Yashica 635

Working Collectibles – Yashica 635

Analog, location

A long time ago I started a couple of posts called collectibles, old and forgotten (or maybe not?) film photo camera’s, but still working fine. Today a new chapter to this series, the Yashica 635 TLR.

This camera is a twin lens reflex camera, featuring a Yashicor 80mm f/3.5 viewing lens and taking lens. It has a Copal shutter with shutter speeds from B – 1sec to 1/500sec.

This camera is visually very comparable to the much wanted Rolleiflex TLR camera that I use often in my sessions with models, it has about the same size and weight, both have a waist level viewfinder and a back lid that opens from the bottom. This Yashica 635 has the the added benefit that it came with a 35mm film adaptor (next to the standard 120 roll film system) that allowed for a more versatile use. I have never used mine with 35mm film (I don’t have the adaptor), so I can not report about that. The use of 120 roll film is very straightforward, and very similar to the Rolleiflex camera. An empty roll goes on top, the film roll goes in the bottom and is guided with rollers towards the top roll.

A very important difference in both camera’s is that with the Yashica, the shutter is not linked to the film transport.  I have been used to the Rolleiflex, and this camera prevents to fire the shutter twice in a row, so you have to transport film in order to be able to expose film. With the  Yashica you have a separate shutter winder, so you can do as many exposures you want on a single sheet of film. This is an important difference, that caused me quite some double exposures lately, as well as some missed shots because the shutter had not been tensioned.

Quality wise, this camera produces good negatives, a bit softer maybe than those coming from the Rolleiflex, but certainly having a good sharpness (if you manage to focus right, which is hard to do with the old matte screens).

Now for some images taken with this camera. (a series I did on the local fair in Ronse a couple of weeks ago) All images on Ilford FP4 Plus 125 ISO rated as 100 ISO)

thanks to my model for the day, Emily, this was our first collaboration.

 

If you would be interested in buying a camera like this, they are very affordable, especially compared to Rolleiflexes.

Working Collectibles – Agfa Isolette

Working collectibles Voightländer Bessa I 

 

thank you for coming by, come again soon for a year-round review about 2018

Ludwig

Pauline in the ballet room – Analog

Analog, beauty, Personal Pictures

hi there, it’s been a while since you’ve heard from me,
I would like to present you a new series with Pauline, you’ve probably seen her before in my work.
This time we worked in a new location in my hometown Ronse. The building of the Academy for word, music and arts. Currently the building is used by local clubs and associations that needed a place for meetings and gatherings.

I like to work with Pauline a lot, and this feeling seems to be absolutely mutual, seen the post that Pauline put on her wordpress blog recently: ludwig-desmet-the-ballet-room-and-the-old-theatre

We made some interesting images I think.

All shot with the Yashica 635 on Kodak TMax400 film, pushed 1 stop (shot as if it would be an 800 ISO film, and developed as such)

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ludwigdesmet-PM-Renaix-011

ludwigdesmet-PM-Renaix-012

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thank you for watching.
I’m currently preparing three more shoots, so come back soon,

ludwig

Selfie! Pauline in the ballet room

Analog, beauty, Personal Pictures

first time I include myself that much in the picture frame, I hope it doesn’t ruin the entire image, you may argue that I’m not a beauty, and certainly not fine art. 😉

 

ludwigdesmet_Pauline M_Renaix

 

As you can see, the image was taken with a TLR, this time a Yashica 635. Unfortunately it doesn’t fix well on my tripod and that caused some camera blur in some of the images.

One of my Rolleiflex’es is currently being under CLA (cleaning, lubrication, adjustment) treatment in the Netherlands, I hope I will get it back soon. A problem with the TLR (twin lens reflex camera’s) is the adjustment between the viewing lens and the taking lens focus, and both my Rolleiflex’es are suffering some ‘mis-adjustment’. I will judge on the first one being adjusted if I will send the other one too.

Winter is a calm period for model photography in Belgium, but some nice things are coming up, make sure to visit this place from time to time, or subscribe to get notified from new posts.

 

thank you for viewing,

ludwig