Yashica
| Yashica
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|---|---|
 |
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| legal form | Kabushiki-gaisha (joint stock company) |
| founding | 1949 |
| resolution | 1983 |
| Seat | Okaya , Japan |
| Branch | Electrical industry |
KK Yashica (Japanese 株式会社 ヤ シ カ , kabushiki-gaisha Yashika ; English Yashica Co., Ltd. ) was a Japanese camera manufacturer headquartered in Okaya in Nagano prefecture . Since the takeover by Kyocera in 1983, it has only been a brand name.
Company history
Yashima Seiki KK ( 八 洲 精 機 株式会社 ; English Yashima Seiki Co. ) was founded in December 1949 in Nagano , Japan. In June 1953 the name was changed to Yashima Kōgaku Seiki KK ( 八 洲 光学 精 機 株式会社 ; English Yashima Optical Industry Co. ) and the first camera was the Yashimareflex, a two-lens reflex camera , from 1954 it was called Yashinaflex. Also in 1953 began the cooperation with the optics manufacturer KK Tomioka Kōgaku Kikai Seizōsho ( 株式会社 富 岡 光学 器械 製造 所 , English Tomioka Optical Co., Ltd. ).
The company name was changed to Yashica KK in 1958. In the same year, Yashica took over Nicca Camera , founded in 1940 , which had previously built rangefinder cameras based on Leica models. The Nicca range lives on in the form of the Yashica YE and YF.
1959 appeared as the first small picture - SLR Yashica Yashica the PentaMatic.
The Yashica Electro 35 viewfinder cameras, released in 1965, were largely superior to comparable camera models in terms of shutter technology. Yashica sat u. a. was the first camera manufacturer to use integrated electronic circuits .
In 1968 Yashica took over its lens supplier KK Tomioka Kogaku Kikai Seizosho. In the same year, the last two-lens reflex camera, the Yashica Mat 124 G, a popular entry-level model, appeared.
In the same year, Yashica presented the TL Electro X, the first SLR with a fully electronic light meter.
In 1972 a cooperation agreement between Yashica, Carl Zeiss and FA Porsche for the development of cameras under the name Contax with design by FA Porsche and lenses by Carl Zeiss was concluded. In 1974 the Contax RTS appeared as the first result of this cooperation . Thanks to the compatibility of the lenses and motor drives, the Contax and Yashica SLR cameras formed a uniform system. Later followed by numerous other Contaxkameras, from 1984 also compact cameras, from 1994 rangefinder cameras with interchangeable lens, 1998, the medium format - SLR Contax 645 . The Contax-N system presented in 2000 remained without an equivalent in the Yashica range. Soon thereafter, the Tomioka Optical subsidiary took over the contract manufacturing of most of the Zeiss lenses for the Contax cameras.
In 1975 Yashica took over the bayonet of the Contax RTS with the FX-1 for its own cameras. The FX-2 and FR followed in 1976, the FR I and FR II in 1977. In 1979, the FX-3 was a successful entry-level model that, with various modifications, remained in the range until 2002.
In 1980 the FX-D Quartz came out, which was largely identical to the Contax 139 Quartz, which was released in the same year.
In 1983, Yashica was taken over by Kyocera Corporation . However, the cameras were still marketed under the names "Yashica" and "Contax", so that the former company name was retained. In 1985 the Yashica FX-103 Program appeared, a camera with numerous automatic functions, including TTL flash control .
Yashica TL-electro-1, 1968
Yashica FR, 1976
Yashica MF-2 super, 1986
Yashica Samurai X3.0, 1988
Yashica Yashinon DX 50 mm f / 1.7
Auto Yashinon-DS 50mm f / 1.9
Yashica ML 75-150 mm f / 4
Auto Yashikor 35mm f / 2.8
In 1987, the trade name Yashica was the construction of a small picture - SLR - system enhanced with autofocus. After the higher quality cameras had previously been called "Contax", the new Yashica 230 AF aka Yashica 230 Super was a real mid-range camera, comparable to the Minolta 7000 . Soon afterwards the Yashica 200 AF followed as a simplified version. The autofocus cameras used a new bayonet, called the MA bayonet by Yashica itself (otherwise also known as "Sigma Y-AF" or "Kyocera AF"), for which no Zeiss lenses were offered. The bayonet looks very similar to the Minolta A bayonet (for their AF reflex system), but there are differences in the details, so that compatibility is not guaranteed. The flange focal length is 45.50 mm (or 45.8 mm). The adaptation of lenses from the old system was, however, possible with an autofocus teleconverter . With the models Yashica 210 AF, Yashica 270 AF and finally the Yashica 300 AF (1993), new models followed, but the new system did not prevail against the competition and was discontinued in the 1990s.
In 1988, the Yashica Samurai X3.0 half-format camera was the first bridge camera , a single-lens reflex camera with a built-in lens in a new compact housing similar to a video camera. It was later followed by the X4.0 model and the Yashica Samurai 4000ix, an APS film camera.
The range of cameras to be focused manually lived on and was supplemented by the successive models 107MP, 108 MP and 109MP. These offered a built-in motor and automatic program, but only limited manual intervention options. The brand name Yashica disappeared in 2002 with the FX-3 Super 2000. The Contax / Yashica bayonet only lives on in the form of a replica of this camera offered by Braun Phototechnik .
Various special cameras were offered under the name “Dental Eye”, primarily for the medical sector. They were each based on contemporary SLR cameras from the Yashica range; a macro lens with ring flash was inseparable from the housing. The last version appeared in 1998, the Yashica Dental-Eye III, it contained a 4.0 / 100 mm lens, a data back panel and was delivered complete with a system case.
Among the compact cameras , the Yashica T2 (also T3, T4, T5) with its Zeiss Tessar lens is remarkable.
In Germany there were two digital cameras from Yashica, the Yashica Kyocera KC 600 from 1997, a compact format camera with 350,000 pixel CCD and CompactFlash memory card, and the Yashica Kyocera Samurai 2100 DG from 1999, a bridge camera similar to the shape of the Samurai X3. 0.
Kyocera announced in April 2005 the cessation of all camera production.
literature
- Hans-Jürgen Kuc: On the trail of the Contax. Volume II, 2nd edition. Wittig Fachbuchverlag, 2003, ISBN 3-930359-34-0 , 266 pages.
- Patrice-Herve Pont, Jean-Loup Princelle: 300 Leica copies. Fotosaga, ISBN 2-906840-03-3 , 352 pages.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Company magazine Yashica / Contax News , Issue 47, June 1998