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on May 6, 2020 15:07:18 GMT
Posted: May 6, 2020 15:07:18 GMT
This lovely camera arrived today - the Minister-700 Deluxe.
Minister-700 DeLuxe
What distinguishes this from the others in the Minister series is its lens which has a maximum aperture of f1.7 instead of the usual f2.8. It's not a model that pops up very often and the three that I have seen in the last few months have all been here in the UK.
I hope to pop a film in and see if that 1.7 lens is a better performer than its slower siblings.
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on May 7, 2020 10:24:16 GMT
Posted: May 7, 2020 10:24:16 GMT
Nice find!
Tell me? Was there a Minister 700 with a 2.8 lens or was that variant(?) sold as the Minister D? I was only aware of the 700 with the 1.7 lens and D's with 2.8 or 1.9 lenses ….. a 700 with a 2.8 would be a new addition to my chart. TIA.
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on May 7, 2020 11:18:56 GMT
Last Edit: May 7, 2020 11:21:27 GMT by biggles3
Nice find! Tell me? Was there a Minister 700 with a 2.8 lens or was that variant(?) sold as the Minister D? I was only aware of the 700 with the 1.7 lens and D's with 2.8 or 1.9 lenses ….. a 700 with a 2.8 would be a new addition to my chart. TIA. Hi Bob,
As far as I know, there were just 6 cameras in the Minister series: Minister, Yashica M (Minister with f1.9 lens), Minister II, Minister III, Minister D and its variant the Minister 700. As far as I know, the 700 was only produced with the f1.7 lens as in nearly all other respects, it seems to be a Minister D. The exception is the switch for the CdS meter which has been completely redesigned and is much more user-friendly than on the D. The Minister 700 was produced in smaller numbers than its parent, the Minister D.
Quite why my camera was called the Minister 700 De Luxe I'm not sure; perhaps there was a standard kit and a 'De Luxe' version with additional accessories. The heavy, black patent-leather case certainly adds a touch of luxury and it looks like there were 2 versions of the 700 as I have spotted one with a more conventional Yashica brown leather case and a much larger window for the ASA setting than the one found on the Minister D or my version of the 700.
The manual that came with the 700 De Luxe refers only to the Minister 700 in the text which leads me to think the name was to reflect an 'added value' kit.
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on May 7, 2020 11:55:49 GMT
Posted: May 7, 2020 11:55:49 GMT
Thanks for that Graham. Good …. nothing to change on the chart That ASA setting window difference is slightly worrying … who knows if other minor changes are lurking out there! I know Yashica Guy, in general, often refers to minor variations of models throughout his website. I think you are right …. sometimes Yashica offered De Luxe Camera kits, the De Luxe being the package of items rather than the camera.
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on May 8, 2020 3:24:29 GMT
Last Edit: May 8, 2020 3:27:26 GMT by lumiworx
Unfortunately I can't find anything in the lists I have to confirm a few things with any clarity, so I can only offer some observations and guesses on some of the questions. Doing a Google Image search on Yashica "Minister 700" only shows that particular model with f/1.7 lenses. With the hundreds of images it offers, you'd think there would be at least one that was different - but it doesn't. No matter how I manipulate the search terms, there's only 1.7's shown on any 700 it finds. Once upon a time, I would never have thought I would see a prominent Japanese camera maker producing German cameras and lenses from the likes of Zeiss and Contax, let alone making a military model of one for the Swiss Air Force... so I suppose it might be possible that somwhere along the line there might have been another aperture model in the mix, but I think it's unlikely from what I've seen so far. On the Minister "Deluxe" models, there are no supposedly official document's I've seen that suggest there was ever a distinctly different model, but as noted, there have been several 'kits' through the years. From what I've seen, both the Minister D and 700 Deluxe versions were very minimal kits. They were simply the camera, and a case/strap, packaged in a box marked as a 'Deluxe' model, with a manual that's front page also had the 'Deluxe' name. Otherwise they seem to be no different than the base models, with one exception... that the 700's case/strap sets were brown, and The D's were black. I don't think I've ever seen a brown Minister case available as a stand-alone accessory, so those could be fairly rare if that's the case (pun intended!). Not that these deluxe kits are odd, but most of the kits I've run across include more in the way of accessories. One that comes to mind is the Electrode GSN travel kit, that included a shoulder case with accessory mounts for the ST-7 tripod, a filter set, a lens hood, and the pair of auxilliary lenses and their finder. The Electro camera came with a standard vinyl strap, but no everready case. I'm not aware of a "Minister M" model, but that could mean there was a country or sales region specific model that is rebadged for some reason. The Yashica 35mm Guide (from Mike Butkus' site) published in 1972 doesn't list it as it's own model, and it isn't coming up in any list I have or I've seen. There's the Yashica M rangefinder series (the M, M-II, M-3), but I've not seen a Minister that's labeled as an 'M' model. There's a photo by PF in his Flickr set that's the first in the M series. The models and release dates I'm currently aware of for all the Minister models: Yashica Minister (I), f/2.8 - 1960/02 Yashica Minister (I), f/1.9 - 1960/06 Yashica Minister-II, f/2.8 - 1962/05 Yashica Minister D, f/2.8 - 1963/12 Yashica Minister D, f/1.8 - 1964/08 Yashica Minister 700, f/1.7 - 1964/10 Yashica Minister-II, f/1.9 - 1964/11 Yashica Minister III, f/2.8 - 1966/03 And here's a previous sale on ShopGoodwill for a Yashica Minister D Deluxe, with box, black case/strap, and manual.
