Tag 35mm Film

Yashica TL Electro-X

Chris and Carol 2 Comments

One of the most successful SLRs from Yashica – the ‘Pioneer in Electronic Cameras’… the Yashica TL Electro-X. The world’s first electronic single-lens reflex camera.

A random collection of clips from Yashica sales brochures and our eclectic collection of all things Yashica –

18641997101_dbb1db2784_o

img_20170228_0003

‘ITS’ = Integrated Technology System… maybe.

img_20170228_0007

We’ve recently added this hard to find accessory from Yashica. It was still new in its original box! It will be used in our studio for some copy work.

20170301_092007

Original box. Lucky find!

img_20170228_0002

The Copy Stand listed for 20,000 JPY in 1971. About $55 USD

 

15218536719_13b8308208_o

17151773615_977cae3853_o

Large dealer’s sign. Two sided but non lighted. Ca. 1968

24520965712_eae778e081_o

Yashica ‘Sailor Boy’ with another version of the slogan and electron logo. The ‘Sailor Boy’ first made his appearance in 1962.

24104907192_2909081390_o

Elegance on ice.

Do you have something to add to our database about this interesting camera? Please feel free to comment. 

Thanks,

Chris & Carol Photography ^.^

Excellent Post by Dan James

Chris and Carol 1 Comment

I’ve shot far more photographs with 50mm lenses than any other focal length. But switching 50s more often than underwear can become an exhausting and hollow experience. Here’s why my 50s philandering days are done, and how I’ve settled on my ideal. It took me a while to realise, but after something like seven or […]

via The Fall Of The 50s Philanderer (Or How I Found The Perfect 50mm Lens) — 35hunter

Taking an old friend out and about… Canon EOS Rebel 2000

Chris and Carol Leave a comment

I know – what a goofy name! Rebel 2000? WTFO! (a nautical term often heard aboard U.S. Navy ships at sea).

Silly names aside, it’s been a good little Canon and has done pretty much everything I’ve asked it to do over the years. No outstanding features – just  sharp images and as close to a point and shoot analog SLR as there was in the late 1990s. I believe Carol gave me this one for Christmas 2003.

Since we’ve decided to pare down our collection of cameras, this one will be listed for sale soon. We like to test our cameras with film first so that we can state that the camera and lens works as advertised -plus we get to shoot some film with an old friend one last time.

It takes two CR2 batteries which we found for under $10 (with shipping) on eBay. We’ve loaded a fresh roll of Fujifilm Fujicolor Superia X-TRA 400 and now all we need is a sunny day. The Acros 100 is for another day and another camera.

20170214_134724_richtonehdr

The camera and lens weigh next to nothing – a breeze to carry around places like Walt Disney World and it did well when we used it on our trip to Disneyland and Yosemite back in 2004. After years of carrying around a heavy Canon F-1 with equally heavy lenses, this camera and lens set me free to concentrate on composition and not the gear (and the pain in my neck). It’s a camera that’s had enough versions made over the years and in enough quantities that finding additional lenses for it would not be a problem if we were keeping it. The next owner will get a very well taken care of SLR that should be trouble free for years to come.

Standard issue EOS Rebel 2000 with the 28-80mm zoom lens.  ⇓

dscf3536

Super clear and easy to understand LCD with just the right amount of info. ⇓

dscf3543

It takes 58mm screw-in filters. ⇓

dscf3540

dscf3542

It’s a good looking camera with an easy to keep clean surface. ⇑ ⇓

dscf3544

Nice fill-in flash when needed. ⇓

dscf3545

So there you have it. A simple Canon that’s very capable of delivering sharp, well exposed images. Lightweight – easy to pack. It makes it easy to concentrate on composition and not the camera. Just what you want when venturing out with an old friend.

Thanks for stopping by!

Chris

 

Petri 35 Super 28 – 1956 – A little gem with a serious flaw.

Chris and Carol 7 Comments

15798348994_ef472e783c_o

This Petri 35mm rangefinder was purchased in June 1956 at a U.S. military facility in Japan. It came with excellent documentation – sales receipt (not shown), instruction booklet, guarantee card (dated 4 June 1956), a JCII hang tag (May 1956), original metal lens cap, the leather case (not pictured) and the original box. It was nice to see that all of these items stayed with the camera after all these years.

