Yashica TL-Super

Yashica TL-SUPER with auto-Yashinon-DX 1.4/50

 

Yashica's first SLR with TTL-metering, introduced 1966, and of course you still have to stop down for metering. It is often compared to the Pentax Spotmatic from 1964 and the similarities are striking. The TL-Super looks much bulkier, but the difference is only a few millimeters. Unlike the Spotmatic the TL-Super features a built-in hot shoe and a true mirror lock-up, which was necessary to mount the 3.3/21 Yashinon, which wasn't a retrofocus design. In Germany the TL-Super started with the same price tag as the Spotmatic, but then the price was reduced and it was sold very successfully.

 

Some specs:

* M42 thread mount

* Shutter speeds: 1 s to 1/1000 s

* Mechanical shutter, horizontally traveling

* ISO range: 25 to 800

* Match needle in the viewfinder

* Uses zinc-oxide batteries

 

Some other TL cameras by Yashica:

TL (1968) reduced TL-Super.

TL Electro X (1968) milestone, first 35mm SLR with lamps (not LEDs) in the viewfinder instead of a needle, electronically shutter with blades, vertically traveling.

TL-Electro (1972) reduced Electro X, rather a TL-Super. Mechanical shutter again, but still lamps in the viewer.

Done