Tag Analog

Yashica AIII – Rare Gray on Gray 1959

Chris and Carol 2 Comments

Very uncommon Yashica twin-lens reflex (TLR) camera – made in October 1959. This one is in beautiful dove gray leatherette and machinery gray metal. Designed for and sold in the Japanese domestic market and for export to Europe. Focusing scale is in meters only on this version. Others have dual scales.

20103422916_ee6ff441ed_o

The serial numbers on the camera match the guarantee card. 

⇑ Complete set as it would have appeared for sale in Japan. This amazing 57 year old beauty still functions perfectly! The shutter speeds are spot on, the focus is sharp and the Tomioka lenses are crystal clear. It does have a few spots of corrosion and discoloration on the aluminum and steel body parts – Japan has a warm and moist climate that wasn’t always friendly to old cameras.

19409538654_428f4eb6a0_o

Rare no hood logo.

⇑ The dove gray leatherette is tight and complete (a few minor stains) and the darker gray metalwork retains its factory sheen. The camera inside is clean as well with only minor dust seen when looking through the viewing hood.

The gray (and other colored cameras) from Yashica are always super collectible. We were very lucky to acquire this complete set. We have the original box but it has seen much better days. Perhaps a small restoration is in order.

Thanks for stopping by! Comments are always welcome.

Chris and Carol

 

Yashima-Yashica Leather

Chris and Carol Leave a comment

A misleading title? We’re not sure. It’s doubtful that in Yashima’s early days of camera manufacturing, that they made their own leather case goods. They had plenty on their plate already – lens production (mostly testing), machining parts, pouring cast aluminum bodies, stamping out metal pieces and of course, putting it all together in a box and shipping it off to various Trading Companies and camera dealers around Japan and the world. Oh did we mention, inventing new camera designs too.

We believe that Yashima-Yashica had their leather case goods made by at least 4 different suppliers – each with their own maker’s marks stamped on the bottom of the case.

dscf3573

14946607129_6c99cdd8f3_o

16194486489_f9eb368a5a_o

Could the trademark be ‘Tomioka Kogaku’? In the early days of Yashima/Yashica, did they use leather cases made by outside companies? More than likely since they would not have had the facilities or skills to produce quality leather products in large quantities IMO.

26525674923_ebcb6d771f_o

This image is of the bottom of our Yashicaflex Rookie’s leather camera case. Some of the 1950s era Yashima-Yashica cases have similar marks. With an occasional exception, most 1960s era cases do not carry these marks.

The mystery… we believe that these are ‘maker’s marks’ or trademarks of the company that manufactured the case for Yashima-Yashica. The marks are similar to marks found on Japanese tin toys from the same period. Our theory is that Yashica did not have the facilities or skills to make leather cases on their own in the early days of production and that outside leather crafters added their individual trademarks to the cases.

Other marks that we’ve seen… T.K , NT , GSS and another K.K but in a diamond shaped box.

If you know of the origins of these type of marks on Japanese leather goods please add your comments. We would love to know for sure.

Thanks… C&C ^.^

 

 

 

Tokyo store window – 1964

Chris and Carol Leave a comment

ヤシカ
Japan and the summer Olympic Games held in Tokyo.

Yashica’s latest in their popular line of SLRs. As it would have appeared in 1964.

The world was coming to Japan for the Olympics and Japan was ready to show the world its best technology and design. The Tokaido Shinkansen made its inaugural run from Tokyo on October 1st and Japan and its technology never looked back.

24092339672_00dd1c2548_o

Fantasy image of our 1964 Yashica J-5 as it would have looked in the camera dealer’s window.

16751864704_d9388f8394_o

Wonderful souvenir of the Olympic Games.

17186582868_7732e51341_o

Yashica proudly shows off its new J-5

16752025684_75b1767054_o

If you’ve been to Tokyo chances are you visited Mitsukoshi (there’s one at EPCOT at WDW, Orlando).

17188299889_9991e6d4dc_o

Who hasn’t owned or wanted a SONY!!!

17390403095_2bb40670da_o

A trip back in time. A time when Japan showed the world what it was capable of.

