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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 Sept 24, 2020 14:02:25 GMT
Last Edit: Sept 24, 2020 23:08:03 GMT by biggles3
This is the Oral-Eye dental camera - forerunner to Yashica's own Dental-Eye series.
Oral-Eye flash-ready
Part of Tokyo Shizaisha's catalogue and carrying their branding on the carrying case and the camera body, this unique variant of the Electro 35 supports a unique 55mm f4 lens with an internal ring-flash powered by 4 AA batteries housed in the large grip. The viewfinder is almost redundant and focusing is governed by an extendable focusing rail which has marked positions that correspond with annotations on the barrel of the lens. Users of the DX-100mm f4 or any of the Dental-Eye series will be familiar with the correlation between flash output and the lens' focal distance.
A big relief was finding that the flash is still operational despite all the intervening decades. As with any of Yashica's internal ring-flash units, once they've expired, you simply have a nice lens; in over ten years of looking I have only once seen a replacement being sold.
There are a couple of accessories in the carrying case which I can't fathom; typically the only missing item was the user manual. Build quality is impressive. |
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Group: Administrator
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Status: Failed treatment for L.B.A. and G.A.S,
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on Sept 24, 2020 22:03:12 GMT
Last Edit: Sept 24, 2020 22:04:23 GMT by lumiworx
Manuals online for the original Dental-Eye have evaded me so far, and it looks like the Oral-Eye's instructions aren't popping up either. The manuals I did find had accessory listings, and I'd guess the earlier ones did as well. I seem to remember seeing some type of optional 'tube' diffuser that was made for the 1st version, but it was also usable on the later models. The II and III models had the 2X Closeup lens, AC wall warts for power, intra-oral mirrors, and "FL" type diopters. There's a pic of an Oral-Eye on yashicaguy's site that shows a complete kit, with an add-on diffuser for the ring flash, and what seems to be a gum spreader contraption, plus the measurement scale and frame pieces... www.yashica-guy.com/document/variations.html |
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