Leica Screw Mount Lenses (M39)    SuperWide - Wide-Standard-Tele

Leica Mount
SuperWide Angle Lenses
(<30 mm)
by Karen Nakamura

SuperWide Angle Lenses (<28mm)

Super-wide-angle lenses are specialized lenses that have limited use in day-to-day photography. They excel in some types of environmental portraiture, but can easily be over-used.

I have a second-version Elmarit 28mm f/2.8 in my lens collection, made 1973 given the serial number. It's an 8-element retrofocus design, which means it works with the Leica M7, M5, and CL unlike the first version. It's a nice lens and I got it inexpensively because it was a real beater. A quick CLA by DAG has restored it to it good working condition. I'm annoyed however that there isn't a widely available hood (at a reasonable price) for this lens because it does seem to flare easily. In general, I prefer the 35/2 Summicron to this unless I need the slightly wider perspective.

Voigtlander Super-Wides
Cosina surprised the camera world in 2000 when it released the Voigtlander Bessa L camera with two ultra-wide lenses in Leica M39 screwmount: the 15mm f/4.5 Super-Wide-Heliar Aspherical and the 25mm f/4 Snapshot-Skopar. Resolution and contrast on both were excellent -- and the 15mm was rectilinear, not fisheye. The Bessa L had no built-in rangefindrangefinder or viewfinder, so these lenses both came with tiny albada type accessory viewfinders.

I recently obtained a Cosina-Voigtlander 15mm f/4.5 Super-Wide-Heliar and am excited to give it a spin. It's definitely a special purpose lens, but I think it will be excellent for photographing crowds and protests. Next to it, my widest lens is the 17mm f/4 Fish-Eye Takumar from Pentax (in M42 mount), which of course is a fisheye with more limited utility.

From one of my Leica list pals, I bought a Cosina-Voigtlander 25mm f/4 Snapshot-Skopar. It's a much more practical lens than the 15mm Super-Wide-Heliar. The viewfinder is the older type, without the brightlines. Still, it's accurate enough for most purposes.

Technical Details - Super-Wide Angle Lenses (italics = I wish I had or I sold [and regret])

On the Net

by Karen Nakamura

Overview and Personal Comments

The Pacemaker Speed Graphic was one of the longest produced large format cameras, produced from 1947 to 1970 (twenty-three years). In April of 2004, I bought this Baby Pacemaker Speed Graphic 2x3, which takes 120 roll film. It came new in the box with a roll film back and ground glass.

The Speedgraphics were made famous by press photographers in the 1950s, such as "Weegee" (Arthur Fellig). With their Speedgraphics with leaf-shutter lenses set to f/8 and large flash bulbs, you could quickly take a photograph of anything without even bothering to focus or set the shutter speed. Weegee is famous for his aphorism in response to how to take good press photos: "f/8 and be there."

Dating the Graphic: There was a modification made in 1955 that put the rangefinder on the top of the camera to make it easier to attach a side-flash. Since my rangefinder is on the side, it is thus from 1947-1955.

Furthermore, it's possible to use the Kodak lens serial number to get a year of production. My lens serial number begins with 'ES' which puts it at 1947. There are numerous charts on the web for doing this lookup.

Interesting quirks

The

Technical Details

Yashica RF history: Lynx 1000 - 5000 - 14 - 14e; Electro 35 - G - GS/GT - GSN/GTN; Electro GL - GX - MG1

Yashica Lynx 14
by Karen Nakamura

Overview and Personal Comments

The Yashica Lynx 14 is a coupled-rangefinder, leaf-shuttered 35mm camera with a built-in coupled lightmeter for full-manual exposure and an astonishingly bright 50mm f1/.4 lens. The Lynx 14 was designed as an available light, high-end version of the Lynx 5000, which had a more mundane 45mm f/1.8 lens. Using the text or images on this website without permission on an ebay auction or any other site is a violation of federal law.

