Group: Moderator
Post: 2,040 (563 liked)
Join date: April 2014
Status: Long, long time Contax and Yashica user; glad to be here and hope to contribute.
|
|
on Aug 12, 2020 14:58:51 GMT
Posted: Aug 12, 2020 14:58:51 GMT
Every so often, something unusual pops into view and you have to be lucky to spot it. This appeared in Australia and is now safely tucked away in the UK.
YashicaFlex Tomioka Tri-Lausar
It is a very early YashicaFlex camera and what makes it so unusual is its taking lens - not a Yashimar but the earlier Tomioka Tri-Lausar 80 f3.5 triplet. These were usually found on the Yashimaflex before being superseded by the Heliotar and then Yashimar lenses. So it would seem that this camera was an early production model as the name changed from Yashimaflex to YashicaFlex. I had assumed it was an early version - the Yashicaflex A-1 but it isn't. It's logo is an earlier style and it has the push-button that became associated with the later Copal-shuttered A models. Its metal trim is closest to that of the A-I but the logo, shutter and push-button are not. Although I can't find an exemplar, I'm pretty certain this camera is a YashicaFlex B in which case it probably dates from 1954 (not to be confused with the later Yashicaflex B).
Even its lens cap is unusual in its rendering of the Yashica logo in a stylized italic form.
The camera needs some tlc and I hope to be able to restore its tired appearance over the coming months; thankfully it is fully operational. This will be my first experience with a NKS-FB shutter so lots new to learn...
|
|
Group: Administrator
Post: 770 (71 liked)
Join date: August 2016
Status:
|
|
on Aug 12, 2020 21:20:50 GMT
Posted: Aug 12, 2020 21:20:50 GMT
It looks museum quality to me!
|
|
Group: Moderator
Post: 2,040 (563 liked)
Join date: April 2014
Status: Long, long time Contax and Yashica user; glad to be here and hope to contribute.
|
|
on Aug 12, 2020 22:28:52 GMT
Posted: Aug 12, 2020 22:28:52 GMT
It looks museum quality to me! How I wish it was but the side leathers have shrunk over the course of its 66 years and there's a bit of paint loss too. Weird thing - nowhere on the camera is there a serial number (other than on the lenses) nor is there any reference to being made in Japan. |
|
Group: Administrator
Post: 1,370 (301 liked)
Join date: February 2017
Status: Failed treatment for L.B.A. and G.A.S,
|
|
on Aug 13, 2020 0:30:51 GMT
Posted: Aug 13, 2020 0:30:51 GMT
Weird thing - nowhere on the camera is there a serial number (other than on the lenses) nor is there any reference to being made in Japan. The missing serial # might be in another location... www.yashicatlr.com/SerialNumbers.html#location. I guess it's also possible it had a repair at some poiint, and the replacement part didn't have it's own number, but I don't know when they started stamping serials on repair parts, or even if they always had them. Having no country of origin on a post-war Japanese camera suggests it was not an export model, or it went to somewhere that didn't require any markings on imported goods. I assume there's no "E.P." markings either, to rule out that it was sold in an Army/Navy PX to service members. |
|
Group: Moderator
Post: 2,040 (563 liked)
Join date: April 2014
Status: Long, long time Contax and Yashica user; glad to be here and hope to contribute.
|
|
on Aug 14, 2020 10:24:30 GMT
Posted: Aug 14, 2020 10:24:30 GMT
Weird thing - nowhere on the camera is there a serial number (other than on the lenses) nor is there any reference to being made in Japan. The missing serial # might be in another location... www.yashicatlr.com/SerialNumbers.html#location. I guess it's also possible it had a repair at some poiint, and the replacement part didn't have it's own number, but I don't know when they started stamping serials on repair parts, or even if they always had them. Having no country of origin on a post-war Japanese camera suggests it was not an export model, or it went to somewhere that didn't require any markings on imported goods. I assume there's no "E.P." markings either, to rule out that it was sold in an Army/Navy PX to service members. I have been very fortunate to have received a comprehensive message on the camera from Paul Sokk (of yashicatlr.com fame) and he is prepared to dig a little further to explain the various anomalies concerning the absence of a serial number and the taking and viewing lenses. He has only come across 1 camera in his database of 5000 examples that lacked a serial number - a very early Yashimaflex - so a little more digging is needed. There are no signs of any repairs on the model B and the original owner confirmed it had not been repaired so the mystery continues...
I also spotted that it has an ASA flash-sync socket - do I have a 1950s or 60s flash with that bayonet connector? Of course not...
|
|
Group: Member
Post: 415 (91 liked)
Join date: March 2017
Status:
|
|
on Aug 24, 2020 15:25:18 GMT
Posted: Aug 24, 2020 15:25:18 GMT
It is the first time I see a Yashica TLR not having a YashiX branded lens, nice find and nice camera too. So now you know, every time you handle it for cleaning, repair or use it, you have to speak with Australian accent.  |
|
Group: Member
Post: 69 (2 liked)
Join date: October 2018
Status:
|
|
on Apr 25, 2021 12:21:02 GMT
Posted: Apr 25, 2021 12:21:02 GMT
It looks to me that (at least ) the early models TLR's came from Beauty / Taiyōdō Kōki.
There is a large series of more / less same TLR's rebranded all over the world.
Mine is also a rebranded one, with Cookie TriLausar 8cm / 3.5 (B,25,50,100,300).
