Yashica Pentamatic – 1960

January 29, 2019January 29, 2019Chris and Carol Leave a comment

Gettin’ its 1960s groove on with a little bit of fun in the studio.

Yashica ヤシカ Pentamatic ’35’

The Pentamatic was Yashica’s first 35mm single lens reflex (SLR) camera. For a company known for building quality twin lens reflex (TLR) cameras, it was a big step forward for them. It wouldn’t have been possible without the combined expertise of the engineers, designers, and craftspeople from Nicca Camera Company which Yashica had acquired in early 1958.

The Pentamatic with its placement of the cold shoe on the camera’s left top plate moved this clip on exposure meter away from the shutter button and film advance lever. A much more convenient location.

It’s a uniquely beautiful camera with all sorts of interesting angles and that forward facing shutter release button. (see below) The cold shoe (accessory shoe) wasn’t mounted on top of the pentaprism as was common (well most SLRs didn’t have a cold or hot shoe yet) but instead was located on the upper left side of the camera and combined with the rewind lever. (see above)

That wonderful shutter release button – right where your “trigger” finger wants to be when holding such a heavy camera.

A crop of the full-page ad from the June 1960 issue of Modern Photography. Yashica’s first public advertisement of their new SLR.

A complete set as it would have come from the factory with the exception of the lens. I swapped out the standard Tomioka made 5.5cm f/1.8 lens for this beauty.

Earliest known sales brochure (from Japan) for the Pentamatic. We’re unsure of its exact month of issue but it appears to be at least from the first half of 1960 as it talks about the cooperation between the designers at Nicca and Yashica to bring this camera to market. Many thanks to my good friend Paul Sokk for the kind use of his brochure. For more from Paul, stop by his amazing site at http://www.yashicatlr.com

Thanks for stopping by and hopefully you’ve learned a bit more about this wonderful camera from Yashica. – 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.

Beauty and the Beast

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

The Canon New F-1 and New F-1 AE ’84 Olympic

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The Canon New F-1 which was released in late 1981 replaced the original F-1 which made its appearance in 1971. This latest F-1 was a radical step forward for Canon’s professional camera as it incorporated many features into the camera that were previously only available as an accessory. The 1985 Los Angeles Olympics model followed in line with previous Olympic editions – 1976 Montreal and the 1980 Lake Placid.

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.

Canon Photo Gear in the shop – new arrivals!

January 17, 2019January 22, 2019Chris and Carol 2 Comments

Select items from my collection of Canon photo gear are now on sale in my online shop at http://www.ccstudio2380.com – pop on over and check them out – you may find something that strikes your fancy. Some unique Canon items from the Summer Olympics that were held in Los Angeles in 1984 and even a hard to find 1976 Olympics lens cap from the Olympics held in Montreal.

Happy hunting!

Thank you!

Original instructions from 1981

Instruction book for the A-1 from 1981

“Action Grip” for the Canon A-1 and AE-1 Program – SOLD! Thank you!

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A rather rare Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar lens with the Exa-Exakta mount – 1952

Canon fanny pack from the 1984 Olympics

Canon camera strap still new from 1984

Getting harder to find – 55mm lens cap commemorating the 1976 Olympics

Hardly ever seen here in the US – 52mm lens cap

Many more items wait to be discovered in the shop as I continue to sell off my collections of photo stuff. I’ll be listing a mint condition Yashica Mat-124G TLR soon as well as a mint condition Canon New F-1 (F-1N) LA Olympics 35mm SLR! Stay tuned.

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.

“This is a Toy” – Goofy Stuff from Yashica

September 29, 2018Chris and Carol 2 Comments

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Normally you’d expect to see “this is not a toy” on something not designed to be played with. Here we have a rather odd promotional item from Yashica.

My best translation – Color Camera Yashica Electro 35

Still looks good and holds air after 50 years!

A Yashica float. It’s about 6 feet in length and I’m guessing Yashica didn’t want you to use this at the beach or pool as anything but a toy.

