Tag Collectibles

Pentamatic S on a walkabout.

Chris and Carol Leave a comment

Here’s one of our nicer S models outfitted with the “no name” add on light meter (clip on exposure meter) from Yashica.

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Another in Yashica’s short lived series of the Pentamatic 35mm SLR. This one c1961. Yashica’s first SLRs had a steep learning curve for the company. Groundbreaking for Yashica to be sure but a miss overall against the competition. Yashica’s best was still to come. We happen to appreciate the rock solid construction of this often overlooked camera… the Tomioka Optical “normal” lens focal length of 5.8cm was a bit odd but the bayonet mount lenses were sharp and attached very solidly to the body. This was not the lens that was supplied with the S – Yashica went back to the 5.5cm, f/1.8 lens. No batteries needed for either the camera or meter.

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The Pentamatic S wasn’t made in large quantities over a long period of time. Nice working examples are still available and some very nice collector quality examples are still out there. You are much more likely to find a Pentamatic S for sale than a Pentamatic II – probably by a 4 to 1 margin.

Happy hunting!

Chris

Yashica’s YT-300… a neat little radio from 1959

Chris and Carol 3 Comments

Yashica produced more than just cameras during its boom years. As a leader in the field of electronic photography in the middle to late 1960s, Yashica’s early electronic devices ranged from such diverse items as transistor radios, record players, movie projectors, editing equipment and tape recorders to name but a few.

Most of the earliest electronic devices are rather rare now (as one would expect after 50 years) and only occasionally does something come up in auctions both on the web and in estate sales. I suspect that the more common electrical items such as projectors and editing equipment are still flooding eBay and other on-line auction sites.

Finding an early radio such as the YT-300 and YT-100 is a bit harder. Here we share some of what we’ve been able to collect over the years.

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Nice complete set from around 1960.

Yashica YT-300 Radio Brochure

Not a bad price for such a sophisticated radio.

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Really really rare to find a working Yashica tape recorder!

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Yes Yashica even branded their own magnetic tape for their recorders.

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Yashica YT-300 portable transistor radio. Designed in late 1959 it was very popular in the early 1960s and was one of the many electronic devices that helped Yashica develop their hyper successful electronic cameras that followed.

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Yashica YT-300 in its very elegant leather case. The case itself is a work of art and craftsmanship.

Thanks for your visit! If you come across a working Yashica radio or tape recorder snag it! They’re really rare and a fun little reminder of the first transistor radios and how cool they were.

Chris