What do you get when you combine an iconic camera brand from the past with a crowdfunding campaign for a 'rangefinder' camera? The Yashica Y35, that's what. Watch Chris and Jordan try to make lemonade out of a lemon.
@ Alex Permit: well, that's a bit harsh. I have one, not the greatest camera ever made, but it has a pretty nice lens, and, well, it's kind of endearing, to me at least. Of course it's neither light nor small, but hey, it was one one of the first - if not the first auto-exposure cameras :)
@ Alex Permit: well, I must also admit since the Electro 35 was the first film camera I bought, I am a bit partial to it. I never owned a Canonet, but they feel pretty similar to the Revue 400 SE, Minolta Hi-Matic 7sII, Vivitar 35ES and Konica Auto S3 - too similar to justify purchase since I already own two Revue 400 SE. Which would be absolutely great little cameras were it for the annoying habit of the takeup spool to slip and thus fail to do its job.
Yes, I agree I am partial to the Canonet as it was the first new camera I ever bought.
I was a young teenager when I bought the Canonet. The Konica S3 was a great camera as well, but as I remember It did not have manual override ( auto exposure only), which was a deal breakerfor me. The Canonet also had parallax correction in the viewfinder, and a foolproof takeup spool.
By the time the Minolta 7sII came out I was already heading to college. To it's credit it did have manual overide but didn't have the "auto flash" feature that the Konica and Canonet had. The Revue 400 SE and Vivitar 35ES were, I understand, 7sII clones.
While I am partial to the Canonet, all the above were fine cameras that I'd be happy to shoot today. What drove, and still drives me away from the Yashica was its autoexposure system. It gave no indication of the shutter speed the camera chose. I couldn't get over that limitation, then or now.
In 1970 when I was a child and In got this camera I would have been ecstatic .... now at that age I would probably want a smartphone....
Few current photographers would get any pleasure out this camera unless they were a castaway from a deserted island. Making something like this compelling is possible but even Leica has trouble doing it
Definitely not the Yashica Lynx of the early 1960 I used as backup 35mm to my Nikon F. I doubt it will get traction in the USA / Canada and relatively affluent western European countries. However, priced right, say $35, this might sell well in Third World countries.
This is slightly better than the 120mm homemade camera I made when I was 13 years old.
The background surrounding this camera is a snapshot of the flow of how things happen currently.
A few people with impact decide the develop an idea regarding a retro focused camera. The do their own research or pay somebody to to a market analysis to assess the idea. Because they want to keep all the opportunity and benefit in their own circle of connections they come to a number of conclusions regarding market feasibility and the minimum specifications of the idea/product that don't match reality.
They then take a beautiful model and some talented video artists and make some really superb promotion material. Pay them well. Unleash the promos and actually get market attention.
Because the groundwork was invalid they pay designers/engineers bottom dollar to throw together a cheap plastic camera with off the shelf parts. The plastic molds are still expensive. Manufacture a camera that very few want at at hugely inflated prices.
Hope people will bite ..... some do
At some point discount the camera heavy so it has a niche market. Perhaps still make money.
People complain about the big names in photo but for the most part they manage to avoid this circus that is rampant in just about any other industry.
All the cameras I have bought were obviously designed an manufactured with great care, mostly in Japan and made in China. I have never seen an Olympus camera commercial and I don't really want to.
The problem is that educated consumers of photography equipment are dying off or being impoverished at a high rate, and I don't see anyone taking their place. In my frame of reference hardly anybody at all.
This a 10 out of 10 in the missed opportunity scale. A massive achievement, well done.
But you know what? What amazes me is how insanely AWESOME this could've been if done right.
Sometimes you need a break from the 300 fps, 5 gazillion pixels, 39 stops DR, etc.
To go back to the roots, having dials, retro looks, an advance lever, that's fun man.
But the icing on the cake is the concept of "digital film". That would have been AMAZING if done right. I'm 100% serious.