Admittedly a pretty goofy item that we’ve added to our Yashica collection recently. I saw it on a Japanese auction site and well, I couldn’t resist. It was listed by a seller in Shiga Prefecture (which is just east of Kyoto). I paid a silly amount to ship it after paying less than $10 to purchase it. Collecting – jeez. On the bright side, I may have the only matching set of Yashica beach gear in the world!

We now have a matching set of beach gear from Yashica. The Sailor Boy logo was popular with Yashica in the early 1960s – here he makes another appearance to promote the Electro 35 camera.

Thanks for stopping by! – Chris

Yashica’s ‘Sailor Boy’ with his Electro 35 camera

May 22, 2018January 6, 2022Chris and Carol Leave a comment

We’re super lucky to have run across a rather hard to find Sailor Boy – this one came to our attention from a visitor to our blog – then through eBay by way of South Africa to Florida! Welcome, little guy!

This unique version of Sailor Boy – complete with his Yashica Electro 35 camera. He was introduced in 1966 to promote the new camera release. He’s based on the Scottish nursery rhyme ‘Wee Willie Winkie’.

Cousins, not brothers. The only thing missing on our little guy is his green decal which should be on the front of his hat.

Sailor Boy convention. The new guy cleaned up nicely. A little bit of warm soapy water and a soft brush and he’s good as new!

Made in Japan is about all we know at this point. We’re not even sure about when he was made.

Cool shoes – but are they really Wee Willie Winkie’s shoes? Yep as best as I can tell. Yashica didn’t leave a paper trail for history to discover his true identity.

More about the history and variations of Yashica’s advertising figurine soon. As always, feel free to share your Sailor Boys with us – we’re looking to add to our collection with new versions of this cute guy.

Thanks

Chris and Carol

Rare Yashica ‘Happi Coat’ from the 1960s

May 4, 2018May 4, 2018Chris and Carol Leave a comment

Carol and I have decided to start cutting back on our extensive collection of mostly Yashica “stuff”. Some of the items we’ll be listing rarely come up for purchase and are in some cases, the only known examples in existence.

This item, the Yashica ‘Happi Coat’ was made in Japan around the mid-1960s to coincide with Yashica’s new line of electronic cameras. The advertising phrase, “Pioneer in Electronic Photography” became more widely known as Yashica included it in almost every advertisement and brochure. As we understand the origins of this coat, Yashica provided it to salespeople to wear while demonstrating Yashica cameras in US camera stores. I know of only one size – something of a large-medium-large that was designed to fit a majority of wearers. If you were larger than that the happi coat could be left open and worn without the belt. It’s made from a heavyweight high-quality cotton and is very vibrant. The silk screening is sharp and colorful too. Only a slight hint of some discolorations are noted on the fabric. More detailed pictures can be found in our Etsy Shops. By the way, our “model” is about 5′ 9″ tall as a point of reference.

It kinda looks like something Doc would have dressed Marty up in for the Back to the Future movies.

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This wonderful coat can be seen in more detail in our Etsy Shops.

It’s also available at https://www.ccstudio2380.com

Stay in touch as we endeavor to list most of our collection by the end of the summer (well by the end of fall at least).

Thanks for stopping by!

Chris and Carol ^.^

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.

The Yashica Pentamatic – Our 8 Year Search – Some Conclusions & Wild Speculations

December 2, 2017April 18, 2019Chris and Carol 4 Comments

We’ve been hot on the elusive trail of the Pentamatic family of cameras from Yashica now for well over 8 years. We’ve looked under every rock (auction sites), nook (web searches) and crannies (well, just crannies) for anything related to the Pentamatic. Our search has led us to some interesting conclusions – and wild speculations!

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Some Conclusions

The first Pentamatic was “born” in December 1959 but wasn’t available for sale in the U.S. until April 1960. The Pentamatic was Yashica’s first 35mm single-lens reflex camera and was designed with the help of technology obtained from Yashica’s acquisition of Nicca Camera in 1958 and with some involvement with designers from Zunow Optical in 1959. Of course, Yashica designers were involved too as well as collaboration with Tomioka Optical for the first lenses.