The Lynx was released in 1965 by Yashica. The serial number of my body is #LIII 7121155 and it was made in Japan. The lens is a huge Yashinon DX 1:1.4 f=45mm lens made in Japan. It retailed in 1965 for ¥24,000. The exchange rate was fixed at ¥360/US$1 so that comes out to US$66. Taking inflation into account with the AIER calculator, that's $377 in 2002 dollars. So it was on the expensive side, perhaps a "prosumer" model, but certainly not out of the reach of the average person.

Interesting quirks

The Lynx 14 features a huge 50mm f/1.4 lens. Even now, that aperture lens is rare for a rangefinder, especially a fixed lens rangefinder. Furthermore, Yashica spared no expense, the lens is a 7 element, 5 group high quality design that is optimized for available light shooting. Because the lens is so large, the camera takes 58mm filters and weighs a ton (850g).

The Copal SVE shutter ranges from 1/500 to 1 seconds. It's not through-the-lens TTL metering, the metering cell is located by the rangefinder, right by the "Yashica" logo plate. Unlike the Electro series, the Lynx 14 shutter is fully mechanical and fully manual. Metering is match-needle with an analog needle (see photo below). The Lynx 14e ("IC" for Integrated Circuitry) which followed the Lynx 14 featured match-LED metering in much the same physical format.

The Lynx 14 takes the now discontinued PX 625 mercury batteries. I'm not sure if it is alkaline 1.5v compatible as I have my own stash of mercury batteries. My guess is that you'll most probably have to use an adaptor or adjust the ISO. See my battery page for more details.

The rangefinder is not only fully coupled (i.e., focusing the rangefinder focuses the lens) but it also has built-in parallax compensation. The common problem with rangefinders is that they aren't fully What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get because of the small amount of parallax difference between the rangefinder window and the taking lens. With the Yashica, as you focus closer, the viewfinder gridlines actually move to compensate for the amount of parallax. This is important when taking headshots or pictures of found objects.

Technical Details

About Yashica

The Yashica Corporation began making cameras in 1957, releasing its first model in 1958 (the Yashica 35). Yashica became a subsidiary of the Kyocera Corporation in October of 1983.

On the Net

Zeiss Ikon Contina

by Karen Nakamura

Overview and Personal Comments

The Zeiss Ikon Contina is a simplified point-and-shoot made by the Zeiss Ikon corporation around 1956 (none of that complex rangefinder nonsense) as well as match-needle metering. Although this camera just says "Contina" it's more properly the Contina IIa (527/24). Using the text or images on this website without permission on an ebay auction or any other site is a violation of federal law.

It featured a coupled-meter. You turn the shutter and aperture dials until the two needles align. It's a simple and effective system. The lens on the camera is a Nova-Anastigmat 45mm f/3.5.

Despite being a glorified point and shoot, the camera is incredibly well built, perhaps overbuilt. The inside the of camera is very solid. You could hit a mugger with this without leaving a dent in the solid chromework.

There's no rangefinder, you have to scale or zone focus.

Technical Details

About Zeiss Ikon

Zeiss Ikon was formed in 1926 out of the merger of five companies: Carl Zeiss/Jena A.G., ICA A.G., Erneman A.G., Goerz A.G, and Contessa-Nettel A.G.

Zeiss-Ikon was a huge corporation with offices in five cities in Germany and it offered a huge variety of cameras. Unfortunately, that was also its downfall. Various divisions competed against each other horribly and there was much, much reduplication of effort. It never really took advantage of its size.

Carl Zeiss, the main company, can actually trace its roots to 1846, to the very dawn of photography and is renowned for such designs as the Tessar and T* coating. Even now, Carl Zeiss lenses grace the very best cameras from Contax to Hasselblad.

In 1972, Zeiss formed into a partnership with Yashica Corporation of Japan. Zeiss now only does lens design and makes a small amount of photographic lenses. Yashica manufactures the Contax series of Zeiss cameras.

