Yashica Mystery – what is it and what does it mean?

June 23, 2019Chris and Carol 6 Comments

Contributor and Yashica aficionado, Graham Buxton-Smither posted this picture in my Flickr Group, https://www.flickr.com/groups/2734130@N24/pool/ the other day asking if I’d ever seen this type of serial number on a Yashica TL Electro X (pro-black body) before. I haven’t so I thought it would be good to broadcast it in this blog in hopes of discovering something about it.

Serial number with its odd two letter prefix ‘FI’. Photo courtesy of Graham Buxton-Smither https://www.flickr.com/photos/164456136@N06/

The serial number itself is unremarkable in the sense that it follows along with the standard for a Yashica SLR. It decodes to December 1969 as the manufacture date. The ‘FI’ has no previous use that I’m aware of so it was a surprise to see it. Graham states that it is on a one owner Yashica TL Electro X purchased in the UK when new. It appears to be a factory mark as the black paint looks undisturbed.

I’m stumped as there isn’t an example anywhere in my databases. I can’t even fathom a guess at this point.

Any help including guesses will be appreciated.

Thanks – Chris

Unique Yashica TL Electro-X from Denmark – Update 1

June 14, 2019September 11, 2019Chris and Carol 7 Comments

Many thanks to reader Jens Erik at http://www.jebsign.dk for sharing a photo of his Yashica TL Electro-X with me recently. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, it appears that a distributor of Yashica cameras and photo gear (Kirk) in Denmark had a rather neat twist on this popular SLR. Here’s the ad that ran in 1969 –

1969 April, Yashica TL Electro-X

Here’s Jens Erik’s Yashica – his TL Electro-X matches the one depicted in the Yashica ad from 1969 and it clearly shows that the “X” is black vice the typical red and that the gothic “Y” that would normally be on the pentaprism is “missing”.

An example of an early version of this popular Yashica. The lens is not the lens that would have been on the camera at the time of its release. I’ll call this version the Type 1.

Updated info as of September 2019. It now appears that this no “Y” version wasn’t unique to this Danish or any other European distributor. I’ve just acquired my own version of this camera through a seller in the United States with no indication that it was purchased outside of the US initially. In my opinion, Yashica’s first version (pictured above) of their wildly popular TL Electro-X was the version missing the “Y” on the pentaprism – production looks like it first began in October 1968. My newest camera for my collection is from December 1968 as its serial number is 81200636. There’s one for sale on the Spanish eBay site that has the serial number 81000991 (which is October 1968).

Below is an example of the more typical Yashica TL Electro X design. The “X” is in red and there’s no hyphen before it and of course, the traditional gothic “Y” on the pentaprism.

Yashica TL Electro X Type 2 – with red “X” and gothic “Y”

Yashica sales brochure from the early 1970s.

Update #1: So Yashica’s first design for the TL Electro-X was the one without the “Y” on the pentaprism (Type 1) and the second and much more available TL Electro X with the “Y” is the Type 2. There also appears to be a large gap in production between the T1 and T2 of about eight or nine months. At this point in time, we don’t have a reason for the changes or for the gap.

Yashica sales brochure in German from around 1972. The ITS model with its distinctive gold electron design on the pentaprism is on the right.

Thanks again to Jens Erik for sharing his Yashica with me (and you).

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 On Ice

June 7, 2019June 7, 2019Chris and Carol Leave a comment

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Yashica Rookie TLR from 1956. Also known as a Yashicaflex Model R.

Warranty or service guarantee card that was issued with the Yashica Rookie verifying that it was known as the Model R in Japan.

The Rookie was only available for sale in Japan and was released in 1956.

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.

Fuji Panorama Cardia – a plastic fantastic from 1991

May 27, 2019May 27, 2019Chris and Carol Leave a comment

One of the first dedicated 35 mm panorama compact cameras from Fuji Photo Film Company. It was available only in Japan and was released in December 1991. Actually a sophisticated camera a notch or two above being just a point and shoot – debateable.

There’s so little information about this wonderful camera on the web, I hope this post helps a bit for those interested in this format and camera.

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It’s not as basic as it seems. This camera was released for the Japanese domestic market in December 1991 and listed for 15,800 JPY (about $123 USD).

It’s a dedicated panorama format 35 mm film camera (13 x 36 mm actual image size). The panorama setting is not adjustable.

1. Opens and closes the lens cover and when closed locks the shutter button.

2. Flash on/off switch.

3. Fujinon 28 mm f8 glass lens – 3 elements in 3 groups. The fixed focus lens focuses from 1.5 m to infinity switchable to landscape mode.

4. CdS light receiver.

5. Two position ISO selector switch.

6. Landscape Mode Switch “Far-view Mode Lever”.

7. Albada bright frame finder.

8. Shutter release button.

9. Manual strobe/flash.

The aperture is “automatically” adjusted for lower light levels and the camera will give a low-light warning in the viewfinder. It’s been reported by a Japanese blogger that the aperture was capable of f4 to f16 but that is not backed up by data from Fujifilm that I can find.

