Hit the Road 2016! Hello 2017!

December 31, 2016Chris and Carol Leave a comment

Thank goodness 2016 is almost history! I’ve heard from friends in Australia that 2017 is going well (so far). Let’s not muck it up!

On a positive note – here on our blog, we’ve seen a significant increase in activity over last year (2015). Visitors to the site and views are through the roof! We (Carol and I) are thrilled that what started out as a repository of bits and tidbits of Yashima-Yashica information would gain the traction that it’s had. We thank you!

We enjoy the feedback we get and I can say that I’ve learned more than a few things from it. We’ve met some super talented people – photographers and bloggers that are out of this world amazing! We hope our readers got a little something special in return too. That was the goal of the ‘Yashica Pentamatic Fanatic’ -a sharing of knowledge about a silly camera that Yashica invented in 1959 that most people have never heard of.

This year’s favorite.

In looking through the hundreds of film and digital images that we shot in 2016, this one turns out to be our favorite. We believe that every vintage camera is worth preserving (in some way or another) – we think of cameras as holding the heartbeats of all who may have gazed through its lenses, pressed its buttons and then anxiously awaited the results. We can imagine the thousands of faces and smiles that were captured and the thousands of important events in people’s lives that were saved for the future. Classic cameras do that for us.

Don’t get us wrong… we love the world of digital photography but we also embrace the beautiful, often awkward analog machines of our past. We hope that photographers in the future will remember (every now and then) to pick up a classic camera, load some film into it and then set out to capture images with a camera older than yourself. Enjoy!

Happy New Year… we wish only the best for all!

Chris and Carol ^.^

Yashima Yashicaflex A-II… 1955 – A restoration like no other!

December 28, 2016Chris and Carol Leave a comment

Restoration challenge! Six decades of dirt, grime, soot and corrosion have taken their toll on this once beautiful Yashicaflex. There isn’t a part that escaped the corrosion – except the workings. The glass is just fine, shutter works, aperture blades are problem free – film advance works as does the focus.

I’m finally on the home stretch of this year plus project. My desire to re-imagine this camera into the modern age has been the biggest holdup. Actually I’m calling it an “interpretative restoration” – that allows the artist and designer in me to reconcile with the fussy photographer that I am.

Watch the blog over the next two weeks or so as I bring it all together for the final reveal.

Thanks – Chris

Florence… 1986

December 21, 2016December 21, 2016Chris and Carol 7 Comments

Nothing says Florence like the Cathedral of Florence. Canon F-1 with FD 24mm f/2.8 lens on Kodak Kodachrome 25.

In presenting a short series of images of Florence (one of the most beautiful of all cities in Italy), it’s a tough call on which images to include. In Pisa, it has to be the most famous bell tower in the world. I imagine for Rome I would choose the Coliseum – Colosseum or the Vatican. Since there’s so much beauty, history, art and architecture at every turn in Florence it’s nearly impossible to choose the one to use first. My visit to the Tuscony Region was in late October 1986 – the weather was perfect and the visibility was awesome!

My camera was the Canon F-1 (1978 version) with three lenses to use: FD 24mm f/2.8, FD 80-200mm f/4 zoom and the normal FD 55mm f/1.4. Since sunlight would be in abundance, Kodak’s Kodachrome 25 fit perfectly with the days shooting plan (no interiors in the plans).

Vista view to the north… FD 24mm while hanging the camera over the side of the railing (wobbly pieces of metal) loosely attached to 600 year old stone.

The Duomo with its instantly identifiable tiled dome. FD 80-200mm at about 150mm

FD 200mm braced on the railing.

Back to earth… Canon FD 24mm wide angle lens at f/22

More FD 24mm… my go to lens in the tight quarters of a city. It’s not easy to get all three in the same image.

The Canon’s light meter (spot) handled this tricky exposure well. Yep, FD 24mm lens.

Of course what would a visit to any city be without the required “People and Pigeon” shot.

