The Pleasure of Camera Nostalgia (part 2) …

Back in May in a post on this blog …  “The Pleasure of Camera Nostalgia” …  I wrote about the cameras that I acquired and used during my formative teen years in photography. At the time I had just found replacements for a long lost pair of Minolta’s – a Minolta Rapid 24 rangefinder and a Minolta SRT101 SLR.

I also mentioned that I was searching for a rare camera – a Yashica Pentamatic – that sat on my teenage camera timeline between the two Minolta’s.

I am pleased to say that, after months of searching and net browsing and now thanks to EBay seller bj2875, I have acquired the much sought after Yashica.

Although a basic (and very pretty) camera the Yashica Pentamatic was my first ever SLR … and my first ‘sold’ photograph was made on the original. It was also Yashica’s first SLR model and it was launched in 1960 (my pounds, shillings and pence went on a second hand example some years after launch!). It has no exposure metering at all … and has the unique but intelligent feature of a shoulder mounted accessory shoe set around the rewind knob.

My example arrived from seller ‘Bob’ today courtesy US Mail and must say I am very pleased with the condition of the camera body, the 55mm 1.8 and the 35mm 2.8 Yashinon lenses, leather cases and straps, bulb flash complete with boxes of spare bulbs, original instruction booklet … and price ! Still inside the camera, on the last frame, was a roll of ‘Sears 24 exposure color slide film’. Have my doubts whether I’ll be able to get that processed.

My sincere thanks go to Bob who is more a seller of coins than cameras.

With the acquisition of the Yashica I believe I now have examples of all the cameras I used from childhood through to my twenties (unless my memory is completely stuffed).

Below is a pic of the camera after todays unpacking … pretty isn’t it.  Image © Brian Cassey

Yashica Pentamatic 35mm SLR film camera