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Yashica 35-ME

Reviews
Posted by Bengt Köhler Sandberg 2013-11-23

Yashica 35-ME

Introduced: 1972

Specs:

Lens: Yashica Yashinon 38mm f/2.8
Closest Focus: 1m (3.3ft)
Aperture: f/2.8 to f/14
Shutter: 1/650s to 1/30s
Leaf shutter
Light meter: CdS just over the lens (Iso 25 - 400)
Battery: Made for 1.3v mercury battery (EP-
675E or RM-675R) But I used a 1.5v SR44 which woked good but slightly underexposed.
Flash: PC sync connection
Weight: 375g (without battery)


Takes 135 film
24×36 mm negative size


Viewfinder:

Good size and brightness and it works very well.

Info:
Right side have the light meter info.
You see all the shutter and aperture and a needle shows what will be used.

It also has a little extra side window at the bottom right that shows which focus distance is selected.



Image quality


Analogue B&W film

Yashica
                                                          35-ME
Yashica
                                                          35-ME
Yashica
                                                          35-ME
Yashica
                                                          35-ME
Yashica
                                                          35-ME
Yashica
                                                          35-ME
Yashica
                                                          35-ME
Yashica
                                                          35-ME
Yashica
                                                          35-ME


Bokeh

Yashica
                                                      35-ME
Yashica
                                                          35-ME
Yashica
                                                      35-ME
Yashica
                                                          35-ME

Flare / Backlight
Yashica
                                                      35-ME
Yashica
                                                          35-ME
Yashica
                                                      35-ME
Yashica
                                                          35-ME





Build quality

A great build quality.
Very solid and quality feel but still fairly lightweight.
 
Operating
Yashica 35-ME


Conclusion


A simple little viewfinder cameras but still a very nice one.
Love the look and feel of it and a fun one to use.

It don't have any focus aid and it uses a simple scale focus system.
But you can also read out the distance in meters or feet on the underside of the focus ring.
This is not the most accurate way to focus but this is more or less a early point and click camera.

Image quality are quite nice and it renders well with good contrast, bokeh and flare.
But do get some noticeable corner softness.

The light meter is okay but was sometimes a little tricky to get it right in backlight.
You can lock the exposure by half pressing the shutter.
This is made for a 1.3v mercury, something I didn't know before I have taken a test roll.
And I used this with a standard 1.5v silver battery which worked well.
Have read that this camera can make slightly underexposed pictures by using this.
But this is not something I found comparing the reading with a SLRs.
However some of my shots did get a little underexposed so I would set the light meter one step under the film speed (80 on a ISO 100 film etc.)

Another think about the light meter is also that it's always on as long as it got light to read.
So to turn this off you need to use a lens cap or something that makes it dark for the meter.

Both the shutter and aperture are auto only and it's a system where these are locked together.
So for example 1/650s will always be in f/14 and 1/125 with f/4 etc.
You can use the cameras without a battery but it will only work in 1/30s and f/2.8

As a endnote I would say this can be a fun cameras for street shots or similar.
It's small, discrete and has a quiet leaf shutter.


Thumbs up:
Image quality
Lightweight
Look / Feel
Fast to work with
Quiet shutter

Thumbs down:
Soft corners
Light meter always on exept in darkness.



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Technical Info
Scanner: Plustek OpticFilm 7600i
Film: Kodak Tmax 100
Developer: Kodak Xtol

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