Yashica 635 question

Fritzthecat said:

A copy of the manual is available at Orphan Camera, you should read it and maybe kick in a few bucks to the site to help keep it open.
https://www.butkus.org/chinon/

Click to expand...

Randy Stewart said:

Kyle,
Don't fall in love too quickly. The 635 is a relatively crudely made camera compared to later Yashicas.....

Click to expand...

Kyle M. said:

Hello all. I just acquired a very nice Yashica 635 complete with 35mm conversion and have a question for anyone out there that uses one. I've noticed my first roll of 120 that I ran through the camera has a small spot on the lower right of the image, therefore upper left of the negative where the rewind lock pin for the 35mm conversion protrudes into the image area. My question is when using the camera with 120 film is this knob mean to be pulled out and turned into the locked position? No big deal if it is it just never occured to me until after I shot and developed the roll. Thanks for any assistance.

Click to expand...

kevs said:

Hi Kyle,

When using 120 film, pull the knob marked 'R' out and rotate it 90 degrees to keep the pin from casting a shadow on the image area. You could use tape or even glue it to fix it in place if you never use the 35mm kit.

The 635 is a nicely-made camera and it's not 'crudely made' but it is fairly basic compared to the Yashica-Mat line. As Randy said, the Yashikor 3-element lens (unless you're lucky and have a late model with a Yashinon) isn't crash-hot but is adequate if you stop down, and can make a good, sharp neg. The bokeh is oddly circular. The centre is quite sharp but that falls away toward the edges, in 35mm mode it's a nice, sharp portrait lens.

Using the camera in 35mm mode is an interesting experience; it's easy to use in portrait orientation but a bit more awkward for horizontal images. You can use the sports finder but you'll have more parallax. Using the ground glass is more accurate on framing but getting used to the upside-down viewfinder is a bit... unnerving! Not a great camera for action shots!

It's possible to get 60mm-long, full-width images on 35mm film; fit the cassette adapter to the feed spool and the take-up spool but leave out the frame and backplate. Your images will cover the sprocket holes. The downside is the frame counter won't be accurate, you'll need to work out the actual amount of turns per frame and there's a possibility the film won't lie flat across the film plane. My solution is to glue cardboard across the camera back. There's a very useful website at http://www.yashicatlr.com/66ModelsPage6.html#yashica635.

Have fun,
kevs

Click to expand...

Kyle M. said:

Thank you! This is exactly the info I was looking for. I’ve owned 6 Yashica TLR’s now and have never had one with a mechanical problem. I also can tell that they are not crudely made. As someone who has also owned a Rolleiflex Automat and a Rolleicord I personally feel that the Yashica’s especially the earlier knob wind models feel more durable than the lower end Rolleis. I might have missed it but I don’t think that little detail about the rewind knob was mentioned in the manual, hence the reason I asked. Also as someone who has been shooting almost exclusively medium and large format film for the past six years I’m used to all the little inconveniences and nuances. I personally prefer waist level finders to any other viewfinder. Also having owned models with the Lumaxar, Yashikor, and Yashinon I found no issues with any of them even wide open. I honestly think the Lumaxar I had was the sharpest. The main reason I bought this one was because it’s a 635 and I’ve always been interested in the novel idea that it can use 35mm film. Which it does no more or less crudely than a Rolleiflex with the adapter.

Click to expand...

Randy Stewart said:

Kyle,
Don't fall in love too quickly. The 635 is a relatively crudely made camera compared to later Yashicas, which are nothing to write home about anyway. Most 635 bodies mount a "Yashinor", a three element lens sourced from the Lauser Co, which company Yashica purchased. It specialized in supplying cheap, low quality lenses (i.e., the infamous Tri-Lauser) to a lot of the early 1950s Japanese camera makers. However, with the 6x6cm format, it will still make a reasonably sharp 11x14 print if you shut down the aperture to f8.0. A fairly small percentage, late version 635 bodies mount the same 4-element Yashinon used by Yashica most of their later Yashicamat bodies, a better lens. I acquired a full kit 635 with 35mm conversion parts and combo hard case. I used it on one short vacation trip and then discarded the negatives and unloaded the camera.

Click to expand...

Randy Stewart said:

Kyle,
Don't fall in love too quickly. The 635 is a relatively crudely made camera compared to later Yashicas, which are nothing to write home about anyway. Most 635 bodies mount a "Yashinor", a three element lens sourced from the Lauser Co, which company Yashica purchased. It specialized in supplying cheap, low quality lenses (i.e., the infamous Tri-Lauser) to a lot of the early 1950s Japanese camera makers. However, with the 6x6cm format, it will still make a reasonably sharp 11x14 print if you shut down the aperture to f8.0. A fairly small percentage, late version 635 bodies mount the same 4-element Yashinon used by Yashica most of their later Yashicamat bodies, a better lens. I acquired a full kit 635 with 35mm conversion parts and combo hard case. I used it on one short vacation trip and then discarded the negatives and unloaded the camera.

Click to expand...

Cholentpot said:

I've been using a Yashica Mat for about 6 months now. I guess I like junky cameras.

I almost pulled the trigger on a 635 a few weeks back but held off, I have enough cameras I guess...

Click to expand...

Witold said:

Except Yashica are neither junky nor junk and certainly not crudely made. I might not call it high precision, but does require pretty good manufacturing set to make them the way they came out.

Click to expand...