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on Apr 4, 2015 3:06:32 GMT
Posted: Apr 4, 2015 3:06:32 GMT
I've had that page bookmarked for some time now. Welcome to the forum, and hope you find the space to add some SLR's.
PF
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on Apr 4, 2015 11:31:24 GMT
Posted: Apr 4, 2015 11:31:24 GMT
My Yashica collection is not as extensive as some, but those I can recall without going upstairs are :
Electro 35 GSN Electro 35 GX Lynx 14e * MG-1 * Minister III * Minister D * 72E *
T3 * T5
TL-Electro-X FX-1 FX-3 FX-3 Super FX-D 108Program 230AF 270AF 300AF
Yashica-12
Lenses
Yashica DSB 50/1.9 Yashica DSB 28/2.8 Yashica ML 21/3.5 Yashica ML 24/2.8 Yashica ML 28/2.8 Yashica ML 35/2.8 Yashica ML 50mm f1.4 Yashica ML 50mm f1.7 Yashica ML 50mm f2 Yashica ML 55/2.8 macro Yashica ML 100/3.5 macro Yashica ML 135/2.8 Yashica ML 200/4 Yashica ML C 300/5.6 Yashica 500/8 mirror
Yashica Zoom 28-80 ML Yashica Zoom 28-85 ML Yashica Zoom 35-105 ML Yashica Zoom 35-70 ML Yashica Zoom 42-75 ML Yashica Zoom 70-210 ML Yashica Zoom 75-150 ML Yashica Zoom 75-200 MC Yashica Zoom 80-200 ML Yashica Zoom 100-300 ML
Yashinon DS-M 50/1.7 Yashinon DX 50/1.4 Yashinon 200/4 Yashinon 75-230
Yashica AF 24 Yashica AF 28 Yashica AF 50 Yashica AF 60 macro Yashica AF 28-70 Yashica AF 28-70 powerzoom Yashica AF 35-105 Yashica AF 70-210 4-5.6 Yashica AF 70-210 Yashica AF 80-200 Yashica AF converter Yashica AF MA-8.5 extension
There's also a few accessory things like extension tubes, slide copier, and a microscope adapter. Some of the lenses are multiple copies. Those marked with a * are now sold, and that was simply because they weren't getting enough use ; they were still in excellent working order. The 500 mirror is a recent acquisition, so I've not yet had a chance to try it out.
I don't think there are any duds in the range, though the DSBs are merely average performers. The 28-85 ML is outstanding, and I'm inordinately fond of the 35-70. I think the 50/1.4 is a match for the Planars, and the 28 ML is also a gem. That these lenses are still under-valued shows that there's more to the way people are influenced than quality.
The T5 fully justifies its reputation as one of the best auto compacts made. It's always in my bag as my backup camera. The T3 was something of a disappointment. I'd bought it for the faster f/2.8 Tessar over the f/3.5 of the T5, but it wasn't anything above the ordinary.
Favourite body is the little FX-3. It's incredibly basic, and the meter on mine, which was accurate, has finally conked out after about thirty years of use, but the shutter speeds, which only run from 1-1000, are very accurate (tested with a shutter tester, and all better than 10% of a stop, even the 1000th).
Although I like the FX-D, I'm cautious with it, ever since the one-that-got-away shot I lost in Croatia when the batteries failed at the crucial moment. I frantically tried to set it to the flash setting, thinking I'd a manual fallback at 1/100 in it, but the whole camera is electronic, no mechanical backup speed at all (unlike the similarly spec-ed Nikon FG), and by the time I'd got the FX-3 out, the iguana that was looking over his shoulder at me had got fed up staring me out, and strode off.
The only mistake I really made when I bought my FX-3, which was my first CY mount SLR, was not going straight for ML lenses. I bought the DSBs instead, along with other third party lenses, and realised later I'd spent a lot of money on a lot of unremarkable lenses than I would have on just a couple of outstanding lenses. And in photography, the Pareto principle applies remarkably more often than elsewhere.
