8cm lens. It also has the correct leather strap and strap hangers and comes with the original Yashica metal lens cap and lower leather case.

This has been a long chase – but fun! The camera was sold as “junk” – Yahoo Japan Auction speak for a camera that is not functioning properly or has not been fully tested. Sometimes junk cameras are little gems and sometimes they are as the word junk implies.

We’ll have more about our exciting find in the next few weeks as our little Yashica sails or flies across the Pacific to our studio (at many thousands of yen).

Thanks for your visit and stay tuned!

Chris ^.^

Yashica Penta J and the J-P

Chris and Carol Leave a comment

Yashica’s first 35mm single-lens reflex camera with the Praktica-thread (M42) mount lenses was the Yashica Penta J… at least here in the United States and in Japan. Elsewhere (most of the world) the camera was known as either the Yashica Reflex 35 or Reflex J (Australia and possibly the U.K.). As best we can tell, they were all the same cameras with different top plates to accommodate the different names (logos).

Part of the demise (lack of sales success) of the well-built Pentamatic series of cameras that preceded the Penta J, was that Yashica decided to go with a Pentamatic exclusive bayonet mount lens system. Sturdy and well designed to be sure, but being unique limited the available lenses that could be swapped between cameras. The Praktica design M42 screw thread mounting system was in widespread use at the time and Yashica’s bayonet design just went against the flow.

IMG_20160102_0007

IMG_20150926_0026

IMG_20160102_0005

IMG_20160102_0004

Now fast forward to 1965 ish… Yashica introduces the new J-5 AND the J-P! In between those years Yashica had introduced the J-3 and J-4. Why would Yashica go back in time and bring out another 35mm SLR in 1965 that was the cousin to the 1961 Penta J? Notice we say cousins… not brothers. They shared the same platform with one another but as you can see in the image below the top plates were of a different design.

DSCF1268

DSCF1277

IMG_20150903_0027

IMG_20150903_0025

Yashica J-P 6-27-15 Papers

Stay tuned… more to come on these Yashica classics.

Many thanks, Chris and Carol

Yashica Penta J – the Pentamatic that wasn’t!

Chris and Carol Leave a comment
DSCF5876

Clean design and simple controls. A stunning camera.

Released in 1962, the Penta J (Reflex 35 J in other markets) was Yashica’s first 35mm SLR designed to accept the popular M42 screw mount lenses vice Yashica’s exclusive Pentamatic bayonet mount that preceded it. The Penta J shared more body parts and took its design cues from the Pentamatic S (1961-62). Interestingly the Penta J lost the self-timer lever that the Pentamatic S fought so hard to get.

DSCF5873

The Penta J was designed to accept a clip-on exposure meter that coupled to the shutter speed dial. No TTL metering – that was a long way off!

DSCF5874

The ASA/DIN dial was not coupled to anything. It was a reminder to the photographer as to what the speed was of the film that was loaded in the camera.

DSCF5875

The standard lens for the Penta J was the semi-automatic Yashinon 5cm f2 lens.

The Yashica Pentamatic S (below)… the Penta J’s cousin.

DSCF5868

The Pentamatic S pictured with the standard lens for the Pentamatic II.

DSCF5867

So there you have it. The Yashica Penta J and the Pentamatic S. Cousins in the Yashica family.

Comments? Please feel free to share what you know and what we may have missed. Thanks

Studio Camera: Fujifilm FinePix S9900W

Chris

Yashinon Lenses – 1962*

Chris and Carol Leave a comment

That date* might be a bit misleading as the sales brochure this was scanned from is undated (as is most Yashica marketing stuff). Our only clue as to the date is that it (the brochure) features the newly released J-3 and doesn’t include any other Yashica SLR. No Penta J or Reflex 35 (same camera different markets) and no J-5.

We like it because it features the Yashinon lenses available at that time. If you look closely at the mounts of the lenses, you’ll see the M42 screw-in mount. Yashica does state in the brochure that all of these lenses are available in both the Yashica Pentamatic bayonet mount and the M42 mount. My friend Paul, see An Interview with Paul Sokk – Site Author of the popular YashicaTLR.com , has proposed that Yashica may have distributed these lenses to dealers (market dependent) with both mounts – meaning that they were shipped with the “new to Yashica” M42 mounts but could be converted easily at the dealer level to bayonet mounts for the Pentamatic. Sounds very possible. At this time, Yashica also sold adapter rings for mounting their M42 lenses to Exakta mount bodies and for mounting Praktica mount (M42) lenses to their Pentamatics. Confusing? Yes. Yashica guessed incorrectly when they choose to design their own bayonet mount for the Pentamatic back in 1959. Was it Yashica or was it Tomioka’s designers? How about the ex Nicca and Zunow designers? We may never know but it doomed the Pentamatic right out of the gate.

