Paulo J Moreira
Yashica Auto Focus Motor-D (Diary)
Another camera from a bygone age and bygone manufacturer. As usual, I like what most people don’t like and so, I like Yashica cameras. Back in the beginning of 80’s, before the Kyocera takeover, Yashica was technologically on par with just about everyone else. This appropriately named Autofocus model was the last of the first generation of AF compacts of the brand (preceding Nikon by some years). By this time it had gained a motorized film advance and a pop-up flash. The camera is very similar to the ugly Pentax PC 36 AF M in specs terms. The Yashica shows its age in the exterior focusing AF info (like the Konica C35 AF), and the tinny viewfinder, a sign of what was coming.
The camera is fully automatic, no manual input is possible save for focus lock and film sensitivity, no DX coding yet. This one is the Diary version with a LCD databack that records the date and film speed, if it is 400 ASA or if it is black and white. This databack is still functional in my camera, but I still haven’t quite understood why would anyone record the speed of the film in the image or black and white, when obviously the picture would be in black and white. Either I am missing something or this is quite daft. Still, there is a nice looking 38 /2.8 Yashinon of Tessar design, I suppose that it might be a decent performer.
Yashica Auto Focus Motor-D (Diary)
Another camera from a bygone age and bygone manufacturer. As usual, I like what most people don’t like and so, I like Yashica cameras. Back in the beginning of 80’s, before the Kyocera takeover, Yashica was technologically on par with just about everyone else. This appropriately named Autofocus model was the last of the first generation of AF compacts of the brand (preceding Nikon by some years). By this time it had gained a motorized film advance and a pop-up flash. The camera is very similar to the ugly Pentax PC 36 AF M in specs terms. The Yashica shows its age in the exterior focusing AF info (like the Konica C35 AF), and the tinny viewfinder, a sign of what was coming.
The camera is fully automatic, no manual input is possible save for focus lock and film sensitivity, no DX coding yet. This one is the Diary version with a LCD databack that records the date and film speed, if it is 400 ASA or if it is black and white. This databack is still functional in my camera, but I still haven’t quite understood why would anyone record the speed of the film in the image or black and white, when obviously the picture would be in black and white. Either I am missing something or this is quite daft. Still, there is a nice looking 38 /2.8 Yashinon of Tessar design, I suppose that it might be a decent performer.