Happy SUNday! – Recent Arrivals

February 2, 2020February 2, 2020Chris and Carol Leave a comment

Some new additions to our already crowded Yashica family of cameras.

Our all-time favorite Yashica SLR.

*** Yashica TL Electro X ***

This one is from April 1973 and was made in the newly opened factory in Hong Kong.

Hard to find Yashica Electro AX – second to the last M42 screw mount lens bodies.

This is the only early Yashica SLR with a leatherette insert on the pentaprism. This one was made in November 1973.

Yashica D TLR from late 1966.

Some of these will be appearing in our shop at http://www.ccstudio2380.com in the coming weeks as well as some other arrivals.

Thanks for stopping by and have a beautiful day! – 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.

In the Shop – New this week!

January 26, 2020January 26, 2020Chris and Carol Leave a comment

Hi all! I’ve added some new items in the shop this week from my collection. Stop by http://www.ccstudio2380.com if you see something that catches your eye and while there check out all of the neat things that are listed. Thanks!

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Have a great day and thanks for stopping by! – 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.

In the Shop – New for 2020

January 11, 2020January 11, 2020Chris and Carol Leave a comment

Hi all! I hope that your new year is going well and that this year brings a little peace to the world. I’ve listed a few new items in my camera shop which you can visit at http://www.ccstudio2380.com. The shop is hosted by Etsy so I can ship to almost every corner of the planet and you can use a variety of payments that fit your lifestyle.

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This is just a small sample of what I have available in the shop. If there’s something that you want and you don’t see it listed I may have it in my collection. Just send me a message at ccphotographyai@gmail.com

Thanks for stopping by! – 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.

Happy SUNday!

December 29, 2019December 29, 2019Chris and Carol Leave a comment

Yashica’s last M42 mount camera. The FFT is seldom seen on online auction sites as it’s a fairly rare camera due to low production. The camera marked the end of a long line of 35mm SLRs made by Yashica that accepted the universal screw mount lenses.

FFT instruction booklet dated June 1973

The camera was offered with the Auto Yashinon-DS 50mm f1.9 lens.

By the way, I have no idea what the FFT stands for if anything. If you do (or have a wild guess) let me know. The second to the last M42 camera made was the Electro AX. Both died in the spring of 1974.

If you’ve got a nice (working) example of this camera we are interested buyers. You can contact me at ccphotographyai@gmail.com

Thanks for stopping by! – 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.

Yashica – A New Horizon 1975

May 18, 2019May 19, 2019Chris and Carol 1 Comment

From the rarely seen sales brochure ‘Yashica A New Horizon’ published in early 1975.

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This booklet was sent to all US camera dealers with a cover letter addressing Yashica’s future plans for distributing their line of cameras and photo equipment directly to dealers in the United States. In all of my years of collecting Yashica related items, this is the first time I’ve seen this publication. It’s a perfect 8.5 x 11 inches, in full color, printed on heavy stock glossy paper with 14-pages filled with photographs never used outside of this book.

Here is the cover letter that accompanied the brochure. It provides some insight into the heart of Yashica and at this point in time, brings to light their attempts to turn the company around and emerge from bankruptcy in a much better place.

The letter is typed on bond paper (with watermark) and was signed by Mr. Kenji Sakuma so I don’t believe it is simply a photocopy casually dashed off to dealers. It shows how important this new program was to Yashica.

My good friend Paul Sokk (https://www.yashicatlr.com) pointed out the gender-specific remark “In the very near future, one of our salesmen, under the direction…”. When read using today’s optics it would appear as though it was out of place and implied that there would be no women calling on you Mr. Camera Dealer. Considering that this is from Japan and written in 1975 I believe it was simply stating the obvious – there probably weren’t females in these positions at this point in time and it would be many decades before the glass ceiling would be broken (struggles exist even to this day). Of course, the term salesmen could also be interpreted as a generic term for the position as the term sales person had not yet come into use.

A view of the back cover which was released without the usual printing data or date.

The Yashica Line as represented in early 1975. Noticeably missing is the TL Electro X ITS model with its distinctive gold electron logo on the pentaprism.

The Yashica line as presented in the brochure. The TL Electro X and TL-E are represented in the SLR category but no TL Electro X ITS which I find very odd.

As always, thanks for stopping by! Please feel free to share anything that may enhance this post or correct any inaccuracies. – 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.

under the bridge – playing in the shadows

May 11, 2019May 11, 2019Chris and Carol Leave a comment

Canon A-1 FD 200 mm Lens

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December 2014 – Original in color

Thanks for stopping by! – 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.

Wordless Wednesday

May 8, 2019May 8, 2019Chris and Carol Leave a comment

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Thanks for stopping by! – Chris

BTW, my camera shop is always open at http://www.ccstudio2380.com – lots of specials!

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.

Single Shot Focus on the Canon AV-1

May 2, 2019May 2, 2019Chris and Carol Leave a comment

Introduced in 1979 into an already crowded family of super slick Canon 35mm SLRs, the AV-1 has always been kicked around in the world of auto exposure cameras. Most question the need for such a camera that only features aperture priority AE. Whereas its much more famous siblings like the AE-1 and A-1 have gone down in history as two of the best 35mm AE cameras of all time (my opinion), almost no one has seen an AV-1 let alone use one. Probably the only other lesser known Canon is the AT-1.