On the Net

Yashica RF history: Yashica Lynx 1000 - 5000 - 14 - 14e; Electro 35 - G - GS/GT - GSN/GTN; Electro GL - GX - MG1

Yashica Electro 35 GS/GT

by Karen Nakamura

Overview and Personal Comments

The Yashica Electro 35 GS is a coupled-rangefinder, leaf-shuttered 35mm camera with aperture-priority automatic exposure. The Electro 35 GS/GT was released in 1970 by Yashica. The lens is a Color-Yashinon DX 1:1.7 f=45mm lens made in Japan and is identical to the one on the Electro G that precedes it and the GSN that follows it. Using the text or images on this website without permission on an ebay auction or any other site is a violation of federal law.

Oh, the difference between the GS vs. GT and the GSN and GTN is that the 'S' stands for silver chrome, while the 'T' stands for a black paint model. Collectors being the weird things they are (I'm a user not a collector), they value the black paint models more since they are more "professional." I can't tell the difference in the photos they took. Interestingly, the black bodied GT was actually cheaper than the silver GS (¥24,500 vs ¥27,000) because chrome is much more durable than paint.

The Yashica GS traces its lineage to the Yashica Lynx of 1960 (actually the Yashica 35 of 1958 is earlier, but the family resemblance is further). With the Electro 35 in 1968, the series added the new Copal-Electro shutter, which was electromagnetically controlled. The GS only existed for about 3 years. In 1973, Yashica added a hot-shoe and changed the design of the rewind lever and called it the GSN. Pretty minor if you ask me.

So... you might ask, what differentiates the GS from the GSN? Here's an evolution chart:

Interesting quirks

The Copal leaf shutter is entirely stepless from 1/500 to about 30 seconds. The camera is aperture-priority -- that is, you set the aperture from f/1.7 to f/16 and the camera will choose the shutter speed from 1/500 sec to 30 seconds automatically for you. It does not use through-the-lens (TTL) metering, the CdS cell is located to the right of the rangefinder, but it still does a great job. With negative film, I rarely have any imperfect exposures. Using the text or images on this website without permission on an ebay auction or any other site is a violation of federal law.

Because it's a leaf shutter (the shutter diaphragm is located inside the lens unit rather than at the rear of the camera), the Yashica has all the benefits of leaf shutters:

• Very quiet. The Yashica gives only an inaudible "click." Much quieter than even a Leica M6. Because the shutter timer is electromechanical, there is no whirring during long (> 1 sec.) exposures. Just a near silent click as the diaphragm opens and then a second one when it closes.
• Very stable. Diaphragm shutters have much less inertial mass than a focal plane shutter. And with leaf shutters, the inertial mass is centripetal, so it has no net effect on the entire camera body, thus transferring very little vibration to the camera. With a focal plane shutter, the intertial movement is unilinear and (think Newton's Law) it causes the camera to jerk slightly sideways (horizontal shutter) or vertically (vertical travel shutter).
• Can flash sync at all speeds - even the maximum shutter speed of 1/500 sec. This is great for daylight sync photos.

If you're curious, the disadvantages of leaf shutters is:

• The maximum shutter speed is usually 1/500 sec. Compare this to 1/1000 sec for horizontal travel shutters (e.g. Leica) and 1/8000 sec for vertical travel (all contemporary SLRs, etc.).
• Diaphragm leaf shutters are complex and building one into each lens is prohibitively expensive. The shutter units are large. Thus, the only interchangeable lens cameras with leaf shutters are medium and large format (Mamiyas, Hasselblads, etc.).

But for fixed-lens rangefinders, leaf shutters are perfect.

The rangefinder on the GS is not only fully coupled (i.e., focusing the rangefinder focuses the lens) but it also has built-in parallax compensation. The common problem with rangefinders is that they aren't fully What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get because of the small amount of parallax difference between the rangefinder window and the taking lens. With the Yashica, as you focus closer, the viewfinder gridlines actually move to compensate for the amount of parallax. This is important when taking headshots or pictures of found objects.