Happy people and happy pigeons.

This of course is only a very small sample of what’s available in and around Florence and the Tuscany Region. I had only one short afternoon to visit so I was lucky to see as much as I did. The old “someday” I hope to travel back and do it right.

Thanks for your visit!

Chris

Pisa… 1986

December 19, 2016December 22, 2016Chris and Carol 6 Comments

Pisa… a gorgeous city filled with unbelievable wonders. Photographic eye candy to be sure. In 1986, shooting with a Canon F-1 and Canon lenses on Kodachrome 25 was as close to “perfect” in 35mm photography as one could hope to achieve (sorry Nikon guys and gals). In appreciation of the all the imperfections and limits of film photography (just like vinyl records), analog photography still moves me. Sure I love digital – some images with digital were impossible with film (or nearly so), but film has a softness of color and detail that I love.

These images were taken in mid October 1986. They’ve received only minor post production after scanning – mostly small crops to remove the edges of the 35mm slide mounts and some occasional color balancing and brightness tweaks. Film used was Kodak’s Kodachrome 25 (perfect for bright lighting and known for its fine grain).

My Canon F-1 (1978 version) and three FD lenses were all that I had in my bag: 24mm f/2.8 wide angle, 80-200mm f/4 zoom and the 55mm f/1.4. The weather was perfect – bright sunshine, low humidity with mild temperatures. Visibility was amazing as a recent cold front had passed through the area and cleared the air of haze and pollutants.

24mm taken on the south side of the tower.

80-200mm zoom. Until you see the tower in person you have no sense of the dramatic lean. Just amazing that it’s stood since 1327 like this.

The tower as a sundial. 80-200mm zoom

In silhouette. 80-200mm zoom hand held.

Holding the tower upright. 200mm

Enjoying the view to the north.

Pisa cathedral. 24mm

Gelato and soda. 80-200mm zoom at 150mm

Art in the streets. 55mm

An amazing city worthy of your visit.

Chris

Montauk Point Lighthouse, Long Island

December 17, 2016December 18, 2016Chris and Carol Leave a comment

The lighthouse at Montauk Point, Long Island, New York is one of my favorite spots to visit ever since I was a child growing up on Long Island. As a kid, the main attractions for me were – the ocean, the countless rocks in that ocean (big and small), the hills (Long Islanders are hill challenged) and finally the lighthouse itself. As I got older, the main attraction was the lighthouse with the other ‘likes’ fading into the background. When I earned my New York driver’s licence, Montauk was my first long drive from my home by myself. When I became a certified SCUBA diver, the waters near the lighthouse looked tempting for a dive but the great whites known to frequent the cold waters off Eastern Long Island kept me ashore – so I headed to Florida instead.

While going through some of my many mountains of slides from my collection, I came across these images of the lighthouse. The first set of photographs are from August 1972 and were shot with my Yashica TL Electro-X mostly using the normal Yashinon 50mm lens. The second set of images are from 2002 when I traveled to New York with my family for their first visit to Montauk. The 1972 images show how completely the original Kodak Ektachrome slides have degraded over the years.

August 1972. Yashica TL Electro-X with f/ 1.7 50mm Yashinon lens with 2x teleconverter on Ektachrome 64.

August 1972. The lighthouse in need of a serious restoration. I believe it was still under the control of the U.S. Coast Guard at that time. It’s obvious that 40+ year old Kodak Ektachrome didn’t hold up well – even when stored properly. Most of the vivid original colors have faded and the slide lacks depth.

July 2002. The lighthouse and grounds were looking much better after the restoration. Canon F-1 with FD24mm f/ 2.8 lens on Kodachrome. My son is the little one climbing up the hill (as I had done hundreds of times before).

July 2002. Canon F-1 with FD24mm f/ 2.8 lens on Kodachrome.

T.J. on the rocks… just like me in the 1950s.

The automated light of 2002. Wonderful view from up top too.

Captivating views from up top.

