Yashica Electro 35

I was exceptionally excited when I saw the Yashica as my next test shoot, I’ve personally never shot any of the brands cameras but have only ever heard good things and this would be the first chance I’d had to dip my toe into the world of rangefinders - Leica... I’m coming for you!

When running through a brief ‘how to’ with Russell and Ash, I gave the usual “yeah, yeah, yeah, it’ll be fine, I can figure it out as I go!” only to come back minutes later unable to figure out the focusing, completely convinced that either my eyesight was worse than I thought, or something was wrong. After a little bit of back and forth with Ash outside trying to wrap my head around it, something finally clicked... you can only see the focus within the little yellow spot - the focusing spot... not the whole viewfinder like I was used to... go figure. Suffice to say, they both got a good laugh out of the whole ordeal.

I made my way around the barbican and up onto the hoe on a pretty dull dismal day, trying to shoot through the roll in between downpours of rain and hail. The viewfinder/focusing spot might have been a bit more challenging than I was first expecting, lining up the two images is an artform to say the least and having enough light to enable you to see it well enough is everything!

If you’re a fan of creative compositions, framing or playing around with depth of field the camera can either be a bit of a pain or work to your advantage with a bit of patience... when it came to moving subjects - people, animals and such likes - I found it was most successful to frame them centrally so as to get the focus and metering right as quickly as possible to catch the shot. On the other hand, landscapes, buildings and still life type subjects generally give you the luxury of time, to enable you to achieve the desired focus and exposure within the focusing spot before framing for the final shot you’re trying to capture.

The camera is, for the most part, a wonderfully enjoyable, simple, compact, lightweight and minimalist thing to use, despite a few quirks to get used to. The lights on top of the camera indicate slow shutter speeds or over exposed images, which can be a little temperamental at times, but you soon wrap your head around half pressing the shutter in order to figure out the correct aperture. You’ll hopefully only make the mistake of leaving the lens cap on once or twice. Overall I’m pretty pleased with the outcome of the roll, especially for a first attempt with a rangefinder, there are a few dud shots and a few I would deem a resounding success. When you get the focus just right - which i’m sure comes with time and practice - you can achieve truly stunning sharp images from this camera and lens combination.

Technical Info:

Yashica Electro 35 GSN shot using Yashinon DX 45mm f/1.7 lens with Yashikor Aux 1:4 Telephoto and Wide Angle adaptors.