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on May 8, 2020 9:09:17 GMT
Posted: May 8, 2020 9:09:17 GMT
Thank you for the detailed further explanation … and dates I guess the outstanding issue in understanding the Minister series and close similar cameras, is the relationship between the Minister series and the Yashica M, M-II & M-3 cameras? As you say, I have never seen any Minister "M" mentioned or imaged ….. so it's purely down to where the Yashica M, M-II & M-3 relate to the Ministers. I look forward to anyone passing on their knowledge in this area.
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on May 8, 2020 9:27:53 GMT
Posted: May 8, 2020 9:27:53 GMT
Hi lumiworx,
If you have a look at camera-wiki.org/wiki/Yashica_M you'll see a piccie of the Yashica M which was a variant of the original Minister, with a f1.9 lens.
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on May 8, 2020 12:53:43 GMT
Posted: May 8, 2020 12:53:43 GMT
Thanks biggles3 ... but that's the same model as PF's photo that I linked to earlier. There seems to be no mention of "Minister" anywhere on the camera body or lens assembly, and it certainly looks more akin to a Lynx than a Minister body in style cues. That's not to say I doubt it may have the same heritage - only that it isn't evident from it's markings. The meter types are different, the top plates are different, the rangefinder window surround frames are different - but - I'm not sure how they match up on the inside, or what the actual dimmensions are. There are some notes from pauls on his site about a legal issue with the later M series coming from Leica (i.e., a no-no on naming anything "M-2, M-II, or M-3, or M-III), so that may have caused some discrepancies and confusion, and their model designations being a bit out of whack with any list. It might also be the reason there's not a unified name on their own manuals and brochures with some models. I wonder if there was such a thing a 'camera recall' in the 60's to retrieve litigated models when there was a branding dispute... ? The dates (without month values) in the lists I have for all of the M series, are: Yashica M, 1960 / Yashica M-II, 1962 / Yashica M-3, 19?? I didn't have the M-3 in my camera table list at all, so I'll try to see if there's any dated material I can find, and anything there might be to unravel more details and family history.
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on May 8, 2020 20:57:44 GMT
Posted: May 8, 2020 20:57:44 GMT
Good stuff people! It all adds to understanding and recording of the history of an important and extensive subset of a marque of cameras If only someone had documented the whole timeline of the Minister/Lynx/Yashica M/Wizard/Minimatic/Flash-O-set/EE series nearer the time of their production, we would have a field-day in understanding their evolution! And a question to throw out in that line of thought … was the Yashica 35 (1958) their paternal grand-daddy?
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on May 8, 2020 21:45:14 GMT
Last Edit: May 8, 2020 21:49:29 GMT by lumiworx
And a question to throw out in that line of thought … was the Yashica 35 (1958) their paternal grand-daddy? If you mean that it was the first in the 35mm rangefinder line... yes. Well a qualified yes, anyway. The Yashica 35 was brought out in April of '58, and I would assume 2 things in order to call it their first 35mm camera. First and foremost, it was presumably designed and built entirely by Yashica/Yashima, and had to already be in the pipeline a fair amount of time before the ultimate production date came about. Secondly, the Nicca company and all it's tooling and designs were purchased and merged in November of the same year, but I think it's safe to assume that some of the Nicca hardware (later to be reworked as the YL, and YK) was in-house prior to that period, and was being redesigned. I imagine Yashica knew they wanted to buy them out while their own 35mm camera was still in it's earlier design or tooling phase, and it may have come down to which one would be completely tooled (or, retooled) and ready first. One note on the Minister M vs., Yashica M question... It's possible that for some reason, I've always assumed the original Minister (without any roman numerals or other model designations) was the same one I located today in an ebay auction, but it's been listed there as a "Minister II" in the description. The problem lies in the photos it shows, as there's no "II" markings on it that I saw on a quick inspection, and if it is in fact a second version and not the original, then I've attached the wrong mental image for that first model in my memory banks for ages. This is one of those things that bugs me to no end, so hopefully I can detach the pics from the brain and do some reprogramming if needed. (I also shouldn't be posting in the weeeeee small hours when I can royally miss the boat before thinking!) :)
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on May 9, 2020 9:40:23 GMT
Last Edit: May 9, 2020 9:41:53 GMT by bobblehat
Thanks Lumiworx …. and some of your comments led me on to stumble across Paul Sokk's excellent pages. My wish for someone to have documented this section of Yashica camera production has just given been granted, thanks to Paul's efforts. See Paul's pages here
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on May 11, 2020 5:05:49 GMT
Posted: May 11, 2020 5:05:49 GMT
Thanks Lumiworx …. and some of your comments led me on to stumble across Paul Sokk's excellent pages. My wish for someone to have documented this section of Yashica camera production has just given been granted, thanks to Paul's efforts. See Paul's pages hereBeen a while since I visited his site. Good to see he's done quite a bit of additional research, especially on the YE and YF.
PF
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on May 13, 2020 8:50:12 GMT
Posted: May 13, 2020 8:50:12 GMT
I just spotted a further variation in this camera series - the Minister III had 2 different lens versions - one marked Yashinon and the other Yashinon-DX. Life is a continuous education...
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on May 13, 2020 10:00:38 GMT
Posted: May 13, 2020 10:00:38 GMT
That's interesting … the M-3 had a DX lens too!
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on May 15, 2020 18:54:34 GMT
Posted: May 15, 2020 18:54:34 GMT
Here's a piccie of the two versions of the Minister III...
45mm Yashinon 45mm Yashinon-DX
And here's what's stamped onto the back-plate of the earlier version of the Minister III (Yashinon lens); the later Yashinon-DX model simply has 'Japan' stamped below the serial number.
Early Minister III
I don't recall seeing the word 'Processed' before; I'm assuming it means 'Assembled'.
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