Yashica Y/C Standard Lenses

[dynachrome]

I wrote recently about a problem with a Yashica FX-3 Super. The mirror was hitting the back of my 60/2.8 S Planar. The consensus was that the mirror had slipped down a little. I will finally be bringing the camera to my repairman tomorrow. On the chance that the regular FX-3 has the same mirror and bracket as the FX-3 Super, I got a parts FX-3 to bring with me. The parts camera seems to be functional but I have not tested the meter yet. It came with the bottom half of a case and a 50mm f/2 marked DX. It looks just like the 50/2 ML. The only other Yashica (Yashinon) standard lenses I have with the DX marking are M42 lenses. Did Yashica use the DX marking on some Y/C mount standard lenses in markets outside of the U.S.? The plain FX-3 cameras seem more plentiful than the later FX-3 Super or the FX-3 Super 2000.

 

[Patrick Robert James]

I believe Yashica/Contax mount Yashica lenses were almost all ML marked. I think I have a Yashica 50 that is marked DX but I don't know what that means.

I had the mirror slip on my Contax ST. Pretty simple to get it back in place.

 

[reddesert]

Yashica SLR lenses from the screw mount M42 period are often Yashinon DS or DX (or DS-M). I don't know if there are substantive differences between the letter series.

Lenses from the early Y/C bayonet period, like contemporary with an FR I/II, are often marked DSB. I used to think that DSB came first and ML later, but https://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Contax/Yashica_lenses says it was a high/low price point difference rather than time. My limited experience at this late date is that some DSB lenses now suffer from sticky apertures.

The ML SLR lenses were more common later and the limited sample I've seen don't have the issues with apertures. The camera-wiki article names two DX lenses in bayonet mount.

In the early 1980s I got a Yashica FX-3 (pre-Super) as my first SLR. It was a starter SLR like the Pentax K1000, perhaps a less common choice, but it had a split-image RF and the K1000 did not yet. It came with an ML 50/2 and a little later I got a YUS 28mm and 135mm lens. The YUS lenses were at an inexpensive price-point, I am not sure if they were literally the DSB lenses repackaged. https://camera-wiki.org/wiki/YUS_135mm_f2.8

 

[dynachrome]

I saw my repairman today. He said he would be able to adjust the mirror of the FX-3 Super without getting one from another camera. He has seen this condition before. What about the FX-3 I brought with me? I also brought new covering material so that one will be overhauled too. Today another FX-3 arrived. It has the 45 degree split image screen. I thought that only the FX-7 and FX-7 Super had that screen. Maybe both versions were sold at the same time.

 

[ic-racer]

Here is a clip from a Yashica brochure on the ML lenses. I have all of these. Even two different versions of the 28/2.8 ML.
They are all nice lenses. As good as it gets for medium-speed 35mm SLR lenses.

 

[xkaes]

Yashica lenses with the C/Y mount appeared with the ML, DX, and other designations, such as YUS and MC. For a complete list of Yashica lenses see:

Draft lens list | Yashica Forum

YASHICA LENS LIST This list has been split into sections based on focal length and then divided between primes and zooms.Where I know them, optical configurations have b

yashica.boards.net

 

[craigclu]

The mirror slippage may be similar to various Contax bodies.... I've had two that were easily fixed by warming the mirror until the adhesive softened and allowed the mirror to be be returned to its original position.

 

[Don_ih]

The mirror slippage may be similar to various Contax bodies

It's identical. The Contax and Yashica bodies were made by the same company. Heating the mirror and moving it back works but it should have a spot of some adhesive (not superglue) at the base of the mirror to keep it from sliding back down.

The mirror is held on by a small piece of double-sided tape.

 

[dynachrome]

The list of Yashica lenses is interesting. I didn't realize the one I mentioned was so rare. I wonder whether some old parts were left over from an earlier run. A different odd lens I have is a 24mm Canon FD SSC with the silver front. In that case I'm pretty sure it was a case of left over parts.

 

[dynachrome]

I have a long history with Yashica. Although I mainly used Konica equipment for 35mm photography for a long time, my first Yashica was a Mat 124G. I took many nice pictures with it. Today I have a fleet of medium format SLRs but don't get to use them that often. Of my many M42 mount lenses, my favorite standard is probably the 50/1.4 Yashinon DS-M. Many of the electronic Yashica M42 SLRs are no longer working so I use the Yashinon and Yashikor lenses on other M42 mount cameras.