Well, this camera has a bit of a story. Not an exciting one if you don’t like cameras, but a slightly “hmm” shoulder shrug one. So, I was perusing Facebook Market place and saw an ad for a lovely SLR and a few other bits. An SLR I had not tried, with an extra lens. Brilliant. Plus, as the camera was a Yashica so the lenses would fit my Contax cameras. Double brilliant. I didn’t care about the digitals, maybe I could turn them into infrared?

So I went to pick it up, taking with me some batteries. I paid my money, loaded some film I got in another sale and went to Cromwell’s Bottom. I wandered around, took half the film and then went home. I removed the film as I had decided to change the seals while I had time. The cover was also falling off so I decided to order a new, laser cut one from Milly’s Cameras. I have never tried a laser cut skin, usually making my own versions. I was excited to see how this would look.

Once the seals were changed I went to put the film back in to finish off the rest of the shots. But something was wrong. When I put the batteries back in, the meter worked but the shutter wouldn’t fire. Nothing I did would make the shutter fire. I looked online and came to the conclusion that some of the old seal had come off and got stuck on the magnet. Or something along those words. I found a repair manual and managed to follow it to get to the correct area. I could then manually activate the shutter, super. I put it back together but it stopped again. I took it apart and went through the whole process for a second time. But again it stopped when it was back together. At this point I decided to give up on the whole thing and looked on eBay for a cheap replacement body. These cameras are still quite cheap, especially if the skin is damaged. And oh, don’t I have a new skin on order 🙂

So there you go, my FX-D story. Not really exciting, but it is mine. When the new body arrived, I worried about changing the seals, should I?? Well, you have to don’t you but this time I was really careful. Every tiny particle was removed and placed far away. When the new skin arrived I put that on to complete the refurb. And all hail…my new camera.

For the first try of this second example, I loaded some expired Kodak Supra 100 and took it to Wentworth Castle and Gardens.

Using the camera reminded me of the Minolta XG2 I have. They are the same relative size and look. The main difference between the two being the location of the light meter activation button. On the Yashica you have to press the button at the side of the lens where the self timer is. Apart from that it is fairly simple, no bells or whistles. There is an AE function that selects the speed based on your chosen aperture. Or you can use the camera in manual mode. That is it. The view finder lets you know the speed chosen but not the aperture.

As I was a bit enamoured with my new red camera, so I also took it to Whitby.

Well, a super little camera. A super little red camera. But at the end of the day I do prefer the XG2 and the OM10. So I think I might sell this one…she says quietly. Maybe, not just not yet 🙂