Gotta love the rocks!

If you ever get a chance to travel to Long Island, then the Montauk Point Lighthouse must be on your “to visit list”. It’s very photogenic and lends itself well to the digital age. There are images that a good camera phone today can capture that were a serious challenge to film photographers just 15 years ago. Happy shooting!

Chris

Kamakura Daibutsu

December 15, 2016December 20, 2016Chris and Carol 2 Comments

My wife and I lived in Yokohama, Naka-ku (Honmoku) from the Summer of 1977 to early Spring of 1980. We totally enjoyed our time in this wonderful country and are hopeful we will be able to return again. We had our favorite spots – Sankei-en and Kamakura being two of our most favorite. As with any well known attraction, the Great Buddha at Kamakura has been photographed from every angle imaginable. I’ve always enjoyed exploring angles that may not have been tried before.

July 1979. Canon F-1 with FD 24mm lens on Kodachrome 25.

Kodachrome 25. Bright sun. Canon F-1 with FD 24mm lens. It’s what film photography was (is) all about.

More traditional view of the Great Buddha. Steaming hot July day on the Kanto Plain. Yashica TL Electro-X on Kodachrome 64.

Gotta have a tourist shot! We love the antennas on top of Mt. Fuji!

So many things will have changed in Japan since we were last there but they’ll be plenty that will stay the same… forever. Kamakura is one of them.

Thanks for the visit!

More ‘Found Film’

December 8, 2016Chris and Carol 2 Comments

We recently posted a short article about the good and bad sides of ‘found film’. It’s always exciting whenever we acquire a new camera and find film from the previous owner. We enjoy trying to figure out what year the film may be from. In this case, the 120 roll is Kodak Ektachrome-X – color slide film or reversal film if you prefer. It was found in a Yashica-A twin-lens reflex (TLR) medium format camera.

Yashica-A TLR and some ‘found film’. In this case some Kodak Ektachrome-X color slide film.

The camera (Yashica-A) is from October 1959. Its general appearance would indicate that it saw limited use as the camera is in near mint condition with only a few small detracting marks. It works perfectly and the optics are sharp and clear. The shutter is accurate and it’s ready to shoot with again. It always amazes me how many cameras we find with half used rolls of film.

Nice little addition to our vintage film collection.

We’re not going to get this roll developed. Our experience with the most recent roll was basically a waste of money – and a bit scary as you never know if the previous photographer shot something bad. We’ll let this one alone.

If anyone can give us an idea as to when this style of film was in use we would love to know.

Many thanks for your visit!

Chris

You can visit us on flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/127540935@N08/

Pentamatic bling!

December 6, 2016Chris and Carol Leave a comment

A little eye candy for all the Pentamaniacs* out there!

Some original Pentamatic packaging items. Yashica kept a theme of the pentaprism design on the presentation box and the instruction booklet.

The red box on the right is the outer or shipping box. Once again Yashica kept the pentaprism design going.

More Pentamatic toys.

If you’re looking to collect a really interesting camera (that’s also a joy to use), then give the humble Pentamatic a try. First available for sale by late Spring 1960… never sold in large quantities so it’s a bit of a challenge to find. The viewfinder is bright and appears very large (no needles or other stuff in the way), and the normal 5.5cm lens is big and bright – easy to focus too.

*Many thanks to a reader for the suggestion of ‘pentamaniacs’. ^.^

Thanks for your visit. Questions and comments are always appreciated.

Chris

A beautiful sight…

December 3, 2016Chris and Carol Leave a comment

Nothing like a fresh roll of film in your camera. The possibilities are endless – the results, well I’ll have to wait a week for those. Could be the reason digital became so popular so quickly. Could be why people still load cameras with instant film.

Some Fujicolor Pro 400H color negative film.

