Yashica + Blog Aims

Blog Aims

Simply put, I'm going to give down-to-earth reviews of all the photo equipment that comes under my nose.
I'm not going to pull any punches or smooth over the creases because of my personal opinion. However I will be basing this blog on my opinions and giving some tips from what I've learned.

Yashica Electro 35 G Review

Taken With Canon 550D

Intro - This is a beautiful 35mm film rangefinder from way back when. I picked this up from ebay for £30 and had to replace the light seal, the seller kindly refunded me some of the expense.

Taken With Canon 550D

First impressions - Well I was excited by my purchase, aperture priority rangefinders are hard to come by, as rangefinders were replaced by slrs when semi-auto modes were just being put into cameras. This excitement was enhanced by all the forums saying that rangefinders had the brightest viewfinders of all cameras.

Taken With Canon 550D

I couldn't wait to put my eye to that viewfinder and twist the focusing ring to match those two images and click that silent shutter.

All other pictures  from the Yashica

I was disappointed, to be honest. Firstly the viewfinder is blue, I understand this is to contrast with the little focussing diamond in the centre, but it was still not what I imagined. Compairing it to my Canon 550D, it makes no real difference in real life, even with my "dull" kit lens.
The Yashica has a "clunk" every time you wind it which impacts on the silence. The shutter is really quiet, though it's hard to hear a DSLR in the middle of the city centre

The strange way of focusing was brilliant and fun to use. I'm so used to the slr system that the rangefinder seemed so complicated but it's really simple to use and after my first roll it was second nature.

Pros:
Silent shutter
Small and discrete
Easy to replace if lost/ stolen
Many, many choices of film
Great F 1.7 lens
Fun

Cons:
The viewfinder isn't "amazing" just normal
Yashica "clunk"
It's chrome and it's hard to be discrete when pointing a camera in someone's face
Film is expensive in the long run, to buy and process

Conclusions
Though this camera has a few faults, like it's fixed lens. It's film. It's manual focus. It's clunk. The faults are only a matter of perspective, the fixed lens means you only have one set of framelines. Unlike the Leicas and Bessas which you get several at once or unusable 75mm ones Film can be expensive but it has even more character than digital. Manual focus can be great, if you have decent eyesight. The clunk isn't that big a deal in a noisy environment.
Personally, this is my favourite camera I own. I enjoy shooting with this camera so much.