16420431011_be464b9c9d_o-1

We don’t normally collect rangefinder cameras – this one was included with a Yashica TLR from the same year (and purchased by the original owner at the same time). After some initial cleaning and inspection it was discovered that the lens (last element inside) was ripe with fungus. I had a feeling it would (most of this era do) as it still had a roll of film inside with a light white haze on it. Not a good sign. Everything worked on the camera but there was no point in testing it with a fresh roll of film – way too much fungus. I don’t try to clean the lenses on these types of cameras. My one and only attempt resulted in a completely clouded lens.

16234960717_d73e79839e_o

16234409528_f15500ab29_o

16234975687_f6f1e6bd6e_o

In our opinion, this mark identifies mostly cameras and camera equipment and sometimes electronics like stereos, that were sold in Japan for export. The <E.P> stands for ‘Exempt Product or Exempt Purchase’ to let customs officials know that fees (taxes and the like) were not paid. This allowed foreigners living in Japan to buy high quality products and not pay taxes as long as it was purchased for personal use. Mostly available at U.S. military facilities (Navy Exchange and the like). May have also been available for diplomats and their families and tourists that shopped in the duty free shops. Notice that the symbol is on the camera’s cold shoe (accessory shoe). The camera maker could easily change the shoe for a camera made for sale in the domestic market.

This lovely set is now proudly owned by a collector in Italy. He purchased it with full disclosure on our part that the lens had fungus. Some of our more collectible Yashima-Yashica twin-lens reflex (TLR) cameras have some fungus and mold spots. They have all been exposed to strong sunlight and are stored properly to prevent further fungus and mold growth.

16380073987_e944d6f69f_o

16421815085_c4b6dc1107_o

16564472901_61ca4c15fb_o

So there you have it – a short photo essay on a very attractive camera and set from Petri. We wish that it could have stayed in our collection since it was so complete – but our true focus is Yashica 35mm SLRs and Yashica TLRs with an occasional rangefinder thrown in for fun!

Camera(s): Sony DSC-W170 and Samsung Galaxy S4

Many thanks for your visit – comments are always welcome. Chris & Carol ^.^

Colorful Yashica Brochures… 1980s

Chris and Carol 1 Comment

A small collection of some 1980s Yashica and the Yashica-Kyocera sales brochures. We enjoy collecting brochures as they usually capture a slice of life for that period (at least in the marketing folks view of things). Enjoy!

Cute brochure from around 1980 featuring the Yashica Auto Focus. Yashica’s home office was still in Shibuya-ku Tokyo at this time. Kyocera was in Yashica’s near future and it would signal the beginning of the end!

25896400900_c2437ce7ec_o

Another nice sales brochure from October 1981. The cameras featured in this brochure are the Diary, Flasher, Snap and the Auto Focus Motor.

25898856450_44fee70d1d_o

Yashica Auto Focus, Auto Focus Motor and Motor-D. These were technological breakthrough cameras for Yashica in the early 1980s. Of course at this same time, Canon had the A-1, AE-1, AE-1 Program and of course the Canon F-1. These cameras from Canon were all SLRs so not a fair comparison but Canon made similar compact rangefinder cameras. It was a tough go for Yashica at this time and a takeover was on the horizon.

25899033730_558e532eaf_o

What a cutie! Full color sales brochure from Yashica dated 1 March 1980. Features the Flasher, Auto Focus, Snap and the Diary.

26079349032_07ccb458cd_o

Neat sales brochure from September 1980. In the early 1980s Yashica promoted its auto focus and auto exposure cameras extensively. This brochure featured the Yashica Snap, Diary, Flasher and the Auto Focus which listed for ¥41,000.

26169339505_b055f64250_o

The dark days of Yashica begin with this very cute sales brochure from February 1984. Yashica by this time was taken over by the Kyocera Corporation which was headquartered in Kyoto. Yashica was now a just a division of Kyocera…Yashica was still in its long time office in Shibuya-ku. This move (Kyocera ownership) was the beginning of the end for the Yashica we knew.

When Kyocera killed Yashica (about 1991) they kept the optical portion of the company which was originally the Tomioka Optical Co., Ltd. of Tokyo. That division is still part of Kyocera and is now called Kyocera Optec Co., Ltd. and is still headquartered in Tokyo.

26103094971_52ab0e9630_o

There you have it. A nice collection of some of the best of the 1980s Yashica sales brochures. As we mentioned, the Kyocera ownership was just on the horizon and the final days of the once great Yashica were coming to an end. We do own a few cameras from the Kyocera (Kill-a-Yashica) period and some were received as excellent point and shoot compact wonders.

dscf3456

A lovely Yashica-Kyocera L AF Date from 1986. Very nice lines and we’ll be running a roll through it very soon!

