Yashica serial number

With lever film wind, re-wind knob with folding crank and hinged back, the Yashica 35 is already modern but still uses the sliding latch on the side for opening the back which was common in the s. The coupled rangefinder has a long base and uses superior prisms instead of mirrors. Frame counting is in a window and resets automatically, not even something carried across into Yashica's first SLRs. Three examples have been found with the new progression e. With its TLRs, Yashica seemed to start the transition from the old progression in but there were still some stragglers in early As far as I can make out from references and also photos showing the name on the side of the lens barrel, the between lens leaf shutter is a Copal MXV on all examples of both variants.

The example is owned by contributor Chris Whelan:. The SV shutters used on Yashica TLRs typically have 5 blades but I'm certain that is not a design absolute, just an optional variation offered by Copal.

Whether these two examples fitted with Copal SV shutters are repair items, part of a larger implementation of the SV shutter or something else, I really have no idea, but if pressed, I would say it's a supply issue and substituting like with like as far as the shutter and camera maker are concerned. In other respects, the two models were identical. Scan courtesy of Chris Whelan.

Lanthanum is often erroneously thought to be radioactive, well it is but at negligible levels, the lenses that do give off measurable radiation and turn yellow contain thorium. Yashica explains that the lens designs and coatings are focused on obtaining optimum results with colour film noting particular concerns about correcting chromatic aberrations and reducing vignetting light fall-off towards image edges given the limited exposure latitude of the emulsions of the day.

There is more here including cine lens examples. Clearly, Yashima had a change of mind. Paradoxically, the two exceptions are latish examples from May and March cameras.

Here it is shown next to my late example both cameras featured further above, the eagle eyed will note a number of trim differences - these are detailed further below, mostly using these two cameras as examples :.

With Zunow cine lens examples and the So who made these lenses? I think that Tomioka still has to be the front runner. There may be other Tomioka made examples as well. With lens barrels that pretty much look identical to each other, you would expect the focusing distance scales to be the same too, but no. It's difficult to draw any real conclusions about export patterns, but it may just be that I don't have enough examples, or probably more accurately, a disproportionate number of my examples are from Japanese websites.

A YouTube video reviewer featuring a Yashica 35, probably from Australia, tells us that the camera belonged to his mother from before her marriage to his photographer father. It is boxed, cased and includes the original English language user manual. From time to time, other Yashica 35 examples do turn up for sale here and I can't honestly say that I have spent much time looking on eBay in the US or elsewhere.

Originally, I wasn't going to address Yashica 35 serial numbers because these, more than any other model, stretch credulity to the limit. However, there are several sources for the release date and change of maker name from Yashima to Yashica and I am pretty confident about the end date. These put hard markers on the timeline and as the next section will demonstrate, there are far more trim variations than might be imagined.

Cameras with the same trim obviously fit in a similar area on the timeline and the evolution of the model becomes self-evident. I can reasonably confidently say that there is no apparent conflict between the serial numbers, as I understand them, and the camera's evolutionary development. Particularly in the beginning, Yashima chopped and changed its year code between the western calendar, Japanese Showa years and a combination of the two see Serial Numbers.

I have highlighted the problem serial numbers in grey and at the moment, have no explanation why they fit there except by magic. Luckily, the Yashica YK helps to make it even more clear, these are its last 8 serial numbers in my database:. There is no model prefix letter for the October or earlier examples see Yashica YK below for more examples. On 1 January , all TLRs started off with their new 7 digit serial numbers preceded by one or two letters, e.

If a Yashica 35 was made in January , its serial number would be F xxxx. Many sources claim that production ended in and one source, Alan R. My serial number table above suggests that production of found Yashica 35 cameras stopped in December and that Corey, or Kyocera marketing, was also wrong about the Yashica YK. Then, some late examples in my database have one or more trim items that are from an earlier period, e.

Other features on the cameras are appropriately up to date. I talked to Mark Hamas about the serial number. He told me that it's almost impossible to tell the date of production from the serial number. It is mainly due to some of Yashica was assembled in Korea and time to hit the market may varies greatly. As for battery. You have four choices. First, simply ignore it, pretending it doesn't exist. Many hard-core photographer would advice you go for this route. Then again, if you are doing this, you should of gotten a much cheaper model that has no built-in meters Second option is to find mercury battery on the net.

They are still selling it illegally on ebays Third option is to buy a converter. If you are not going to send your camera to a repair shop for CLA any time soon, this is an option. That is the date of an archived post on Rangefinderforum.

If the forum members had shown less negativity and more imagination and willingness to investigate, they would have got past the translation problems and saved me a ton of work! In , I hadn't acquired my first Yashica yet so the unknown contributor to the Chinese website must get at least some recognition for working out the idea of a date code first. Originally, body serial numbers were generally consecutive within a model's production, although sometimes the numbers jumped, or increased digits, at some significant point.

The first exception is the first model, the Pigeonflex! Following the first few examples in my database, the body serial numbers dropped some 40, The Yashicaflex AS-II is another exception with a short series in the 30xxx range, then from 81xxx to 83xxx followed by a new series from 19xxx to 23xxx.