GS/GTs take one 5.6v PX32 mercury battery, unfortunately these have been discontinued as have their PX32A alkaline counterparts. Fortunately, you can use a 6v PX28A alkaline battery which is readily available at any Walgreens or Radio Shack. The smaller PX28As last about a year of heavy use in my experience. The GSNs have a built in battery check feature which is very handy.

To the right, you can see the size difference between the PX28 and PX32. The spring that makes up the difference can be bought at any hardware store. I wrap the PX28 in a small cardboard tube (cut from a cereal box) to make up the diameter difference, put the PX28 in the camera, then follow with the spring to make up the difference in length. The camera handles the slight difference in voltage. More details are at Matt Denton's page.

Please note that I have noticed some unscrupulous vendors on eBay and MercardoLibre are plagiarizing this page. If you notice this page on eBay under anything except my eBay ID (nasukaren), please notify me and I will have eBay cancel the plagiarizer's account. It's plain fraud as they are not selling the cameras pictured (obviously since it's my camera).

Technical Details

About Yashica/Kyocera/Contax

The Yashica Corporation began making cameras in 1957, releasing its first model in 1958 (the Yashica 35). They produced a very well regarded series of twin-lens-reflex (TLR) medium format cameras under the Yashica-Mat brand and 35mm rangefinders under the Yashica Electro name. Yashica became a subsidiary of the Kyocera Corporation in October of 1983. For the next two decades, Kyocera continued to produce film cameras under the Contax marquee, including a very nice 35mm Contax SLR series (which used Zeiss lenses), a medium format system, and the Contax G1/G2 rangefinders (also with Zeiss glass).The Yashica name was only used for a small series of dental cameras and point and shoots. In March of 2005, Kyocera announced that it would cease production and sales of film and digital cameras under the Contax marquee. Thus ends 30 years of a wonderful camera line. The Contax name will most probably revert back to the Zeiss foundation, thus who knows what will happen in the future. Right now, the name "Yashica" appears to have been bought by a Chinese company for their inexpensive digital cameras.

On the Net

Yashica TL Electro

by Karen Nakamura

Overview and Personal Comments

The Yashica TL Electro is a single-lens reflex (SLR) with interchangeable lenses sold by Yashica from 1972. It is almost an identical clone to the Pentax Spotmatic II, and uses the Pentax/Praktica M42 screw mount, which means you can use a wide variety of Pentax lenses as well as other brands. Using the text or images on this website without permission on an ebay auction or any other site is a violation of federal law.

In fact the feature list makes this almost an identical clone of the Asahi Pentax Spotmatic II: stop-down through the lens metering, full manual control of focus and shutter/aperture, flash hot shoe, etc. Even the layout is a practical clone of the Spotmatic. The only difference between this and a Spotmatic SPII that I can tell is that the TL Electro uses LEDs rather than the fragile analog needle of the Pentaxes. Having owned a Spotmatic SP for 15 years, I can tell you that that needle can and does break, so the LED is most probably more reliable over the long run.

With Spotmatics going for $200+, the TL Electro is an inexpensive way to get into the Pentax M42 system. This camera comes with the excellent quality Yashinon-DX 50mm f/1.7 standard lens and is perfect setup for a photography student who wants full control of her/his camera. This camera is built so solidly, I'd fully expect one to give another 15-30 years of dedicated service.

I purchased the TL Electro shown here as part of a larger lot of cameras from the estate of an elderly collector who had passed away. The body was in excellent shape,* clean, well preserved and in full working condition,. All of the shutter speeds including the often problematic 1 sec. shutter speed were absolutely spot on. The 1 second shutter speed sounded solid, with a smooth clockwork "whirrr." The leatherette was in great shape with no sign of peeling. This was not only an ideal collector's camera, it was also excellent for a student interested in photography who doesn't want to pay the now inflated prices for Spotmatics.