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on Apr 12, 2015 0:20:55 GMT
Posted: Apr 12, 2015 0:20:55 GMT
Now I know who you are... Your new avatar piccie, showing a very relaxed and laid-back chap, fooled me as I only remembered that distinguished if somewhat stiff looking gentleman named Alex from Mattias Wirf's old Yashica forum. What gave you away was your praise and preference of the FX-3 over the FX-D which, back then, induced me to buy my first FX-3, then another one, then still another one ... so thanks for the tip! I love both versions actually; whereas the FX-3 and FX-7 may score with their mechanical reliability in shooting unexpected iguana encounters, the FX-D is the faster and more convenient one in AV mode, including the option to do night shots without carrying an external meter. (It's a good idea though to keep a couple of LR44s taped to the camera strap.) I'm sure you will be quite happy with the f8/500 mirror lens even if it does not seem to be the well-reputed ML version. Mine is a non-ML version too, but I'm pleased with its results (as long as I can avoid those notorious doughnut artifacts). Pleased to see that you own a 108MP as well. I bought one in the 1980s--actually, it was one relabeled "Revue AC 8" and I didn't even know it was a Yashica then--and used it for about 15 years. I regretted selling it almost immediately and soon afterward replaced it with an 'original' which I purchased in near-mint condition for the ridiculous sum of 12 euros. Being no beauty, this reliable workhorse of a camera is possibly the most grossly underrated Yashica SLR, to my mind. Michael
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on Apr 12, 2015 13:06:22 GMT
Posted: Apr 12, 2015 13:06:22 GMT
Ah, I should have known that Yashica aficionados were too discerning to be fooled for long! Yes, that laid back fellow is me, taken on a walk around the Surrey hills a few years ago. And I'm feeling decidedly less stiff, having taken early retirement around that time, and put the rat race behind me. I did indeed used to be a member of the old Yashica forum, and for various reasons had to reduce my time spent on photography while looking after my wife during her illness. When I went back to log in, it was all gone, which disappointed me as it was one of the friendlier forums, more populated by enthusiasts than many others. In fact, I withdrew from a few others because of some unpalatable material being posted.
And yes, my admiration for the FX-3 over the FX-D would have been another signature. It's not that I don't like the FX-D, I really do, and mine is still shooting regularly. My preference harks back to an experience that was, in truth, my own darned fault for not checking first. I'd changed the batteries only a few months earlier, and whether there was some abnormal drain, or the batteries were older than I thought, I don't know, but they were dead at the moment that one-that-got-away. Lesson learned, of course, and I keep fresh batteries always to hand. It also has a decidedly more solid heft in the hands than the FX-3. I re-covered mine recently in violet snakeskin, along with its matching winder. But I still like my little FX-3, which just keeps going and going.
You're right, my newly acquired mirror is not the ML version, I was so pleased to see it in my local dealer's window at a favourable price that I just walked in and bought it straight away. It was nearly new, boxed, with case and filters, and still in the plastic bags inside. I've not had a chance to give it an outing yet, but I'm reassured that you have good things to say about it.
The 108P was an impulse buy via Ebay, and the fellow who sold it was slightly backwards at telling the whole truth in the description. Intermittently, it wouldn't stop down lenses, or would stick, and at first I couldn't figure it out. Then I noticed there's a lug on a ring around the lens mount inside the body, which rotates with each shutter actuation. The lug had been bent out of true, and was not catching on a corresponding lug on the rear of the mounted lens. Very gingerly, I bent it back into place with fine pliers, and lubricated the surface of the sticky ring with a little graphite dust, and that did the trick. I think you're right about it being under-rated. Cosmetically, it's not the most stylish looking SLR body, but it does something that not even top of the range Contax bodies can do, which is to treat Contax AE lenses like they were MM lenses, and permit them to be used in shutter priority mode in addition to aperture priority. Must dig mine out, and take it for a spin. I've got a fridge full of film just waiting to be used. (And it really is full of film, and nothing else. I bought a small fridge solely to keep all my film stocks in!)
Incidentally, thinking of the FX-3 and Ebay, I still chuckle at one chap's attempt to make the FX-3 he was auctioning have a Unique Selling Point, for he described it as "the rare black version". Which of course is the only colour the FX-3 was ever made in.
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on Apr 12, 2015 15:35:58 GMT
Posted: Apr 12, 2015 15:35:58 GMT
Slight postscript : I meant to add in the post listing my Yashica kit that the (*) means that item was recently sold. All perfectly good, but I simply hadn't been using them enough, so sold them on to people who would give them plenty of exercise. One thing I noticed when testing them out before selling, was how accurate the shutter speeds and rangefinders were. Only the top speeds of 500 were out by more than ten percent, registering an average of 1/350, but that's common on all such between-lens shutters. Rangefinders were spot on to the inch!