Thanks for your visit!

Chris

 

Yashica L AF – Field Test v2.0 – Can this Yashica hold its own against the T* Series?

Chris and Carol 11 Comments

A fun little point and shoot camera from Yashica-Kyocera (1986). This lovely camera was kindly donated to us from a blogger friend and photographer who lives in Japan. She tests cameras that strike her fancy and often processes her film at home. We think her test shots are extremely interesting – and always well composed too. You can find her at https://cameragocamera.wordpress.com/

Field test v1.0 was done in Japan.

She typically hunts around in second hand shops and picks up cameras for well under $10 (I think this one was only $3).

dscf3464

The Yashica gets a fresh roll of Fujicolor Superia X-TRA 400 and a new finger strap (in almost matching red).

dscf3481

This Yashica uses a 32mm f3.5 lens. The camera features a simple drop and go (well almost) film loading. It is a DX coded camera so it sets the ASA (sorry, old school). It produced 26 exposures from a 24 exposure roll.

dscf3466

Pull the film leader to mid point on the orange line and between the white marks.

The real test – can this inexpensive Yashica L AF deliver the same image quality as its highly regarded cousins – the Yashica T3 Super with Zeiss T* 35mm f2.8 lens or the more closely related Yashica T AF?

s-l1600-33

The T3 – often sells for over $200 on eBay. The L AF – well under $20!

yashica t af

Yashica T AF. Yashica’s first in the T* Series of cameras (1985). Probably the most closely related to the L AF.

I won’t post all 26 images here. I will pick a broad representation of the photographic challenges that I threw at the Yashica L AF.

78690001

First image overall – strong back lighting. A challenge for any simple AE camera. First sign of a red spot (far left).

These next two images were focused at infinity. Strong mid day lighting so deep shadows. The Fujicolor rocks some nice vivid colors and contrast!

78690002

78690005

First real test of the auto-focus and AE in dim lighting below. It did well considering the strong sunlight in the background.

78690008

I know right – crazy dark blue sky! No filters, just Superia X-TRA 400 and a contrasty lens.

78690012

Nice detail. Sharp focus too on this sign below. The Yashica employs center weighted metering. Most AE cameras would be thrown off by the bright sky.

78690013

Tough AE situation for a simple point and shoot (deep shade below). Post production would help but I like it as it is.

78690016

Back in the bright Florida sun!

78690020

78690021

Day 2 below at home. I was about 3 feet from the carp. Looks good.

78690023

78690024

The attack of the red bar! Not sure the why of it.

78690006

The AE handled this situation well – I blocked out the sun with the palm tree which allowed the Yashica to get a good reading on the building.

As I said at the top. All 26 images were excellent with about 4 experiencing the mystery red spots and bars.  I’m thinking that the red marks are from a processing error – it’s way too random to be a light leak. No post production on any of these images. They’re presented just as they were scanned by the processing lab. Maybe the CD will be even sharper.

We’re impressed! The camera has a solid feel – it has some weight and is actually as big as our Fujifilm FinePix S9900W.

So does this inexpensive Yashica L AF beat the Yashica T* Series? Don’t know yet – now all we need is someone to donate a T3 or T4 to test it!!! ^.^

For the money, if you can find a decent Yashica L AF and want a great point and shoot 35mm camera that produces better than expected images – the L AF more than delivers and at a price that won’t break the bank!

Camera(s): Yashica L AF Date, Fujifilm FinePix S9900W and Samsung Galaxy S4

Final shout out goes to the City of Fernandina Beach, Florida! Thanks for never messing with the Historic District – it looks the same (for the most part) as it did 120 years ago! 

Many thanks for your visit! Comments – please do. Donating a T3 or T4? – email us ASAP!

Chris & Carol

New Arrival – Fuji Photo Film Fujipet!