The shutter is fixed to fire at 1/100th of a second.

I’ve scanned a few pages from the instruction pamphlet (below).

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Take notice of the clearly marked “CdS light receiver” vice exposure meter. It could be just a difference in the machine translation from what was meant in the original Japanese text.

Specifications from Fuji confirms that the lens is a Fujinon f8 28 mm wide angle with glass optics – 3 elements in 3 groups (you’ll find that info in line 4).

Unboxing a classic.

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This camera set is available in my Etsy studio shop at http://www.ccstudio2380.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.

In the Shop – Fun with Fuji

May 26, 2019May 26, 2019Chris and Carol Leave a comment

I’ve added these hard to find classic Fuji cameras in my camera shop recently. These are all considered to be still “new in the box” and in factory mint condition. Here’s your chance to add these totally unused (but tested) 35mm film cameras from the late 1980s and early 1990s.

These are available at http://www.ccstudio2380.com

new fuji ads

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Full descriptions and additional pictures can be found at http://www.ccstudio2380.com

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Timeless Tuesday – Yashica 8 U-matic

May 21, 2019May 21, 2019Chris and Carol 2 Comments

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Yashica 8mm film movie camera from 1961. Fast f1.8 Yashinon zoom lens. The camera sold for around $140. in the early 1960s.

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Complete kit. BTW, the little hang tag from LIFE depicts a cover from 1947.

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 TL Electro X – studio views

May 20, 2019May 20, 2019Chris and Carol Leave a comment

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Yashica’s best SLR – ever!

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.

Nicca Bits

May 19, 2019May 20, 2019Chris and Carol Leave a comment

I love finding “new” bits of vintage photo gear especially when you’ve been hunting for them for years.

These bits may seem like no big deal but if you collect hard to find items in their original boxes and cases it’s rewarding when it all comes together.

Nicca-Hinomaruya Y2 filter and lens hood. Both are from at least 1955 but likely earlier.

Hinomaruya was the exclusive distributor of Nicca cameras and accessories.

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Using a Y2 yellow filter is a must when shooting with black and white film. It will generally darken a blue sky and provide more contrast between the sky and clouds. It can also help add better definition when shooting landscapes where haze and light atmospheric fog is present. When using a Y2 filter on a camera such as this one you must compensate by a factor of two when taking your meter readings. If you’re using an SLR with TTL metering then the camera’s built-in meter will compensate for you.

Nicca Type 33 sales brochure showing a slightly different box for the hood and for a color filter along with the older style filter box. The Type 33 was one of the last Nicca cameras produced by the company and was released in 1958 so this would represent the last style of filter and hood boxes. As with everything else, these items were distributed by Hinomaruya.

Studio Camera: Fujifilm X-A10

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’s History as reported by Yashica – 1975

May 19, 2019May 19, 2019Chris and Carol Leave a comment

The Yashica marketing team that put this document together back in early 1975 appear to have summarized the history of the company – or were blatantly unaware of the actual dates of important milestones.

But with that said it’s important to “take it all in ” from all sources and to glean whatever good bits that it does offer. Yashica wasn’t a company that seemed to be all that interested in dates anyway. Some of the dates were more than likely dates that were recorded in Japan and may have marked the actual, formal date that the event was finalized. There’s also the possibility that if this brochure was put together in the US there may simply be some instances where meanings were lost in translation.

This excerpt is taken from the Yashica publication ‘Yashica A New Horizon’

It does use the term “highlights” when summarizing the events.

Yashica’s new (1974) headquarters building in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo.

Published in early 1975, this brochure was primarily focused on camera dealers located in the United States.

I’ll be sharing additional bits from this interesting brochure over the coming weeks. Previous posts can be found here and here.

Many 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.

Chasing Classic Cameras with Chris

Yashica cameras and so much more!

Tag Made in Japan

Yashica Mystery – what is it and what does it mean?

Unique Yashica TL Electro-X from Denmark – Update 1

Yashica On Ice

Fuji Panorama Cardia – a plastic fantastic from 1991

One of the first dedicated 35 mm panorama compact cameras from Fuji Photo Film Company. It was available only in Japan and was released in December 1991. Actually a sophisticated camera a notch or two above being just a point and shoot – debateable.

In the Shop – Fun with Fuji

I’ve added these hard to find classic Fuji cameras in my camera shop recently. These are all considered to be still “new in the box” and in factory mint condition. Here’s your chance to add these totally unused (but tested) 35mm film cameras from the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Timeless Tuesday – Yashica 8 U-matic

Yashica TL Electro X – studio views

Nicca Bits

I love finding “new” bits of vintage photo gear especially when you’ve been hunting for them for years.

Yashica’s History as reported by Yashica – 1975

The Yashica marketing team that put this document together back in early 1975 appear to have summarized the history of the company – or were blatantly unaware of the actual dates of important milestones.

Yashica – A New Horizon 1975

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