Below is a scan of what appears to be the first sales brochure for the Pentamatic found in Japanese. A machine translation of it proves that Yashica and Nicca designers worked together to jointly develop the camera over a 3-year period. The exact date of this brochure has not been established but it appears to be at least issued in the Spring of 1960. Many thanks to my good friend Paul Sokk for his efforts in researching the Pentamatic with me over the years. His fabulous site can be found at www.yashicatlr.com

Scan courtesy of Paul Sokk at http://www.yashicatlr.com

Below is a scan of the cover of that first sales brochure that features the new Pentamatic.

Scan courtesy of Paul Sokk at http://www.yashicatlr.com

The original Pentamatic was a failure. A beautiful, sleek and modern camera at a great price, but still a failure. A replacement for it (Pentamatic II) was released by September 1960 – just a few short months after the original Pentamatic debuted.

The Pentamatic and the Pentamatic II were both out of production by January 1961. The Pentamatic S didn’t appear until around April 1961. Little was significantly changed over the course of these 3 models during this short timeframe. The Pentamatic II and its one-off lens improved on its semi-automatic capabilities. The body stayed the same with the exception of adding the engraved “II” after the name. No logic to this as Yashica could have simply made the new lens available as an option to the original Pentamatic. There had to be another reason to call it the model II and it appears that there were some internal changes made to accommodate the new lens.

The standard lens that was available for the Pentamatic II was designed and built (quickly?) by Zunow vice Tomioka. Our best guess at this point.

The Pentamatic II was only available for sale in Japan.

The Pentamatic S essentially was the replacement for the original Pentamatic – not the Pentamatic II. The model S added a lug for attaching an accessory exposure meter that coupled to the shutter speed dial. The S also added a self-timer and the body got a redesign (the strap lugs were moved to the front and the shutter release button was no longer at a 45-degree angle).

The Instruction Booklets

The booklets have been an additional source of fun separate from the camera searches. The booklet for the original Pentamatic was relatively easy to find. The first Pentamatic saw about 16,000 units made so the booklet is much more available. The Pentamatic II booklet was the hardest to locate since only around 5,000 cameras were made. The Pentamatic S booklet is even rarer – only around 3,000 cameras produced.

The 3 Pentamatic instruction booklets. Notice that the Pentamatic and Pentamatic II booklets have the same design while the model S differs dramatically. More “clues”.

The back cover of the Pentamatic II booklet – the only one to carry a date (lower right corner). This one is dated September 1960. Showa date is 35.

Inside the booklets…

The original Pentamatic.

The Pentamatic II.

The Pentamatic S.

Wild Speculations

Wild Spec 1 – The first Pentamatic was not initially released in Japan. Yashica had a slow go with its early production so only a limited number were available for the April to June debut in the U.S. There were only about 4,000 cameras made by then and that just didn’t support a wide release of it in their home market. However, with the discovery of the as yet undated sales brochure found by my friend Paul Sokk it does appear that some of the first Pentamatics were in fact distributed in Japan. We do feel that Yashica had a suspicion that the original model would not go over well at home. Why do we feel this way? During our quest of all things Pentamatic, we’ve yet to find an instruction booklet for the original Pentamatic in Japanese (or any other language besides English). We’ve seen no early 1960s advertisements either. Although we’ve yet to find these items that does not mean they don’t exist.

Wild Spec 2 – The Pentamatic II was only available in Japan and was never intended for widespread availability in the world marketplace. We further feel that the Pentamatic II was the camera Yashica intended to release in Japan vice the original Pentamatic. Why? Same thing… in over 8 years of searching we’ve never seen a Pentamatic II instruction booklet in English and the only sales brochures we have are in Japanese. No English ads or brochures anywhere (yet). Update: As of April 2019 still no English ads or books.

