Paulo J Moreira
Yashica TL-Electro
This Yashica TL-Electro resembles a lot the Pentax Spotmatic F. Possibly this was no coincidence and it is all for the better since it is nicely designed, looking robust, yet elegant. The camera is ultra conservative, the Spotmatic F was more advanced as it featured open TTL metering, while the Praktica LLC with its electric simulation would resemble a science fiction device to the Yashica engineers. Still, the camera seems well built, but lacks the mechanical refinement of the Spotmatic, like the advance lever that it doesn’t feel as smooth. The viewfinder is quite ok, much better than the Praktica offering and uses LEDs instead of a needle. Opposite to what the name might suggest, the Electro is just to denote the presence of the said LED’s, as this is a fully mechanical camera. This was to cash on the success of the Electro 35, no doubt. I find the camera a lot more reined than any L series Praktica, but it is also true that it has to do with an horizontal cloth shutter, but so did the Olympus OM series.
The wonderful thing about M42 cameras and lenses is that one can create an outfit as we like. In this case I coupled the Yashica TL-Electro to a Petri lens, the 55/1.8 that enjoys a good reputation and it is much nice to use in the Yashica than in a Petri SLR.
Yashica TL-Electro
This Yashica TL-Electro resembles a lot the Pentax Spotmatic F. Possibly this was no coincidence and it is all for the better since it is nicely designed, looking robust, yet elegant. The camera is ultra conservative, the Spotmatic F was more advanced as it featured open TTL metering, while the Praktica LLC with its electric simulation would resemble a science fiction device to the Yashica engineers. Still, the camera seems well built, but lacks the mechanical refinement of the Spotmatic, like the advance lever that it doesn’t feel as smooth. The viewfinder is quite ok, much better than the Praktica offering and uses LEDs instead of a needle. Opposite to what the name might suggest, the Electro is just to denote the presence of the said LED’s, as this is a fully mechanical camera. This was to cash on the success of the Electro 35, no doubt. I find the camera a lot more reined than any L series Praktica, but it is also true that it has to do with an horizontal cloth shutter, but so did the Olympus OM series.
The wonderful thing about M42 cameras and lenses is that one can create an outfit as we like. In this case I coupled the Yashica TL-Electro to a Petri lens, the 55/1.8 that enjoys a good reputation and it is much nice to use in the Yashica than in a Petri SLR.