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
Playing around in our studio…
Vintage Heavy Metal ⇑
Submerged ⇑
Frozen in Glass ⇑
Vintage View ⇑
Camera(s): Image 1,2 Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W170 / Image 3,4 Samsung Galaxy S4
As always, thanks for stopping by!
Chris
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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 ^.^
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.
Fantasy image of our 1964 Yashica J-5 as it would have looked in the camera dealer’s window.
Wonderful souvenir of the Olympic Games.
Yashica proudly shows off its new J-5
If you’ve been to Tokyo chances are you visited Mitsukoshi (there’s one at EPCOT at WDW, Orlando).
Who hasn’t owned or wanted a SONY!!!
A trip back in time. A time when Japan showed the world what it was capable of.
Thanks for your visit!
Chris
Camera: Canon A-1 (1980) with Canon FD 50mm macro lens –
Film: Fujifilm Fujicolor 200 –
Scanner: Canon CanoScan 9000F Mark II from original 4 x 6 print –
Title: ‘Maidenhair Fern in Spring Green’
Chris
The Yashica Flex model S (aka Yashicaflex) is one of Yashima’s most important early cameras… well maybe the second most important behind the first. Obviously Yashima’s first camer…
The Yashica-C made by Yashima, was part of the new wave of Yashicas that were released in late 1956 for sale in the world markets (focus scale is only in feet). It was listed at $46.50 plus $8.00 for the “De Luxe Leather Eveready Case”. The other models released at the same time were the Yashica-A ($29.95) and the Yashica LM ($59.95) which featured a built-in exposure meter!
This handsome camera came to us recently with all features fully working – even after six decades of use, no issues. Our guess would be this camera saw maybe 1 or 2 rolls of film in its life. It is in factory new condition.
Features: Semi-automatic film wind, 80mm Yashikor f: 3.5 taking and viewing lenses (hard coated and color corrected), Copal shutter with speeds at 1, 1/2, 1/5, 1/10, 1/25, 1/50, 1/100, 1/300 second and Bulb, self-timer, flash sync (M-x) built-in, bayonet lens mount and flash gun shoe with standard PC flash terminal.
If you’re looking to try medium format photography, the Yashica-C is a great camera and a great value. It can often be had for significantly less money then a Yashica-D.
A word of caution about 6 decade old TLRs. Corrosion of the black metal parts is common as is fungus and mold in and on the lenses. If the camera you’re interested in shows some exterior rust (and other forms of corrosion), then ask the seller a bunch of questions. Cameras like these that come from humid environments are often left in their organic leather cases (and in the dark) – fertile grounds for growing mold and fungus. Fungus filaments can completely destroy a lens or at the very least, etch parts of the coating for good.
All the goodies!
On a more happy note – this beauty has no mold or fungus and was purchased from a seller in Michigan. Probably a one owner camera – it came with a roll of Kodak Tri-X film loaded inside (at least from the mid 1960s).
Studio Camera: Fujifilm FinePix S9900W
Thanks for your visit and comments are always welcome. C&C ^.^
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.
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 ^.^
Some time ago we purchased (through an online auction) what was listed as a rare black body Yashica J-5. The camera was sold by a well known camera dealer with a long track record of excellent prior sales. We know from our research and hands-on experience that Yashica’s first ‘Pro-Black’ 35mm SLR was the J-3 as we own two of them and have sold others that were in our collection.
I (Chris) knew that there was about a 99% chance that this J-5 was faked and I don’t have a problem with buying modified or restored cameras as long as it is disclosed as such. But I took a chance on this one even though there were numerous red flags about its originality. The bidding was through an online auction site in another country and my desire to own this ‘rare’ camera got the best of me. My purchase bid went for much more than a typical J-5 should go for and I actually paid more for it (not including the over-the-top shipping fees) than one would pay for a genuine ‘Pro-Black’ body (from the Yashica factory) J-3. In our years of research, we’ve never come across anything in print from Yashica about the black body J-3. No sales brochures (Japanese or English) have a mention of it – but we know that they did produce one a we’ve had a few and have kept track of them online in our database.
Prior to bidding on the faked black J-5, I asked the agent representing this camera if in fact was a genuine, previously unknown black J-5. His answer was that the seller said it was… no worries.
After looking at my new fake for some two years now, I’ve decided to remove the still fresh black enamel paint and reveal the satin chrome paint underneath its black mask. It was shocking just how easy the paint was to remove with alcohol and cotton swabs.
I wrote to the seller’s agent to complain that the camera was in fact faked and after some time (2 weeks) he came back with a no it wasn’t. Even with the pictures in front of them they denied that it was a re-paint. Oh well.
Clue number 1 – the presence of orange peel in the black paint.
As received from the auction. From a distance it looked to be all original. When I opened the shipping box the first time I could tell something wasn’t right, the smell of fresh paint! Got me!
So lesson learned for me… only trust in what you know exists… if it’s not documented elsewhere as existing then there’s a good chance it’s been faked. Ask lots of questions. But, and it’s a big but (pardon the pun), Yashica has never mentioned that they made a black body J-3 in 1963 so it was possible that they made a few black J-5s.
The good news in all of this is that this camera is now in the home stretch of a complete rebuild and will be better than ever. It has been re-imagined as a tribute camera to the U.S. Navy. Stay tuned!
Many thanks for your visit, Chris and Carol
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Chasing Classic Cameras with Chris 