Imagine a memory "card" that looks exactly like 35mm film cartridges, and your shots go through in-camera processing before being saved, that's exactly like the film simulation you get from desktop high-end plugins.
There's RAW of course, but jpegs and tiffs look exactly like scanned film images right OOC.
So if you insert a Velvia cartridge (again, it looks like a 35mm cartdrige), you get Velvia look that accurately matches actual Velvia film.
This camera disappoints but if done right, I'd buy it in a heart beat.
This was an obvious flop already from the first article. There is no way this could have been made right. I see from your text that you are very enthusiastic, But, sorry, this is a small and cheap digital camera. Then you get a small and cheap digital camera. Nothing more and nothing less. It is a toy.
the real way to explore such vintage things is with a real compact rangefinder or vintage compact and film, there are literally millions of cameras gathering dust that could offer a genuine experience
if your keen to explore retro magic digitally a used fuji x10 x20 x30 x100 with carefully crafted film simulations and inputs are tremendous fun
read the reviews everywhere of the emotional impact and retro operational delight that many reviewers felt when fuji x first appeared
many felt they returned joy to camera use ....and they were right
@cosinaphile, loved your sugestions for retro digital cameras, but I already have one, my Leica M8. It's as close as it gets to a film camera with a digital sensor inside.
But despite being super super close to the experience I've described in my OP, it still lacks the limitations imposed by being locked with 1 ISO per roll/batch, 1 look per roll/batch.
In that regard, what Yashica has made is indeed the next level in such digital - retro experience.
They've just done it really half baked.
Regarding shooting with real film cameras, I've toyed with such idea for countless times.
But not all places are equal. Where I live (Brazil), film is officially prohibitive.
You can spend more than 100 BR$ (Brazillian Real) per roll of 35mm film, between film cost, developing, scanning, etc. It's a massive no.
I love the idea of actual film, but we've reached a point where costs are no longer doable.
There's just one way now for many of us: digital, even if that's quite sad.
i hear ya , i left film for its cost and inconvenience [nyc] toward the end i only shot slide film , the m8 is a sweet machine , and it probably represents the closest digital has ever been to the experience of film
might i suggest you keep a notebook and segment your digital shooting into 24 or 36 "exposure " sets using one iso [like 100 or 400 or 640 or 1600 ] with an emphasis on monochrome ...instead of using this Yashica cartridge system , simply use a notebook to record the parameters of restriction , as an art project , if you will
i do understand why the kickstarter "Yashica " was appealing .. it had potential
@Roland, haha that was actually quite funny! ;) I have the M8, cheapest of all Leica things, and only 1 lens (28mm f2 Voigtlander) and will probably remain that way for a decade at least :) This setup is ok enough, just wanted to taste the Leica/rangefinder experience, and it surely delivers :D
But a single roll of 35mm Provia here is 80 bucks (in local currency). Probably another 40, 50 bucks to develop... plus a decent scanner from ebay ($$$), import taxes, film camera... wow, the $$$$ escalates quickly! :(
As a 14 year old, the Original Electro 35 (film) was a pretty good unit. At that time it was the beginning of the electronic aided cameras. This new unit may be marketed at us old guys who still remember our youth.
I also had one. So - it seems we are the same age. If this toy had been cheaper and looked more like the original, then it would be something nice to have on the bookshelf. No need for any phony cartridges.
My call for balanced goodness (combined benefits and value that CAN be done) would work quite well with a preference of retro style. And there are plenty of buyers for modernistic also.
Preferences are not the problem with mass marketing. Value should not be a problem with mass production. Bad photographic combination is the problem. Fostered and maintained; ONLY by first adopter vanity.
Definitely please, do more reviews of crap cameras. By doing so, it will:
1. Give us a perspective of how much crap is out there 2. The price range those crap costs 3. How good the other non-crap cameras are out there 4. Give us lots of entertainment value. :D
Yes but then there is the egregious crap level of the least worse. What about that bad combination? Even if you foolishly disregard the cost. Which is NEVER wise anyway. Don't be distracted.