Yours has 'Tomioka' on the lens ring so it makes it very $$$ for collectors.
|
|
Group: Administrator
Post: 770 (71 liked)
Join date: August 2016
Status:
|
|
on Apr 25, 2021 12:31:32 GMT
Last Edit: Apr 25, 2021 12:32:17 GMT by xkaes
Weird thing - nowhere on the camera is there a serial number (other than on the lenses) nor is there any reference to being made in Japan. I'm not an expert in the "MADE IN OCCUPIED JAPAN" regulations, but I know that they changed over time, they were interpreted differently by different companies, and the regulations differed depending on what was produced -- and where it was marketed. Perhaps Yashica did not mark this model as "JAPAN" because it was made for the home market. Just a guess.
|
|
Group: Administrator
Post: 1,010 (77 liked)
Join date: January 2014
Status:
|
|
on May 7, 2021 3:11:35 GMT
Posted: May 7, 2021 3:11:35 GMT
It looks museum quality to me! How I wish it was but the side leathers have shrunk over the course of its 66 years and there's a bit of paint loss too. Weird thing - nowhere on the camera is there a serial number (other than on the lenses) nor is there any reference to being made in Japan. It could perhaps be a prototype.
PF
|
|
Group: Moderator
Post: 2,040 (563 liked)
Join date: April 2014
Status: Long, long time Contax and Yashica user; glad to be here and hope to contribute.
|
|
on May 7, 2021 10:26:31 GMT
Posted: May 7, 2021 10:26:31 GMT
How I wish it was but the side leathers have shrunk over the course of its 66 years and there's a bit of paint loss too. Weird thing - nowhere on the camera is there a serial number (other than on the lenses) nor is there any reference to being made in Japan. It could perhaps be a prototype.
PF
It remains an anomaly as it seems to have stumped Paul Sokk so your suggestion that it may be a prototype may well have some weight to it; it would go some way to explaining the complete absence of a serial number on the body. I've been able to obtain some leathers that are a fair match for the originals but being slightly different in texture means that I'll have to remove all of the original ones and then replace them. Preparing templates is going to keep me out of mischief for quite a while.... |
|
Group: Administrator
Post: 770 (71 liked)
Join date: August 2016
Status:
|
|
on May 7, 2021 14:53:55 GMT
Posted: May 7, 2021 14:53:55 GMT
Preparing templates is going to keep me out of mischief for quite a while....
Is that a good thing?
|
|
Group: Moderator
Post: 2,040 (563 liked)
Join date: April 2014
Status: Long, long time Contax and Yashica user; glad to be here and hope to contribute.
|
|
on May 7, 2021 18:30:27 GMT
Posted: May 7, 2021 18:30:27 GMT
Keeping out of mischief is a very good thing for me. The last time I got into mischief, it involved two young women, a canary, a bowl of custard, an egg-whisk, a very bemused pangolin and 4 ring-doughnuts; my case comes up in court shortly... Life is a lot more simple for me making templates for a TLR from the 1950s! |
|
|
Deleted
Group: Member
Post: 0 ( liked)
Join date: January 1970
Status:
|
|
on May 7, 2021 19:44:30 GMT
Posted: May 7, 2021 19:44:30 GMT
The last time I got into mischief, it involved two young women, a canary, a bowl of custard, an egg-whisk, a very bemused pangolin and 4 ring-doughnuts; Intriguing material for a creative-writing assignment...! |
|
Group: Administrator
Post: 1,010 (77 liked)
Join date: January 2014
Status:
|
|
on May 8, 2021 16:22:10 GMT
Posted: May 8, 2021 16:22:10 GMT
It could perhaps be a prototype.
PF
It remains an anomaly as it seems to have stumped Paul Sokk so your suggestion that it may be a prototype may well have some weight to it; it would go some way to explaining the complete absence of a serial number on the body. I've been able to obtain some leathers that are a fair match for the originals but being slightly different in texture means that I'll have to remove all of the original ones and then replace them. Preparing templates is going to keep me out of mischief for quite a while.... After looking at the photos on www.yashicatlr.com/YashicaflexASeries.html it appears that the serial number should be on top of the name plate. Closer inspection of your photo tends to show some "ghosting", so maybe the number was removed to keep the camera from being traceable from a heist. My 635 which I got from an antique shop which I later found dealt in items of a dubious source had the number plate removed, I assumed for that very purpose.
PF
|
|
Group: Moderator
Post: 2,040 (563 liked)
Join date: April 2014
Status: Long, long time Contax and Yashica user; glad to be here and hope to contribute.
|
|
on May 9, 2021 3:12:07 GMT
Posted: May 9, 2021 3:12:07 GMT
It remains an anomaly as it seems to have stumped Paul Sokk so your suggestion that it may be a prototype may well have some weight to it; it would go some way to explaining the complete absence of a serial number on the body. I've been able to obtain some leathers that are a fair match for the originals but being slightly different in texture means that I'll have to remove all of the original ones and then replace them. Preparing templates is going to keep me out of mischief for quite a while.... After looking at the photos on www.yashicatlr.com/YashicaflexASeries.html it appears that the serial number should be on top of the name plate. Closer inspection of your photo tends to show some "ghosting", so maybe the number was removed to keep the camera from being traceable from a heist. My 635 which I got from an antique shop which I later found dealt in items of a dubious source had the number plate removed, I assumed for that very purpose.
PF
Hi - you are quite correct about the position of serial numbers; it was something Paul and I explored. Unfortunately, the 'ghosting' to which you refer is nothing more than paint-loss; I can't find any signs that someone has tried to obliterate anything from the use of a corrosive substance or grinding; just the ravages of time and a slightly salty atmosphere from its former coastal location. I quite like the notion that this venerable, old camera has a dodgy past...it does add a certain spice to picture taking thinking that the ghost of an Aussie policeman from the 1950s might emerge from the ether and try to clap me in irons for receiving stolen property... |
|