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on Apr 16, 2015 11:43:09 GMT
Last Edit: Apr 16, 2015 11:45:25 GMT by alex
Thinking about the FX-D, here's a pic or two of mine, which has been re-skinned with one of the cover sets from Aki-Asahi of Japan. The original leatherettes are notorious for looking shabby fairly quickly, so I took the opportunity to choose something a bit more colourful than the regulation black. This kit also has skins for the matching autowinder. New lease of life for a smart looking camera.
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on Apr 18, 2015 3:37:30 GMT
Posted: Apr 18, 2015 3:37:30 GMT
With the black camera trim, those look really nice in chrome, Alex. Just not thinking I want to do that with an all black model though.
PF
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on Apr 18, 2015 15:55:47 GMT
Posted: Apr 18, 2015 15:55:47 GMT
With the black camera trim, those look really nice in chrome, Alex. Just not thinking I want to do that with an all black model though. For comparison, here are my two FX-3's, both re-skinned. One is in tan, the other in violet snakeskin. I was surprised how well they looked, given how familiar I'd been for years with the all-black look.
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on Apr 19, 2015 0:56:19 GMT
Posted: Apr 19, 2015 0:56:19 GMT
I don't know, maybe if they had something in bright yellow.
PF
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on Apr 19, 2015 10:40:45 GMT
Last Edit: Apr 19, 2015 10:43:03 GMT by alex
I don't know, maybe if they had something in bright yellow. Like this? (Sample image of available materials)
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on Apr 19, 2015 20:56:39 GMT
Posted: Apr 19, 2015 20:56:39 GMT
Rather not, I should say... Anyway, the weirdest camera leatherette I ever saw was made of fish skin (from catfish and other H 2O inhabitants). Michael
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on Apr 19, 2015 21:56:21 GMT
Posted: Apr 19, 2015 21:56:21 GMT
And we forgot to mention another very useful feature of the FX-3/FX-7, that is, the mirror pre-release when using the self-timer. (I just took my FX-3 for an extended outing as we have such wonderful, sunny spring weather, and I hope to have brought some good pics back home. With the ML 2.0/50, this is really a delightfully compact and lightweight camera outfit--great fun to use.) Our conversation plus this link has renewed my interest in my 8/500 mirror lens (which I haven't used for quite some time, to be frank). True, this German website deals with the highly reputed Tamron SP f8/500, but it is (some of) the images that caught my attention; for example, it never occurred to me before to use a mirror lens for close-ups, trying to put the 'doughnuts' to some other than obnoxious, creative effect. So I guess I'll mount my bulky 8/500 to the petite FX-3 tomorrow in order to fill the remaining 15 or so frames of the roll I started today... Michael
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Status: Long, long time Contax and Yashica user; glad to be here and hope to contribute.
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on Apr 19, 2015 22:25:08 GMT
Posted: Apr 19, 2015 22:25:08 GMT
I don't know, maybe if they had something in bright yellow. Like this? (Sample image of available materials) You gotta love those Aki Asahi leathers...my favourite of his finishes was ostrich skin (clever embossing on a matt composite leather) which he never sold but often sent me as the spare set he always supplies for a trial run. I actually clad an RTS in them and ended up selling the camera to another photographer who just loved the feel of it. I think cameraleather.com in the US still offers some genuine, exotic skins - mercifully CITES has put a stop to the trade in the rarest skins/hides which means that if I damage the leathers on my Gold RTS' kits, I'll never get a match; probably a good thing.
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on Jun 29, 2015 22:41:46 GMT
Posted: Jun 29, 2015 22:41:46 GMT
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on Feb 14, 2016 19:27:38 GMT
Posted: Feb 14, 2016 19:27:38 GMT
well ive always fancied a rangefinder ,about a month ago i picked up an electro gt all i had to do was sort the light seals and it works fine .then a minister700 and then last week a gsn that needed some work to get it going after having it to pieces all that i couldnt get to work was the battery check light so i got rid of the wires and check board ,,,,seems to work now ,,,shutter speeds seem about right to my ears , meter shows the same as my d200 just need to get a roll through it to know for sure .oh and of course the light seals on the gsn and the 700 had to be done .lovely cameras .
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