Once in a blue moon I like to get the old Yashica T5 out. Those who have followed the website for a while will know, this was the camera that started 35mmc. I got it for a bargain, shot some XP2 with it and was so happy with the results, I decided to start writing about point & shoot film cameras.
Of course this was 2013, and point and shoot film cameras were cheap as chips back then. I got my Yashica for £30 (though thanks to Terry Richardson, that was a massive bargain even then). You could get an Olympus mju-ii for £30 too at the time though, quite readily in fact, and even Contax T2s were as little as the £160 I paid for mine, fully working. The resurgence has been great for the industry, but it made the second hand camera market a lot less fun, that’s for certain.
Anyway, this camera is one that has meant a lot to me ever since. I shot a lot of rolls I was very happy with, and then sent it on a bit of a world tour to share the love of the thing a bit. This went well until someone tried to steal it and the increasing value of it started making import/export costs too high. So eventually I just took it back into my care – a lot more war-wounded than it had been when I sent it on its travels – but still working then, and still working to this day.
I don’t shoot P&S film cameras as much as I used to now, but when I get the urge, I do sometimes like to pick up this Yashica. It just takes such reliably good photos! The lens quality is a big part of this – which is obviously why we chose it for rehousing at Omnar (see recent post about the rehoused lens here) – but it also does a really good job of exposure and focusing too. It’s not perfect, but definitely better than some similar cameras.
The film is Fuji Neopan 400 – this is the film that I was given to help support the upkeep of the blog. I have, as promised, given a load of it away, and continue to sell it on eBay (often for a lot less than advertised – shout me if you want some…!). I have also shot a couple of rolls, most recently the one I wanted to talk about here.
This particular roll was shot a little while ago. I didn’t shoot it in one go, rather it was one of those rolls that got shot over a few different outings when I randomly fancied taking the Yashica out with me. It was not a roll where I was pleased with every shot either (like that ever happens…) but I did get a few shots I really liked. I actually forget how much I like shooting black and white film too… Here are my faves from the roll:
Thanks for reading – you can see the rest of the roll here if you’re interested…
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