IMG_20170726_0004

Excellent snapshot of the lenses that were available at the time. The dual mounts (bayonet and M42) reflects Yashica’s indecision as to which mount to embrace.

IMG_20170726_0007

Cover of the sales brochure that was included with our Yashica J-3 when new.

It is generally believed that all of these lenses were made by Tomioka Optical of Tokyo.

While some early Pentamatic bayonet mount lenses bear the Tomioka and sometimes Tominon names, most only carry Yashica and Yashinon. The same applies to the M42 mount lenses. Some can be found with Tominon but most simply have Yashinon. We don’t have positive proof that some lenses (both types) may have been made by another lens manufacturer. But whom? Taiho Optical (which was the former Nicca Camera hidden away in Suwa) but was really Yashica, or or or. We just don’t know. Pure speculation to think that another company did, but then again, no proof that there wasn’t another maker.

Thanks so much for your visit! If you made it this far you just may be a “Yashicaphile” or just Yashica junkies like us. Do you have something to contribute??? We’d love to hear from you and would love to include your info in our blog. Thanks! ^.^

Chris & Carol

Pentamatic S on a walkabout.

Chris and Carol Leave a comment

Here’s one of our nicer S models outfitted with the “no name” add on light meter (clip on exposure meter) from Yashica.

20186770749_3906ae1138_o

Another in Yashica’s short lived series of the Pentamatic 35mm SLR. This one c1961. Yashica’s first SLRs had a steep learning curve for the company. Groundbreaking for Yashica to be sure but a miss overall against the competition. Yashica’s best was still to come. We happen to appreciate the rock solid construction of this often overlooked camera… the Tomioka Optical “normal” lens focal length of 5.8cm was a bit odd but the bayonet mount lenses were sharp and attached very solidly to the body. This was not the lens that was supplied with the S – Yashica went back to the 5.5cm, f/1.8 lens. No batteries needed for either the camera or meter.

20150110_153411

The Pentamatic S wasn’t made in large quantities over a long period of time. Nice working examples are still available and some very nice collector quality examples are still out there. You are much more likely to find a Pentamatic S for sale than a Pentamatic II – probably by a 4 to 1 margin.

Happy hunting!

Chris

Yashica Half 17 – Classic mid 1960s design

Chris and Carol 13 Comments

Many thanks to our friend and fellow blogger Peggy at Camera Go Camera for sending us this wonderful classic Yashica. It needs a little work on the slower shutter speeds but it’s super clean and a fun sized camera to boot. We look forward to running a roll through it soon.

DSCF5526

Being a half frame 35mm camera means that you can get up to 72 exposures from a standard 36 exposure film cartridge!

DSCF5528

One of the more unique and modern looking Yashica logos. We like it better than the western style font that Yashica used for years.

DSCF5516

Certainly a nice camera to add any collection of 1960s 35mm cameras. It has such smooth lines and an exceptionally nice finish to the satin chrome.

Studio Camera: Fujifilm FinePix S9900W

Chris

Early Yashica Pentamatic Brochure – US

Chris and Carol Leave a comment

Very early if not the earliest printed in the US sales brochure for the new Pentamatic.

We’re thinking the summer of 1960…

We haven’t found an earlier brochure that features the Pentamatic then this one – “Printed in the U.S.A.” on the back cover using the 234 Fifth Avenue, New York 1, N.Y. address. The cover is amazing in that other than Yashica’s name and an image of the camera, there’s no other writing. No “Pentamatic” – just an image of the camera. That was a first for Yashica as best as we can tell.

The first magazine advertisement was June 1960 in the US so we don’t believe this brochure was out before that. The only problem with our thinking is that most of the other cameras featured inside this brochure are 1959 model cameras and in some cases late 1958. There could even be a few that came out in early 1960. The two pages we’ve scanned (see below) contain an interesting wealth of info on the features and accessories for the Pentamatic. Of note, the lens serial number (No. 59100036) puts that lens to be one of the first lenses Tomioka made for Yashica with the new Pentamatic exclusive bayonet mount – 59 = 1959, 10 = October, 0036 = the 36th made in the production run.

We know from our research that the October 1959 date for the lens is 2 full months early from the first Pentamatic bodies (December 1960). Our best guess is that Tomioka Optical (the maker of the lens) needed to start production of the standard lens early in order to meet the demand for the camera body itself. No proof exists yet but it’s the best decoding of the lens serial number we can come up.

Page 1 provides a wealth of info for Yashica's first 35mm SLR.

Page 1 provides a wealth of info for Yashica’s first 35mm SLR.

IMG_20150926_0025

Page 2 shows (with prices) a nice selection of accessories for the Pentamatic. It appears that at the time of this brochure that there were 5 lenses available in the Pentamatic bayonet mount.