Joe Lopez

The Yashicaflex cameras date to the early to mid-1950's and have no internal electronics or metering. The ASA dial that may be present on the camera is just a visual reminder to the photographer of the speed of the film loaded in the camera. You load the camera and set the ASA dial to the speed of the film. The ASA speed you set, though, has no effect on the pictures you'll take. You need to use and external meter and set the camera's aperture and shutter speed dials manually. I would assume your camera's dial lists film speeds in the older ASA standard because the ISO scale wasn't created until some time in the 1980's, long after your camera was made. The numbers are typically the same under each standard.

Some other vintage SLRs had a similar semi-automatic aperture function. I’ve got a couple of early Topcons (the model R, sold in America as the Beseler Topcon B because the photographic industry loves confusion). Its normal lens will stop down to a pre-selected aperture when the shutter is released, but the user then needs to slide a lever at the base of the lens to open the aperture blades back up and thus re-set the lens for the next frame. The East German branch of Zeiss made similar semi-automatic lenses for Exaktas.

The lenses (as I understand it) are semi-automatic. When you fire the shutter, the lens automatically stops down to whatever aperture you've selected, but it doesn't open back up until you cock the shutter. I say "as I understand it" because I don't own a Pentamatic and never have, but I've collected Yashica TLR's for a while now and I'm running out of models that I don't have so I've occasionally thought about getting into other vintage Yashicas. My understanding about the lens operation of the Pentamatic is thus based on what I've read. Apparently, the Pentamatic II was fully automatic. Paul Sokk's Yashica TLR website has a page devoted to the Yashica Pentamatic that probably has more information about the history of the camera than you may want or need (but it's quite interesting if you like getting into weeds about vintage cameras): Pentamatic & Move to M42

It's the first version of the 3.5E, which you'll sometimes see listed as the 3.5C. This version of the 3.5E does not have a removable viewfinder, though subsequent versions of the camera did (if it were removable, there would be a little tab on either side of the finder; press the tabs and you can then lift the finder off). As to why it doesn't conform to one of the lists of serial numbers and characteristics you can find online, no real answer. Sometimes serial numbers were skipped and then used later after a camera's specifications had changed, or parts ran short and others were for a time substituted, or the factory had a special order for a Xenotar. I have a 2.8B that, according to some lists of Rollei serial numbers, shouldn't exist, but it does, and it sits in my cabinet. For the most part, a serial number was only intended as a unique identifier for a specific camera and there were times when the numbers were somewhat haphazardly doled out.

Yes, and they’re weirdly plentiful on eBay. I just took a look.

My impression is that these special edition cameras were intended to commemorate the end of Mamiya’s production of TLRs (ca. 1994) and were a tribute to the importance of the TLR in Mamiya’s history. But that’s just an impression. Most of the information about the cameras online indicates only that they exist.

As it happens, there are currently not one but two of these gold Mamiya c330 Special Selections selling on eBay! Both sellers are in Japan, and each one is asking thousands of dollars for the camera. Each seller says that only 50 of these special edition cameras was made, but neither quotes any source for that claim. I’ve seen one of these previously on eBay, but couldn’t find any other information about this special edition. Graham Patterson’s website (gapatterson.org), typically the Bible regarding Mamiya’s TLRs, is silent about this special edition. Anyway, congratulations! As a longtime Mamiya TLR enthusiast, I have to say that I’m envious.

A search in Google Books comes up with a book called Photography, Cinema, Memory: The Crystal Image of Time by Damian Sutton who credits Gene McSweeney as the webmaster of the “lost films” web pages found on westfordcomp.com. Not sure if a link to a Google Books search will work or not, but here goes: Photography, Cinema, Memory

<p>The Baird Petri Collector's Guide is claimed.</p>

Hard for me to verify much at this point. I no longer have any Petri lenses, and the only Petri camera I've got left is a 2.8 rangefinder. I did have at one point some later Petri EE SLR's and this lens wouldn't mount on them, but other Petri EE lenses I had would. I do still have a copy of Baird's Collector's Guide to Petri Cameras and would happily send it to anyone who wants it at no charge.