This Yashica came to me from someone who knows his stuff and loves a good Yashica. It has to be one of the smoothest cameras I have ever used. The wind on was so smooth, the lens focus was so smooth, changing the speed and aperture so smooth, the rewind…so smooth. Look at it…
It really is an almost immaculate example of a rangefinder from the early 1960s. So I should love it right? Did I? Well, I kind of felt like the person in the review. It looks great, it feel great, but it just has something missing that I can’t put my finger on.
My example suffered from a dull rangefinder patch which is common on Yashica 35 cameras, but it wasn’t a big issue. I put a little bit of black tape on the viewfinder and that made it much easier to see.
I chose to try it out on a camping trip as it didn’t need any batteries. I loaded it with some Ilford FP4 which is rated at 125asa. That was perfect as the top speed of the camera was only 1/300th and I didn’t want anything too fast. Once you loaded the film, you had to manually set the film counter to zero.
I got use to the camera in Winchcombe before heading down to Lyme Regis. It was pretty simple, gauge the conditions, set the camera, focus, frame, click. That’s it, no settings, no modes. So I should love it right? But nope. I was even complimented on it a few times as I was walking around with it around my neck. Even with that ego booster, for some reason I just didn’t gel with it.
Anyway, how were the photos? Here are the results.
They are ok, maybe a little dull, maybe a little soft, a little toy-like, but nothing really terrible. I love the fact I got to see the Mary Anning statue and her grave which had toy dinosaurs around it. I didn’t get to go fossil hunting this time as the tide was in, but I did get to see some of the locations where the movie Ammonite was filmed.
As for the camera, will I use it again? Maybe not.
A Yashica!! Simply beautiful. For a point and shoot/rangefinders of its day Peggy you have to admit its a well made stylish little thing, and the shots you’ve taken are lovely, I just love that soft totally 35mm look. New age digitals like the Fuji X range actually have settings to try and achieve that characteristic.
My Yashica FX-D is my shooting partner tomorrow :))
It is, I have no reason not to love it. I also have the Yashica FX-D and do love that one.
The camera may be a ho-hum, but your intro to Mary Anning and her work is much appreciated. Hers is not a household name, at least not stateside.
Be careful if you watch ammonite, they have taken a huge leap of assumption with her sexuality and it is quite graphic. Just in case it is not your sort of thing.
PS Yes thank you for the info on Mary Anning 👍
Oooh how lovely, Yashicas of this vintage are almost works of art in my book.
I wonder if it’s….too smooth? As in so smooth it’s not giving you enough tactile feedback. Bit like a semi automatic gearbox in a car, even if it has H pattern just doesn’t have that same satisfying notchy feel of a manual gearbox.
Just recently purchase one of these beautiful looking Yashica cameras. Yet to shoot some film. I like the shots you took, sorry you felt a bit underwhelmed by the camera.
That’s just my opinion, lots of things affect it. I bet you will love yours. It is a good camera after all.