The MolfoReflex has three unrelated serial number ranges. Serial numbers were not consecutive model to model, usually. Two possible exceptions are from Yashima Flex to Yashica Flex B there may have been a minor jump by about 2, or so and from Yashica Mat to Yashica MatG where the numbers appear to continue on.

However, in the latter case, production switched from one model to the other and the appearance of continuity is given by the numbers based on a date code see below. The numbers seemed to be most confusing in the to period after which cameras still in production adopted serial numbers with prefixes and settled into a more logical progression again. Yashica also opened their New York office in - is the new numbering system somehow linked, or a complete coincidence?

As an example, the Yashica A begins with 5 digit numbers, then changes to 6 digit numbers beginning with 79, then changes to 8 digit numbers starting with , followed by 7 digit numbers beginning with Then there are 8 digit numbers beginning with followed by 7 digit numbers beginning with and then 8 digit again with These are followed by 6 digit numbers beginning with And then there is the 9 digit Similar patterns are found with the other models in this period and usually, the first few digits are the same across the models.

This happens with all the alpha prefixed numbers for all models and also occurs with the unprefixed 7 digit numbers of the Yashica Mat and Yashica MatG. Finally, the solution has hit me in the face - see below:. Lens numbers began logically but there are some other oddities too. Early in the piece, the Yashica Flex B seems to have started with six digit numbers and then changed to a new series with 5 digits.

Some later cameras seem to have blocks of numbers issued almost randomly. Even if there is consistency, it is not unusual for a later camera to have slightly earlier lens numbers than the cameras immediately before it. Generally, the ranges for taking lenses and viewing lenses are the same and often, particularly with earlier cameras the numbers are in close proximity.

To me, there are three issues which contribute to the difficulty with serial numbers. The most obvious problem is that for a time, Yashica used a system that made sense to it but until now, we didn't have the key to decipher - we could get a picture of the correct order from trim and detail changes but not understand the reasoning. The second problem is that serial numbers were pre-stamped on peripheral parts that were delivered separately to the production line and presumably there was more than one line.

It's obvious how body numbers, taking lens and viewing lens numbers can easily get out of sequence with each other, if allowed to not generally the case with bodies , which brings us to the third issue - I don't think keeping lens numbers in sequence was a high priority, certainly at certain times of production. Or, at least that is how it has seemed to me for a long time but with some models with really mixed up lens numbers, mainly in the mid's period, it now seems that there may have been up to three different number series being used at the same time.

In the end, the numbers disappeared from first, the viewing lenses and then the taking lenses. As noted above, the early cameras used consecutive number sequences, usually unique but not always. I believe that serial numbers from September to February contain a date code and that I have deciphered that, bit obvious with hindsight really.

How simple is that? The step to seeing year and sequence numbers is not great, I have been numbering my digital files since with year, month and 4 digit sequence codes.

The last 4 digits of date coded numbers are, I believe, a sequence number which simply counts monthly production, e. This is how I believe the numbers from to operate but you will have to read the following sections to understand the logic and how to apply that knowledge. The September to December models used 6 digits, 8, 7, 8, 7, 8, 6 and some briefly the Yashica 44LM not so briefly , 9 digits. Sometimes the combinations were slightly different.

At this stage, I think that I understand the patterns and month codes but for the year codes, I will need to make some educated guesses based on observation of a lot of serial numbers. Until September , each model had a straightforward and mostly unique consecutive number series with the odd jump, up or down, here and there. Back to Other models seemed to change with October, their numbers becoming xxxx, except that there is one early October Yashica A with xxxx and the Yashica LM continued all through October and into November with xxxx numbers before the first xxxx numbers arrived.

As expected from a date code system, the numbers for models using this system top out at xxxx. By this stage, the prefixes are shared with the Yashicaflex A new model. Both are domestic Japanese models and the last of the Yashicaflexes and could have been given their own series for some reason.

The two Yashicaflexes have numbers ranging from xxxx to xxxx. The numbers seem to imply October to December and seem to align with the xxxx to xxxx numbers of other models. Strangely, a Yashicaflex A new model has turned up with a xxxx. By lens number, it comes before the xxxx numbers suggesting that it might be a September number - perhaps the change from 79xxxx to xxxx numbers happened in the middle of the month. This is much the same as the Yashica-Mat anomaly mentioned above - in that sense it is consistent.

Seemingly logical. The next 15 months requires a real leap of faith to believe that there is a date code. So September numbers can be 7 digit numbers xxxx for Yashicas, xxxx for Yashicaflexes or xxxx for either variety. The new 7 digit numbers only appeared for part of one month and so far I have only found Yashica-Mat, Yashicaflex B and Yashica 44 examples. Super Yashinon-R 40cm f6. A very early M42 mount from Yashica-Tomioka. I would guess from the extremely low serial number that this lens was made in late or very early Thanks for your visit!

Comments are always welcome.