This good looking camera (above) was sent to us from a blogger friend and photographer living in Japan. She was very kind to donate it to us for sharing it on our blog. You can see excellent reviews of all sorts of cameras and awesome photographs too at https://cameragocamera.wordpress.com/

Another donated camera comes to us from a friend in Virginia and a fellow Flickr poster.

26295606350_65700d54b4_o

25965272473_a80d24519c_o

We haven’t run film through this beauty yet – it’s on our “catch up” list of things to do. Thanks to Ken for sharing his lovely camera with us so that we could share it with y’all here on the blog.

By the way, if you’ve got a nice Yashica, Kyocera or Fujifilm camera from this period (1980s to mid 1990s) and would like to see it featured here, just contact us through WordPress and we’d be glad to do it.

Many thanks for your visit – comments are always welcomed.

Chris & Carol ^.^

 

Amboseli N.P., Kenya 1979

Chris and Carol 3 Comments
22054682705_ea47ed58d8_o

Mount Kilimanjaro as seen from Amboseli N.P., Kenya.

After endless weeks and months at sea (Indian Ocean), my U.S. Navy ship arrived in the port city of Mombasa, Kenya for a bit of ‘liberty’. As a Sailor on government pay (1979) there would have been no way I would have been able to go on a photographic safari in Africa – I might have had a better chance at going to the moon. But along with a few of my shipmates we were able to afford (with the Navy’s help), to get out of Mombasa (a good thing) and see sights we might never had the chance to see otherwise. It was November 1979 – just a few days before the attack on the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and more endless days, weeks and months at sea for me and about 25,000 other U.S. Navy Sailors.

I traded one distant horizon at sea for another on land – no contest. I can say that my two days touring Amboseli made up for two months at sea (well almost).

These images are but a few from the dozens that I have still need to scan. The film used was Kodak Kodachrome 25 and 64 shot with my trusty Canon F-1 (1978 version) and Canon’s FD lenses.

21177104405_931d26f2d2_o

Kilimanjaro from our VW safari bus. Canon FD 80-200mm f/ 4 lens at 200mm and a bit of cropping.

20557508363_7a661a6e88_o

This image was taken from outside the ‘safety’ of our VW bus. Billions of mosquitoes kept me from wandering too close to this beautiful elephant. 

20711852164_58a9802190_o

Amazing animals… not much more to say.

20989553398_590ce75815_o

The exposure was off a tad but elephants and Kilimanjaro are not an easy capture!

21212857591_53b8dcd228_o

Maasai tribesmen giving me his ‘best’ hunters pose. He was a pretty funny guy and we hung out for a bit until an elder butted in and wanted in on the action (cigarettes for poses).

20990500390_9132890156_o

I know I say this almost every time I post travel pics from the ancient days – if you ever get the chance to travel to Kenya and Tanzania on a photo safari then jump on it!

Thanks for your visit!

Chris

Wat Phra Kaew – Bangkok 1978

Chris and Carol 2 Comments

Give me lots of nearly cloudless blue sky, my Canon FD 24mm wide angle lens and some fresh Kodak Kodachrome 25 and I’m a happy guy!

This is just a few images from my port visit to Pattaya Beach, Thailand in December of 1978. I managed a couple of off days to make the crazy (back then) trip to Bangkok.

My “follow me everywhere” Canon F-1 (1978 version) loaded with Kodachrome 25 and my FD 24mm f/ 2.8 lens captured these images at Wat Phra Kaew in central Bangkok.

20542556694_14467eab9b_o

This guy always makes me smile.

20503343214_690f4c7b93_o

Young monks taking a break.

20546330753_a2b88f1d9d_o

Very shy ladies practicing their music.

21099940076_feca0a7083_o

Nothing like turning your 24mm lens for a tall vertical shot. The Kodachrome and Canon lens captured every detail.

21126100395_6ced57843c_o

Almost 40 year old Kodachrome. Still as brilliant as ever!

21316883621_b8068b204f_o

The F-1 metered this shot perfectly.

21413066019_b1c9ff5960_o

Gotta have at least one silhouette in the mix.

An amazing country to visit. The colors of everything just popped! Mid December sun angles were never a problem. Bright blue skies helped with capturing the details as I was able to stick with ASA 25 even when hand holding my FD 80-200mm lens.

Thanks for your visit!

Chris