[The sticker inside reads: Fisher Photo 143 West Fourth Street, St. Paul Minnesota]

There are two models of the Yashica TL. One uses a single 6V PX28 battery and the other uses two 1.35v PX640 batteries. You have to determine which one your one is or you can risk burning out your camera if you use the wrong voltage. This page here gives more information: http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~coreya/yashica/tlelectro.html

• For the 2.7 volt cameras: The Yashica official page suggests using two PX640A alkaline batteries to get 2.7 volts.
• For the 6 volt cameras, which I had, I used a single PX28A battery. The metering LEDs light up perfectly and it meters accurately against my Gossen Digisix and Canon EOS-3.

The meter is a standard center-weighted manual match-needle meter. It's coupled to the aperture and shutter speed, so you just dial in the correct settings until both the Up and Down arrow heads are ligted.

The camera that I bought came with an Auto Yashinon-DX 50mm f/1.7 lens. The front element is so recessed that it's protected from bumps and scratches -- and also obviates the need for a hood. It uses the standard Pentax/Praktica M42 mount so you can use it on your other Pentax screw mount cameras as well. It's a very nice lens that focuses down to 0.5 meters (1.5') for close-up photography.

Technical Details

About Yashica/Kyocera/Contax

The Yashica Corporation began making cameras in 1957, releasing its first model in 1958 (the Yashica 35). They produced a very well regarded series of twin-lens-reflex (TLR) medium format cameras under the Yashica-Mat brand and 35mm rangefinders under the Yashica Electro name. Yashica became a subsidiary of the Kyocera Corporation in October of 1983. For the next two decades, Kyocera continued to produce film cameras under the Contax marquee, including a very nice 35mm Contax SLR series (which used Zeiss lenses), a medium format system, and the Contax G1/G2 rangefinders (also with Zeiss glass).The Yashica name was only used for a small series of dental cameras and point and shoots. In March of 2005, Kyocera announced that it would cease production and sales of film and digital cameras under the Contax marquee. Thus ends 30 years of a wonderful camera line. The Contax name will most probably revert back to the Zeiss foundation, thus who knows what will happen in the future. Right now, the name "Yashica" appears to have been bought by a Chinese company for their inexpensive digital cameras.

On the Net

by Karen Nakamura

Overview and Personal Comments

The Kuribayashi Petri 7s is a coupled-rangefinder, leaf-shuttered 35mm camera that was introduced in 1963. In the photo to the right, I juxtapose the 7s against its ancestor the Petri 35MX of 1955. Compared to its predecessor, the 7s is very advanced. It has ATL (around the lens) selenium metering with a match-needle visible both in the viewfinder as well as the top of the camera. From the 7s came the compact Petri Color 35, which was wildly popular when released in 1968. Using the text or images on this website without permission on an ebay auction or any other site is a violation of federal law.

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My Petri 7s is the 45mm f/2.8 version. They also apparently produced a 45mm f/1.8 version which I assume is much nicer in available light situations. I purchased mine in excellent condition from a dealer at an antique fair in Lake Elmo, MN in May of 2003.

Interesting quirks:

Petri called their rangefinder focusing system the "Green-O-Matic." The overall finder is tinged green while the coincident focusing area is yellow. This makes focusing much easier. Using the text or images on this website without permission on an ebay auction or any other site is a violation of federal law.

The match-needle system was called the "Circle-Eye System." Because the selenium cells circle the lens, they automatically compensate for any filters or the tele/wide extensions used.

The Petri 7s doesn't have the Kuribayashi name visible anywhere because the Kuribayashi Camera Company changed their name to the Petri Camera Company in 1962. This is quite sad as I was fond of the company name (see below). Using the text or images on this website without permission on an ebay auction or any other site is a violation of federal law.

Technical Details

About Kuribayashi

The company name means "Acorn Grove" and they are actually one of the older Japanese camera manufacturers. They started up in 1907 making accessories and went bankrupt in 1977. They made a bunch of plate cameras, folding roll film cameras, rangefinders, and finally SLRs. Like the Miranda Camera Company, they couldn't make the step up to mass production and electronization and competition from Nikon and Canon.