If a SYSTEM is not balanced and with high total excellence then you should have saved for the system that can be. Otherwise you have a closet full of unused cons.
*And* we should not buy to learn all about photography. Because it runs deeper than surface level. Do your homework BEFORE buying. This work is far more than a spec sheet and a discount or lowest price. If you don't then you will live to regret your buying decisions.
Seriously, the specs on the crowdfunding site was crap and suspicious to begin with! I don't feel sorry to the backers at all! It does not take more than 3 brain cells to figure that out...
Stickers on the camera have bubbles and are defective Photos can’t be found after they’re captured Difficulty inserting digiFilm rolls into the camera Removing the lens cover caused the lens to separate from the camera body An included cable that isn’t compatible with the camera Photos are out of focus and distorted
Here are some of the issues and complaints being shared:
The camera turns off when the shutter is pressed The camera doesn’t even turn on The camera is plastic and cheaply made Camera parts are breaking and falling off Fake buttons molded into the plastic just for looks The camera is hard to hold while pressing the shutter Many backers have yet to receive their cameras and haven’t had any updates on the status Awful image quality comparable to cheap toy cameras for kids Incorrect labeling on the fake film rolls, resulting in mismatched photo styles Black-and-white photos coming out blue An unreliable shutter button that doesn’t always trigger a photo when pressed The shutter takes photos on the way up instead of when its fully pressed down A shutter button so stiff that it’s unusable The winding lever gets jammed and needs to be manually pushed back
Chris and Jordan, this was a great short. Can you do a head to head with the vtech wrist watch camera. These seem to be popular with little kids and I think it might win. However, it does have the advantage of being about $50 David
Wow, honest, accurate, scary that there are so many people out there that long for what this POC (Piece Of _rap) purported to be. I think there was another funding on a different service that they used to get more money, just boggled my mind.
I was excited when I read their funding at first, but then I asked some question and got dance-dance-dance for answers. I'm pretty sure the folks who did this are somewhere on the mainland out of the grasp of any law enforcement from countries that might care about this sort of thing.
I'm wondering if there were actual lies (e.g. did they use the term rangefinder in their write-up?) in their marketing. Sad as it poisons the path for others who might actually do something great.
There was a teardown video on this camera from "Point&ShootClub" on youtube. A commenter noted that the chipset in this camera, "JL3272A", is actually designed for dashcams.
You are wasting valuable review time on useless reviews. The Yashica here, the look at cameras from the past earlier. For Fuch's sakes, focus on what matters. When are you going to review the most valuable investments in a camera system, lenses? You need to review LENSES. Keep your eye on the ball, boys. Yashica, Schmica. Waste of time.
only review garbage cameras, if you got spare time, I did like your pictures of garbage though. why not buy a cheap film camera with light leaks instead of this junk though.
Give me shutter dial, aperture ring, split image focusing prism, and auto focus. No continuous shooting.
No rear screen
No LCD menus
All real buttons
One button for JPEG or RAW
If JPEG, give me a wheel to identify which film preset or JPEG preset I want to use 1-10 (set when I plug it in).
Everything else that is not a button will just have to be set up on the computer. Just the way it is.
Weather sealed
And a real shutter advance to prime the shutter
Solar panel to run the light meter and charge a capacitor that in combination with the shutter advance would (could) to provide enough energy to save one file even if the battery died (only when battery dies though). When battery charged, functions as normally...but you still need to prime the shutter with the shutter advance. Fully mechanical.
Think DPR is trying to attract more audiences and hit rate. But really anyone will buy or even have much interest in these old cameras these days as they did other day on original Canon 1D and Nikon D1H? Maybe they should spend more time to test more modern cameras and lenses.
That's the disappointment. If they'd just used a non-dash cam chipset so it would have at least some hope of capturing images as good as even the old 110 Instamatics.. but nope.
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