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The Quirky Yashica Electro AX


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The Yashica Electro AX is something like the TL Electro X, but with the addition of an aperture priority automatic mode. It has a vertical metal shutter with a synch speed of 1/125and takes M42 lenses. Power is via a single large 6v battery – there are adaptors enabling the use of commonly available 4LR44 batteries. Although it's a fairly conventional looking SLR of the 1970's in typical Yashica heavy metal style, it's a quirky camera in a number of ways.

 

I haven't got around to taking pictures with it yet, but I thought members of the CMC forum might be interested in the camera itself.

 

Quirk 1 - When you advance the film the lens stops down for metering. The button at the side of the lens, which doesn't do anything normally, then comes into play, as when you press it the lens opens back up to full aperture for focusing. So its a kind of reverse depth of field preview. Best to compose and focus before advancing the film.

 

AXpn1.thumb.jpg.960fb66be2f84a20332098d8c6721f2c.jpg

 

Quirk 2 - Metering is done by a CDS cell on a stalk which sits behind the mirror. This puzzled me until I realised the mirror was semi transparent to allow light through to the photocell – at the expense of a somewhat dim viewfinder. Before the shutter opens the photocell drops down out of the way, then pops up again the next time you advance he film. So it's effectively stop down spot metering. There are arrow shaped lights in the finder indicating over or under exposure – only in auto mode, though. There's no metering in manual mode, where it would be most useful. Nice one, Yashica.

 

AXpn2.thumb.jpg.b061711c4358728ef4cc8e5c5cb3e187.jpg

 

Quirk 3 - The green light next to the frame counter. It comes on when the shutter is open. Useful? Hmmm...

 

Oh and it has an eyepiece blind (one of the earliest?), and the pentaprism housing has a rather natty leatherette covering, reminding me of those PVC topped cars so popular in the 1970's. And it carries the "atomic logo", often seen on Yashicas but on other makes also. It seems to have signified the presence of electonics in the device.

 

Mine came with a nice Yashinon DS-M 50mm F/1.7 lens. Apparently the DX lenses can't be used because of some property of the mirror. Here's my earlier post about the Electro-X:

 

The Yashica TL Electro X

 

AXpn3.thumb.jpg.8442ac139afbf1d0c0cf5f621b6eeae9.jpg

 

The last picture shows the vital green "shutter open" light. Many thanks for looking.

Edited by John Seaman
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Thanks for the post, John. I used to have an Electro AX body, though it did not work properly. I've seen them in both Japanese-made and Hong Kong versions. Kind of an odd design, but still interesting as there weren't too many auto exposure M42 SLRs on the market. The plastic aperture release button seems to break off easily on these.
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Groovy Baby! Ive looked at these for some time, but not bit the bullet, just out of curiosity really. It will be interesting using it, I can imagine it being all fingers and thumbs to start with, but I suppose the concept is good, metering when you initially hold it up to your eye. What on earth is the green light for. I can’t think what it might be useful for, unless you are deaf, and can’t hear the shutter?? Is the meter still accurate?

Thanks for posting, interesting.

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Thanks for the responses. Dave, I will treat the aperture button with due care at all times. Stuart, it's hard to know if the metering is accurate without putting a film through, there being no shutter speed indication in auto mode (apart from the over- and under- arrows), and no metering at all in manual mode. It certainly responds with different shutter speeds to varying apertures and levels of lighting. Being a CdS cell rather than Selenium, perhap's it's more likely to have retained its accuracy.
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Thanks for the responses. Dave, I will treat the aperture button with due care at all times. Stuart, it's hard to know if the metering is accurate without putting a film through, there being no shutter speed indication in auto mode (apart from the over- and under- arrows), and no metering at all in manual mode. It certainly responds with different shutter speeds to varying apertures and levels of lighting. Being a CdS cell rather than Selenium, perhap's it's more likely to have retained its accuracy.

Ah, of course. I have found that CdS meters often seem oversensitive when they get old. Fingers crossed for yours, let us know how you get on.

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Interesting! I'm a big fan of the earlier Yashica SLRs, my latest model being the basic TL-Electro (my first SLR). I never kept up with succeeding Yashica models having eventually switched to Pentax. I can't truly speak to whether or not I would have liked its features back when this came out, but knowing what I know now from your post, I probably would have passed on this. Thanks again!
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