It’s a beautiful sight…

Thanks for your visit! Now load up some film!

dscf3068

Yashica-Mat EM… on assignment… update 12.9.2016

December 2, 2016December 9, 2016Chris and Carol 2 Comments

This month’s assignment (actually from September) is to load some Fujifilm into our Yashica-Mat EM and enjoy the benefits that only medium format film photography can fulfill.

Oh the joys of composing 6 x 6 cm images through a pop-up viewing hood in bright sunlight. What I do find nice is that the focusing dial is on the camera’s left side… a natural place for it to me. The EM has a built-in exposure meter and a ‘computer’, slide rule actually, to adjust the aperture and shutter speeds which you then set by using the two thumb wheels. I’ve learned over the years to use the guess method of focusing – I’ve learned how to judge distances by eye and then I set the focus on the marked dial. If you’re shooting in bright light and use the smallest apertures then the dept of field will cover most inaccuracies in your focus guess. Saves time and frustration. This month the Yashica-Mat EM (this one is from 1964) I will be using is in perfect condition… all shutter speeds sound correct and the aperture blades behave as they should. The meter does not require batteries and I’m sure most of my bright and sunny shots will be f/ 11 and 16 and f/ 22 for the Fujifilm 400. Below is my favorite one camera-one day bag. It’s made from vintage washed canvas material and is super soft inside and out. I trust it not to scratch my cameras going in and out and once inside, they’re safely cushioned.

My day bag – one camera only. The bag is super soft vintage cotton canvas and has a cushioned liner to protect its precious cargo.

The bag is 100% cotton and made by ‘Rothco’. It was stitched in India which makes me feel a bit better about it. It was purchased at the National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum in Ft. Pierce, Florida which helps support this awesome museum. The desert toned U.S. Flag was also purchased there and was added to the bag by me. No worries when I travel with it. No matter what I wear, I’ll always look like an American. I mention this only because when I was a Sailor in the U.S. Navy (a long time ago) we were often told to not look American while travelling overseas – which is a hard thing to do when an aircraft carrier is in a foreign port and 5,000 Sailors were out on liberty.

I plan on shooting two rolls of Fujifilm – gorgeous Neopan 100 Acros and a roll of PRO 400H color negative film. The Yashica has Tomioka Optical made Yashinon 80mm lenses with a fairly bright f/ 3.5 taking lens. The glass is crystal clear and always produces sharp details. The image is nice and bright on the focusing screen and the red grid marks help to keep things straight. I’ll tote along the lens hood just in case. No tripods needed but I may bring along my monopod.

We hope to post our images soon. Now that the fall weather has given us a brake from the oppressive heat and humidity of summer it will be fun to roam about our little town and the adjacent countryside.

Fresh roll of Fujicolor PRO 400H color negative film.

And some of the results…

Purposely pointed into the low angled sun – great way to test how the lens is going to look. The stars from the highlights on the water was a nice plus. Also a great test for the EM’s exposure meter. I metered off the water well left of the bridge. About 1/250 at f/ 11 maybe f/ 16.

The Fujicolor did well here. Big contrast in this image between the stark beige of the building and the deep blue sky. Shot at 1/500 around f/ 16-22. No post production of this image. As framed in the focusing hood on the EM.

Dat two of the photoshoot. I lost the bright sunshine and the sky turned rather blah. Small town America at its best. 1/250 at f/ 11-16. No post production. As developed.

The EM performed beautifully – the built-in exposure meter was spot on and the shutter was accurate. These images were focused at infinity so no real chance to test the accuracy of mid-range focusing. Another time.

Thanks for your visit!

Chris & Carol

Chasing Classic Cameras with Chris

Yashica cameras and so much more!

Tag Camera

Hit the Road 2016! Hello 2017!

Yashima Yashicaflex A-II… 1955 – A restoration like no other!

Florence… 1986

Pisa… 1986

Montauk Point Lighthouse, Long Island

Kamakura Daibutsu

More ‘Found Film’

Pentamatic bling!

A beautiful sight…

Yashica-Mat EM… on assignment… update 12.9.2016