The mid-fifties seems to have been a good time for Japanese camera manufacturers. The occupation had ended in 1952. One of the side-effects of Germany's defeat was that all of their camera patents and innovations were put in the public domain. Things like lens coating and specialized lens designs pioneered by Zeiss could now be used by everyone. Furthermore, the German camera industry was in disarray as the Zeiss factories in Jena were taken by the East Germans but the engineers and opticians had fled to West Germany. In the brief period from the 1950s to the mid 1970s, there were many small Japanese camera companies producing quality equipment.

Unfortunately in 1955, Leica came out with the M3 and changed the scene for rangefinder cameras. The M3 set such a high bar that most of the leading Japanese manufacturers (Canon and Nikon) abandoned their rangefinder lines and decided to compete with SLRs instead. Kuribayashi was actually the first Japanese companyu to come out with an SLR, but the smaller Japanese companies couldn't keep up with the rapid pace of innovation in the 1960s by the larger corporations like Asahi, Canon, and Minolta and died out. Kuribayashi filed for final bankruptcy in 1977.

On the Net

Yashica RF history: Lynx 1000 - 5000 - 14 - 14e; Electro 35 - G - GS/GT - GSN/GTN; Electro GL - GX- MG1

Yashica Electro 35 GX

by Karen Nakamura

Overview and Personal Comments

The Yashica Electro 35 GX is a small coupled-rangefinder, leaf-shuttered 35mm camera with aperture-priority automatic exposure. Using the text or images on this website without permission on an ebay auction or any other site is a violation of federal law.

Released in 1975, 2 years after the Electro GSN (1973), the GX was the last of the Electro series and was placed at the top-class (it was also the most expensive). I have the feeling the GX was designed as the compact version of the GSN rather than as its replacement, as they were both manufactured during much of the same period. Unfortunately, sales of the GX must have been rather weak as it's very rare. It's a great little camera, so if you find one for sale, buy it!

The GX was smaller and lighter (697g=>580g; 17%) than the GSN. Furthermore, the lens is a 40mm f/1.7 rather than a 45mm f/1.7. I prefer the slightly wider angle of view of the 40mm. Some say that the 40mm was designed with the help of Zeiss/Contax, but that's only a rumor I heard on the web. Sigh... If only it were a f/1.4 instead of an f/1.7! Oh well, you can't have it all.

The other main beef is that the GX only takes up to ASA 800 film. Why design the perfect low-light camera and not have it compatible with ASA 3200 film such as Kodak's TMax P3200?

The lens on the camera really sparkles and is excellent in moderate to low-light. It's my camera of choice for street, available light indoor and twilight photography. This camera replaces the Yashica Electro 35 GSN that I've been using for casual street photography. My main beef with the GSN was that it was too big and heavy for carrying in your pocket. I loved everything about it but it just took up too much space (might as well bring the Canon EOS-3).

Unfortunately the GX's lens suffers from contrast reducing flare in direct sunlight (backlit situations, etc.). It really needs an auxiliary lens hood. B&H Photo has a $4.95 generic brand rubber hood that will fit the 52mm screw-in filter mount. I tried it but it covers too much of the viewfinder view. So it doesn't look like there's a good way to avoid flare except to not take this camera outdoors in the sun.

GX lens shade photographs courtesy of the NotReality.org blog

Yashica Lens Shade
The hood for the Yashica GX is pretty rare. Cameron Stephen (who writes the NotReality.org blog) has kindly given me permission to use his photograph of his GX with the hood as well as a photograph of the box with the hood itself. Thanks!

p.s. René Olde Olthof wrote in saying: I read that you were looking for a lenshood for the Yashica GX. A tip from a GSN owner: try an Olympus lenshood for the f1,2/55mm lens. It's a rigid slip over hood with a fastening screw on the side. Fits perfectly well on my GSN. Thanks for the tip, René!