Why aperture priority? Simple, you select the aperture (f-stop) on your Canon FD lens based on the lighting available and the depth-of-field that you want in your image. The camera selects the proper shutter speed based on the film’s speed (ASA, ISO, DIN) and the f-stop that you selected. If there’s not enough light to hand hold the camera it’s up to you to know your limitations. If you’re a steady shooter then you may be able to squeeze off a shot at let’s say 1/30th of a second with a wide-angle or normal lens. If you’re like most people you’ll more than likely be much more successful staying north of 1/60th of a second. The AV-1 will auto expose accurately down to (or up to) 2 seconds! You’d better be on a tripod for that shot or have your camera perched on a flat, stable surface.

The other reason for the AV-1’s existence is that it cost significantly less than the other A series cameras – much lower but with no real drop-off in build quality IMO.

Here’s my AV-1 in the pro-black finish. It’s a beautiful camera and it accepts all of Canon’s FD lenses (which is a major plus) plus it was designed to operate with the Canon Power Winder A and the A2 and it provides full auto flash with the Canon family of Speedlites like the 133A, 155A, 177A and the 199A (all are dedicated electronic flash units for the AV-1). One final plus, it uses the still very easy to find and afford No. 544A silver oxide 6v battery.

So here’s the “Single Shot Focus” of my AV-1

This one was made in June 1982 (date code is W628K)

Studio Camera: Fujifilm X-A10 set on aperture priority AE

Thanks for stopping by! – 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.

In the Shop – 1970s Hippie Strap

April 1, 2019April 1, 2019Chris and Carol Leave a comment

They were everywhere! Almost every camera in the 1970s had one and some people owned two, three or more. Not many survived in good shape in the present day – here’s one of my “many”. Simply click the PayPal payment button below and I’ll have it off to you in a flash!

Genuine 1970s Hippie Camera Strap for your SLR or DSLR – Far Out Man!

Fabric, leather, and metal - hippie camera strap straight from the 1970s. Add instant karma to your modern DSLR or jazz up your vintage SLR. This is one of the many I own and it's time to let a few go. This one is in excellent condition with solid stitching, good leather, and nice hardware. Its got the elastic bands for holding your film cans too. I'll mail it nearly worldwide and I'll mail it FOR FREE within the USA! International orders please request a shipping quote to your country before placing your order.

$24.75

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to visit my camera shop (on Etsy) at http://www.ccstudio2380.com for some other great bits of photo gear.

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.

Yashica Dental-Eye III… is it worth another look?

March 20, 2019March 21, 2019Chris and Carol 2 Comments

I had this camera briefly and just couldn’t get it to produce the quality images I was hoping for so I passed it on. If you’re interested in purchasing one, do your homework first to make sure it’s the right camera for your needs. I bought mine back in November 2010 and it was gone by December. It’s a handsome camera and mine came complete with its original case and all of the accessories. The model III is a Kyocera-Yashica model.

The Dental-Eye III is a 35mm SLR with a fixed 100mm f4 macro lens with a built-in ring flash at the end of the lens barrel.

It’s basically a point and shoot automatic exposure camera – so easy to use even a dentist could use it.

The ring flash is made up of three separate flashes that operate together. I have seen where one or more of the flashes have stopped working. Ask the seller if they have tested it first.

The databack can imprint date and time info on the film.

They can be had for not a ton of money – on auction sites they’re all over the map price wise. If you’re interested in one, buy the best condition camera that fits in your budget. Did I mention, do your homework first?

(3-21-2019) Reader Kurt Ingham sent me some pics that he took with his Yashica – I’d say he captured some pretty decent images with his (see below).

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Thanks, Kurt for sharing your pics!

This is a direct quote from the instruction manual.

*Please note – “Normal prints obtained at your photo dealer will have the edges cropped slightly narrower than the actual 35mm frame size. To prevent edges of important photographs from being cropped in this way, allow for some extra area around the periphery of the subject when composing in the viewfinder”.

In my experience, all of the prints came back significantly narrower. Save the hassle when using this camera and do not get the negatives printed from the lab. Scan the negatives and then crop and print.

Thanks for stopping by! – 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.

Chasing Classic Cameras with Chris

Yashica cameras and so much more!

Tag 35mm

Happy SUNday! – Recent Arrivals

Some new additions to our already crowded Yashica family of cameras.

In the Shop – New this week!

Hi all! I’ve added some new items in the shop this week from my collection. Stop by http://www.ccstudio2380.com if you see something that catches your eye and while there check out all of the neat things that are listed. Thanks!

In the Shop – New for 2020

Happy SUNday!

Yashica’s last M42 mount camera. The FFT is seldom seen on online auction sites as it’s a fairly rare camera due to low production. The camera marked the end of a long line of 35mm SLRs made by Yashica that accepted the universal screw mount lenses.

Yashica – A New Horizon 1975

From the rarely seen sales brochure ‘Yashica A New Horizon’ published in early 1975.

under the bridge – playing in the shadows

Wordless Wednesday

Single Shot Focus on the Canon AV-1

In the Shop – 1970s Hippie Strap

They were everywhere! Almost every camera in the 1970s had one and some people owned two, three or more. Not many survived in good shape in the present day – here’s one of my “many”. Simply click the PayPal payment button below and I’ll have it off to you in a flash!

Yashica Dental-Eye III… is it worth another look?