Wild Spec 3 – The Pentamatic S wasn’t available in Japan. Crazy right? The same thing applies here – no Japanese advertising or brochures and no instruction booklets in anything but English. Again, not finding them does not translate to not being produced but the likelihood looks slim.

Wild Spec 4 – As we stated in the conclusions section above, the standard lens for the Pentamatic II (5.8cm f/1.7) was made for Yashica by Zunow Optical vice Tomioka. This flies in the face of what’s known and we don’t have solid written proof (yet, if ever). Both the original Pentamatic and the Pentamatic II ended production in January 1961. By coincidence, that’s the reported date of Yashica’s acquisition of Zunow (or their bankruptcy). Once Zunow went bust they no longer make lenses for the Pentamatic II.

Wild Spec 5 – Once the Pentamatic II stopped production, Yashica started selling the original Pentamatic in Japan (or at least increased its availability in Japan). We would still like to find a Pentamatic instruction booklet in Japanese to validate this thought.

Wild Spec 6 – Since the Pentamatic S wasn’t sold in Japan, there was a rather large gap in Yashica’s SLR availability. The next camera to be sold widely in Japan (and the U.S.) was the Penta J but that didn’t come out until the Summer of 1961.

These marketing and production missteps led to a less than stellar debut for Yashica in the world of 35mm SLRs. The competition during this same period was “inventing” much more sophisticated (and mostly more expensive) cameras which had a wider range of interchangeable lenses and accessories. It took Yashica a long time to establish a “foot in the door” with their Penta J and their first internally coupled exposure metered SLR, the Yashica J-3 (Jaguar).

Things we would like to find…

Original sales brochure for the Pentamatic II.

The first thing we would like to discover would be an ad, sales brochure or instruction booklet in English for the Pentamatic II. We don’t think we will as we feel that they don’t exist.

We would like to find a Pentamatic instruction booklet in Japanese. They must exist but we’ve yet to find one.

A Pentamatic S instruction booklet and a sales brochure in Japanese. Don’t think they exist but time will tell.

A Pentamatic II box!!! They must exist – someone’s got to have one in their collection! Update: Finally found one but we missed acquiring it for our collection so we “borrowed” this image –

Very similar to the original Pentamatic box but black vice silver.

A Pentamatic (any model) in its original boxes in factory fresh condition. WooHoo!

***Solid proof that the standard lens for the Pentamatic II was made by Zunow Optical.***

Other than these things, I think we’re good! ^.^

Thanks for your visit! If you’ve made it this far in the post give yourself a big pat on the back! You just may be on your way to becoming a ‘Yashica Pentamatic Fanatic’!

Please stop by our online shop at https://www.ccstudio2380.com and check out some of our classic cameras available for sale.

We are active buyers of quality cameras and equipment – especially anything Yashica, Nicca, Fujica or whatever! Contact us at chriscarol@ccstudio2380.com

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 Pentamatic ’35’ vs. Pentamatic II

May 29, 2017Chris and Carol Leave a comment

Why did Yashica bring out the Pentamatic II less than a year after releasing the original model?

The only difference we can tell between the original Yashica Pentamatic ’35’ and the Pentamatic II (which came out around September 1960), is the standard lens that was mated with the camera body. The original Pentamatic came with the Auto-Yashinon, f/ 1.8, 5.5cm fully automatic 6 element lens. Of course it has the unique Pentamatic bayonet mount and not the M42 screw mount. The Pentamatic II came with the Auto-Yashinon, f/ 1.7, 5.8cm lens (pictured below). Both lenses were made for Yashica by Tomioka Optical of Tokyo. We imagine the 58mm, f/ 1.7 lens was a bit faster than the f/ 1.8… but we don’t see why Yashica changed from the model I to the model II and why they changed the lens… we may never discover the reason either.

The standard lens for the Pentamatic II – 5.8cm, f/ 1.7

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Gorgeous lens for the Pentamatic II.