As mentioned above, the Electro 35 GX was released in 1975 by Yashica and was made until 1980. The serial number of my body is #8030000x and was made in Japan. The lens is a Color-Yashinon DX 1:1.7 f=40mm lens made in Japan. The GX retailed in 1975 for ¥35,000. The exchange rate was approx ¥292/US$1in 1975 so that comes out to US$119. Taking inflation into account with the AIER calculator, that's $400 in 2002 dollars. By the end of the model run in 1980, the yen-dollar rate had plummeted to about ¥200/$ but inflation in the U.S. intervened which made it $175 in 1980, or $381 in 2002 dollars. To put it into modern perspective, the GX was more expensive than a point-and-shoot, but was about the same price as a low-end SLR designed to introduce people into 'serious' photography. Using the text or images on this website without permission on an ebay auction or any other site is a violation of federal law.

Ultimately, the GSN outlived the GX by 7 years. The GX was discontinued in 1980 after only 5 years of production, while the GSN lived on until 1987.

I purchased my GX at an auction in North Saint Paul, MN in January of 2003 for such ridiculously low price that I can't print it here (I was the only bidder). In the real world, GXs are pretty rare especially ones that are in mint condition like mine. I guess I was super-lucky. My Yashica rangefinder collection is now looking pretty complete: Electro 35, Electro G, Electro 35 GSN, 35 GX, MG-1, and the Lynx 14. There are more - the GL and the black GTN and GT - but they don't have much appeal for me right now. I guess after briefly owning 4 GSNs at the same time due to a quirk in the fabric of the universe, I'm getting a big of G-astric indigestion.

Interesting quirks

The Copal shutter is entirely stepless from 1/500 to 30 seconds. It's not TTL metering but ATL (above the lens) - the silicon cell is located on right above the lens on the lens mount, but it does a great job. Because the silicon cell is right above the lens, you can use filters (including polarizing, etc.) without having to make filter corrections like on its older brother, the GSN. The Copal shutter goes up to 30seconds automatically. It's too bad they removed the 'B' bulb setting from the GSN though.

The rangefinder is not only fully coupled (i.e., focusing the rangefinder focuses the lens) but it also has built-in parallax compensation. The common problem with rangefinders is that they aren't fully What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get because of the small amount of parallax difference between the rangefinder window and the taking lens. With the Yashica G series, as you focus closer, the viewfinder gridlines actually move to compensate for the amount of parallax. This is important when taking headshots or pictures of found objects. As far as I know, the GX is one of the most compact rangefinders with parallax correction (perhaps the Minolta CLE is smaller?). Using the text or images on this website without permission on an ebay auction or any other site is a violation of federal law.

The camera uses discontinued 1.35v PX640 mercury batteries. You can still find PX640s but they are pretty expensive and usually expired. There are alkaline PX640As, but they are $10 each at B&H. Instead, I'm using two LR44 1.55v alkaline batteries ($2-3 each) with a generous amount of tinfoil padding. It seems to work fine and it's what other people are doing with their Hi-matics. Check my battery page for other solutions for PX-640s.

Technical Details

About Yashica/Kyocera/Contax

The Yashica Corporation began making cameras in 1957, releasing its first model in 1958 (the Yashica 35). They produced a very well regarded series of twin-lens-reflex (TLR) medium format cameras under the Yashica-Mat brand and 35mm rangefinders under the Yashica Electro name. Yashica became a subsidiary of the Kyocera Corporation in October of 1983. For the next two decades, Kyocera continued to produce film cameras under the Contax marquee, including a very nice 35mm Contax SLR series (which used Zeiss lenses), a medium format system, and the Contax G1/G2 rangefinders (also with Zeiss glass).The Yashica name was only used for a small series of dental cameras and point and shoots. In March of 2005, Kyocera announced that it would cease production and sales of film and digital cameras under the Contax marquee. Thus ends 30 years of a wonderful camera line. The Contax name will most probably revert back to the Zeiss foundation, thus who knows what will happen in the future. Right now, the name "Yashica" appears to have been bought by a Chinese company for their inexpensive digital cameras.

On the Net