1960s classic SLR: Yashica J-5

Folks,<br><br>Now that I have a scanner, I decided to post a few

shots I took in 2002 with a true pre-1970 camera, the Yashica J-5. <a

href="http://www.wilkes.net/~saabman84/Argus/YashicaJ5.htm">Have a

look-see here</a>.<br><br>Let me know what you think!<br><br>--Micah

in NC

Camera looks elegant in its simplicity. Your early scans look just like my first ones. I've been scanning 35 negatives for about a year but progress in quality has been very slow. I peaked out at a not- so- high plateau, I'm chagined to say. What kind of graphic software are you using? Some of our master scanners can give you some tips to make your photos "sing."

 

Frankly, it was the Dr. Grabow pipe ad on the water tower that grabbed me. In my smoking days from age 16 to mid-forties, I smoked a pipe daily and occasionally cigars. My paternal grandfather was a cigar maker in Boston. He learned his trade in Hamburg, where he lived and worked at his trade for about a year enroute to Boston from Lithuania.

 

I owned some Dr.Grabow pipes with their removable cylindical filters that probably concentrated all the nicotine and ended up worse for the smoker than having a pipe with no filter. Amongst serious pipe smokers, I'd guess they'd call Dr Grabow pipes "gurly" pipes (apolologies to Gov. Arnold S.) I smoked all types of pipes from corn cobs to very finely sculpted briars. I was fond of a long straight one made from a branch of a sapling that was popular in middle Europe. It had a string on it, but can't remember its function; maybe to keep it from falling out of your mouth while driving a cart over rough terrain.

 

My favorite tobacco in my last years of smoking was Neptune and another Dutch concoction made by Douwe-Egbert, who now make coffee pads for the Senseo coffee maker. So much for smoking trivia.

 

I'm sure you'll pick up the art of scanning much quicker than I did. This old dog isn't learning too many new tricks.

 

Good luck Micah.

 

PS. As an aside, in my earlier life I trod the stage and played the lead Jonah in "Jezebel's Husband" written by Robert Nathan who also wrote the film mystery classic "Laura." There was a Micah in the play that I interacted with. As you'd guess, it was set in Biblical times. I rememdber well the lines: "It's a hawk feather, Micah!" To which he replied, "No Jonah! it is an eagle feather." One performance we were in the middle this dialogue when Jezebel missed her cue. My brother, who was the director, cut a lot of lines which threw Jezebel's timing way off. After repeating the same lines over and over, I put the feather in Micah's hand and walked off stage and had them ring down the curtain. Was it quick thinking or a dirty trick to leave him on stage alone? It gave the stage manager enough time to find the lead and somehow we faked some dialogue to cover for Jezebel's entrance, when the curtain rose and she strode in, in all her dazzling glory.

 

Don't know if, in the 1950s, the stage Micah was upset with my action, but sure hope "our" Micah isn't over my comments re scanning

That is quite a stroke of luck to find a camera of that age in which everything seems to be working, and at a nice price. Does it take the Pentax lenses?<br>     A friend gave me an old Spotmatic missing much of the covering and with a dead meter. I was reluctant to use it initially because of the appearance and the lack of the ttl meter. Recently, I ran some color film through it and found that I adapted very quickly to the differences from my other Spotmatic. It was mostly a matter of using the camera enough to get used to it, and engaging my brain a little more firmly in judging the nuances of exposure.<br>     The C41 Kodak B&W 400 is probably my favorite film; I would use it all the time if I could find a local processor who wouldn't abuse the negatives. I still do use it for testing cameras. Walmart will develop the film for $1.75 and having them put the images on a CD only cost a couple dollars more. The additional advantage of doing that is that their scanning software takes out a lot of the scrathes and streaks that result from machine processing.<br>     Your scans show a lot of sharp detail from the Yashinon. Looks like you might be able to bump up the contrast a bit after you scan in the image. If you have Photoshop you can do that with Image/Adjustments/Contrast-Brightness, or you can use the Levels tool and adjust the sliders up close to the ends of the curve to get the highlights and shadows properly balanced.

Les & Mike: thanks for the scanning tips. I'm far from where I want to be as far as scanning expertise goes.

 

Les: my ancient Mustek scanner is ultra-cheapo! I got it for only 2 bucks at the local Salvation Army store, which I regularly scout for old cameras. Added a 50-cent power cord, got the driver from the manufacturer (Mustek) website, and voila! Down-n-dirty flatbed scanner. I tried to make my scans look like the prints using gamma controls in the tricky Mustek software and later curves/brightness-contrast in Photoshop 7. But my monitor isn't calibrated.

 

(continuing the aside) Yep, Dr. Grabow's are not top-notch, from what I hear at Pipes.org and similar online venues. I only smoked a pipe for a couple months early this year, to try it. (My great-uncle Jack was a pipe smoker.) My girlfriend was OK with the occasional smoking, but let's face it--smoking isn't the smartest thing to do in the world. My mother went ballistic when she found out about it. I threw 'em away last month: my pretty (cheap) Dr. Grabow and two corn cobs. I wanted to try McBaren's Vanilla Cream...might still, someday.

 

Mike: Yep, the Yashica J-5 (and earlier J series as well as the later J-7) take M42 lenses, which is also known as the Pentax screwmount type. Many manufacturers made lenses for this mount, and other camera makers produced M42 mount cameras (most recently, the re-born Voigtlander name has an M42 mount body). I have an old Spotmatic SP500 and a Praktiflex FX, both M42 bodies. That Yashinon is a nice lens. The chrome 50mm which came with the camera had a sticky diaphragm, so I got on that famous auction site (ahem) and got a replacement (black barrel) 50mm Yashinon f/1.7 for a song. It's currently on my Spotty, I think.

 

--Micah in NC

For calibrating your monitor you don't have to buy extra hardware.

Take the time to read through this page and try to follow Norman's instructions. This will help you get your monitor into the right ballpark.

 

http://www.normankoren.com/color_management_2A.html

 

Your scanner also seems to need a cleaning as there are streaks on one side of it. You might look in the archives or do a search for tips on cleaning your flatbed. There is no reason even an older flatbed can't give you okay web-sized scans from prints. I use a dedicated film scanner myself but that's because I scan the negatives and make large prints from them.

Happy scanning,

Roger

Roger,

 

Hey, thanks for the info!

 

--Micah in NC

I just bought a j-5 at a yard sale I hope it works didn't pay a whole lot for it but I have been looking for an older one like my mom has. they had like 3-4 older ones but i was particulary interested in this on cuz it was so close to what my mom does own the others were only .25 each for two of them amd the other was like 2.00 but i got mine for a whole wopping 1.00 so if it works (which by the way I really excited to find out)I believe I may have hit the jackpot. Your info on the j-5 was a big help to me since I didn't know anything about the camara to bigin with. At least now I know what everything is on it. i.e. the timer which iI had no idea what it was or how to work it after I moved it. lol But like I saaid thanks for the info on it it was lots of help.

Sincerely,

August

August,

 

You're welcome! Glad I could help.

 

--Micah in NC