The first sighting of the Pentamatic II in a sales brochure for the Japanese home market.

We’ve yet to find an advertisement for the Pentamatic II in English and along those same lines, have yet to find the Pentamatic II in a sales brochure in English. The Pentamatic S replaced the model II less than a year after its release. The model S went back to using the original 5.5cm, f/ 1.8 lens that was on the original Pentamatic.

That makes the Auto-Yashinon 5.8cm, f/ 1.7 lenses one of the rarest of the early Pentamatic bayonet mount lenses.

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Happy hunting!

Chris

Yashica Moves to a New Factory 1972

April 4, 2017May 17, 2019Chris and Carol 4 Comments

We’ll be the first to admit – not an exciting title or topic for a blog. It may even be a stretch for a blog named the ‘Yashica Pentamatic Fanatic’. But we feel compelled to share information about the Yashica Company, however slight and trivial, with our dear readers.

Yashica’s first factory was along the shores of beautiful Lake Suwa in the small town of Suwa. The next location (from Yashica brochures) was in Shimosuwa-machi, Suwa-gun, Nagano Prefecture. This was the industrial campus of Yashica and it grew over the years to occupy almost every square meter of the property.

Opened in 1956 along the shores of Lake Suwa in Nagano.

A different view of the same campus. Yashica was running out of room by the mid-1960s.

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Back cover of the Yashica TL Electro-X ITS instruction booklet. The booklet was printed in Japan in June 1972.

At the time of the printing of the above book, Yashica was operating 3 factories. The top line that begins with the Yashica ‘Y’ on the far left is the address of the main headquarters of Yashica which was in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo. The next line is the location of the Suwa plant – Shimosuwa. The third line is the new plant in Okaya which was still in Nagano Prefecture. The 4th line was an unknown (to us until recently) factory in Sagamihara-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture (southwest of Tokyo and just west of Yokohama). As you can see, Yashica operated at least 14 other sales offices and service centers across Japan in mid-1972.

Back cover of the Yashinon Lenses & Accessories booklet printed in Japan in January 1973.

Between June 1972 (the first book above) and January 1973 (the second book above), Yashica closed its campus and factory in Shimosuwa. The only factories listed are the new Okaya factory and the Sagamihara factory. That was a big move for Yashica and as we understand it, they had purchased the old silk mill in Okaya as far back as 1959. As of this book, Yashica did not close any of its other sales offices listed from the previous book.

The factory was officially dedicated in December 1972. According to Yashica documents, the factory didn’t achieve full production until late 1974 or early 1975.

The Yashica Okaya factory complex in the summer of 1974.

Why is any of this important? It isn’t unless you’re a Yashica Fanatic like us. Oh, it did have a strong ripple effect on the company though. Japan was in a bit of an economic slowdown in the early 1970s and it came to a head in late 1974 for Yashica. Mismanagement and embezzlement (and the costly move) caused Yashica to lay off workers – unheard of in Japan at the time. They closed the Sagamihara factory which put 900 Yashica employees out of work. That had an effect on the factory at Okaya and Yashica was soon in deep financial trouble. Their cameras were still top notch but the first warning shots about their future were fired.

It is my understanding that Mr. Shiro Kaneko was installed as the new president of Yashica by the Nissho-Iwai Company (Yashica’s distributor) and by the Taiyo Kobe Bank which by 1974 had put its full financial resources behind Yashica’s new marketing efforts.

Thanks for your visit! Hope you got a little something out of it. – Chris

Yashica TL Electro-X

March 1, 2017Chris and Carol 2 Comments

One of the most successful SLRs from Yashica – the ‘Pioneer in Electronic Cameras’… the Yashica TL Electro-X. The world’s first electronic single-lens reflex camera.

A random collection of clips from Yashica sales brochures and our eclectic collection of all things Yashica –

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‘ITS’ = Integrated Technology System… maybe.

We’ve recently added this hard to find accessory from Yashica. It was still new in its original box! It will be used in our studio for some copy work.