The Yashica experiment

Yashica Lynx 5000 + APX400

In my last post (a summer of messing around with film) I mentioned that I will post some photos taken with my Yashica camera; but before that, there are few things to let you know:

- Neil Milton’s advice to use zone focusing it is a very good advice but came in too late for this experiment (more about it later);

- I owe a Yashica Lynx 5000 from 1960, a rangefinder with a fixed 45mm f/1.8 lens, an amazing piece of equipment with a large viewfinder;

- Compared with the other two 35mm cameras that I mention in previous posts (Zeiss Ikon Colora and Voigtlander Vito C), Yashica has physically a bigger lens that can let in loads of light (hence the f/1.8) and that has advantages.

Taking into consideration all of the above, I decided to experiment and try to see what is possible in low light conditions. I’ve loaded the camera with APX400 and went to the indoor market where I knew the lighting conditions will give me the challenge that I want. And here comes Neil’s advice that couldn’t be put in practice: in order to obtain the correct exposure, I had to use an aperture of f/2.8 or f/1.8 and the scale on the lens barrel starts at 4. All the photos were taken at the above apertures so again, focusing was a bit challenging.

Not everything runed smoothly but I’m happy with the results and more than anything else, I’ve learned how far I can push my camera.

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