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Day One
Capturing our world in photographs.
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Yashica Electro 35 GSN
For years, I have heard praises about the Yashica Electro 35! People have raved about its build quality and lens performance. About two months ago, my wife and I were speaking with a local estate agent about cameras. In the back room, he had two old cameras. He handed me two dusty camera cases with “Yashica” engraved on them. The first one was a Yashica EZ-Matic 126 Film Camera. While it was a good little camera, it wasn’t exactly what I had hoped for. However, the second case held the infamous and highly desirable Electro 35 GSN! Needless to say, I was ecstatic!
I brought them home, cleaned them up, and loaded a roll of Arista Edu Ultra 100 film into one of them along with fresh batteries. It took me a couple of weeks to thoroughly test it out. Every photograph came out perfectly exposed and tack sharp. The viewfinder was also very bright and clear. I have absolutely no complaints about this camera. It’s versatile enough for street photography or capturing those spontaneous family moments.
I enjoyed my time with this camera, but rangefinder shooting isn’t my preferred style. I already have another rangefinder camera, a Zeiss Ikon, which I will keep. However, this Yashica Electro 35 GSN is up for sale. It delivers sharp images and consistently accurate exposures. It even comes with the original lens cap and case! Take a look at some of the photographs I captured with it below.
Let me know if you need more information or if there’s anything else I can assist you with.
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Zeiss Ikon Contessa 35
After World War II, Hubert Nerwin of Zeiss Ikon in West Germany created a line of folding cameras to help rebuild the company after the war. He relocated to the United States in 1948 through the government program Operation Paperclip, according to sources. Project Paperclip was an interesting program, but that’s a topic for another post.
The 533/24, Contessa 24, is futuristic in its design and function. It’s a true conversation starter. I recently took it out for a film test to write this article and was bombarded with questions about it. People asked me what type of camera it was. One person even thought it was some kind of Geiger counter. Considering its background, that’s not too far off.
As cool and unique as it is, the camera is not the easiest to use. As is expected with folding cameras, you have to cock the shutter on the lens. There’s no way to do that on the camera body. Personally, I’m used to shooting with folding medium format cameras, so this wasn’t a deal-breaker for me. However, for most people, the placement of the shutter button right above the lens will be a challenge. I tried reading the manual again to hold the camera as depicted, but it still feels awkward.
Depressing the shutter button can be difficult, resulting in some blurring at slower shutter speeds. Anything under 1/100th of a second tends to be blurred. The only way to alleviate this is to mount the camera on a tripod and use a remote release. It’s an amazing camera that looks magnificent from afar or up close and it’s definitely interesting to carry around.
I’ve owned this camera for a year and a half and have only used it two or three times during that period. Normally, I rotate my cameras and they get more use, but due to the awkward shutter button, this one has been neglected. It’s a shining example of engineering from the early 50s, although perhaps a bit over-engineered. The lens is incredibly sharp and the shutter never misses a beat or feels sluggish. It’s absolutely superb.
I am selling my early model 533/24 on Ebay. The price is right!
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Yashica MG-1 Test Photographs
These are a few of the test shots from the Yashica. I had a blast using it. The lens is sharp and the mint meter has dead on accurate.
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A Day in the Life…
3:30AM: Get up and get ready for work while sweet wife makes my lunch.
4:00AM: Leave home and head to work. It’s a 30 minute ride, so I usually listen to music and try not to hit a deer on that old country road.
5:00AM: Head into work, clock into the machine, listen to the morning meeting, and go to work.
7:00AM: Go to break and have the brilliant idea to do this post. Enjoy a snack and go back to work.
9:00AM: Take another break and spend that time writing this post and having another snack. Also, I go back to work and sweat some more.
11:00AM: I enjoy lunch prepared by my beautiful wife. I spend way too much time on eBay looking at cameras.
1:30PM: I clock out and head down that old country road again whilst listening to the radio. The old road is picturesque some days with decrepit barns, abandoned buildings, and farms along the way.
2:15PM: I finally arrived at home after being stuck behind a slow driver for the last half of the trip. It is now time to cut the grass and all that goes along with it. Hopefully, I will sneak some photography in somewhere before dark. 😀
4:00PM. Grass trimming is finished after much grime, grit, and oil.