Chris and Carol 4 Comments

Another new (to us) Fujipet has arrived! This one is in gray and came with its original gray leather Pet case. It’s hard to tell exactly when this one was made – guessing it’s a 1959 or 1960 version.

dscf3506

dscf3497

We just love all the quirky knobs and numbered levers – sweeping curves and that crazy viewfinder.

dscf3499

A true medium format 6x6cm film camera – as simple to use as falling out of bed. Takes 12 exposures on 120 roll film.

dscf3502

Simple and then simple some more.

The Fabulous Fuji Foto Photo Film Fujipet!

Thanks for your visit!

C&C ^.^

First Pics! Fujica GW690

Chris and Carol 10 Comments

dscf3353

We just got our first roll of film from our new Fujica processed with ‘The Darkroom’. They scanned the 6×9 negatives and zipped them to us. We couldn’t be any more pleased with the results.

As a refresher – this is the 1978 version of Fuji Photo Film’s GW690 medium format film camera. It is the last model to to be called ‘Fujica’. It looks great in this image and it is in very nice condition, but well worn from the thousands of rolls and exposures taken. It will settle in to a more quiet life with us as we can’t afford to buy and have processed 120 film and only get 8 exposures per roll. But we are super happy with it. Super sharp Fujinon 90mm lens transfers the image nicely to the 6×9 negative.

By the way… all of the images presented are direct scans from the negatives. No post production on our part – no crops or other messing with the images. Some I missed the correct exposure by a stop or two with my guesses. I was mostly shooting at 1/250 with 100 film at around f8 to f11. Neopan Acros is very forgiving.

30510006

30510002

30510004

30510007

30510001

30510003

As you can see, we’ve presented 6 exposures vice 8… 1 other was a duplicate and exposure 8 wasn’t on the roll! I think I may have wound past the first frame. We believe the level of detail and contrast of the Fujinon lens is superb. Did we mention that we’re big fans of Fuji’s Acros? We also love the 6×9 format too. I would say that I was surprised at the shallow depth-of-field in the truck image – I focused on the ‘GMC’ logo and as you may be able to see, I missed spot on focus.

All of the images were taken along Centre Street, downtown historic district, Fernandina Beach – Amelia Island, Florida. The post office building is ca. 1911. The clock tower is ca. 1891. The ‘Pineapple Patch’ building is ca. 1880s. You get the point – for the U.S. it’s kinda old – for most of the rest of the world they’re kinda new. It’s all relative. ^.^

Thanks for your visit!

Chris and 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 ^.^

 

Yashica ‘Sailor Boy’ & Friends

Chris and Carol Leave a comment

20141117_222025

Yashica’s three finest cameras in black. The J-3 was the first truly modern 35mm SLR from Yashica and it was their first SLR to be made in pro-black with matching black lens. Only a small amount of the J-3s were black – most were the traditional silver top and black leatherette body. On the far right is the most successful SLR Yashica ever made. Fully loaded with electronic everything, all commanded by its ‘IC’ brain. The next step on the evolutionary ladder is the TL Electro X ‘ITS’ (center). A mostly marketing idea, the ITS was essentially the same camera as the TL Electro X with the added gold ‘Electron’ symbol on the front of the pentaprism and the stylized ITS emblazoned  on the camera’s left front (not seen here but can be seen below). The marketing folks at Yashica never said what the ‘ITS’ stood for (if anything). Our best guess is ‘Integrated Technology System’. Some say ‘Interval Timed Shutter’ as the shutter was electronically controlled and could fire at any speed. Later the Contax-Yashica ‘RTS’ was introduced and it was advertised as ‘Real Time System’ whatever the heck that meant.

We’ve used all three, and the TL Electro X with the white stylized ‘Y’ on the pentaprism is our favorite. It just feels perfect in your hand and the electronic over and under (exposure) arrows in red are easily visible in the viewfinder.

20141117_222139

By the way, the advertising icon (Yashica Sailor Boy) was never given a proper name by Yashica. He made his debut in 1962 and still could be found kicking around in sales brochures and ads into the late 1960s. This guy is the 20cm (10 inch) dealer display model and he was in his sealed bag and box from Modern Plastics of Japan when we acquired him. He comes in about 3 other sizes and different styles and colors.

Thanks for stopping by!

Chris ^.^