Yashica Minister D
It's quite possible that Yashica never made a bad camera. While perhaps a tiny bit hyperbolic, the point is that Yashica turned out over 100 different camera models across several decades and the vast majority of them were solid cameras. Yashica also has the distinction of being one of the few camera companies that was known for producing commercially successful TLR, SLR, and 35mm rangefinder cameras. During the 1960s and 1970s, they really were the Jack-of-all-trades when it came to building cameras.
The Yashica Minister D was the fourth, and last, in their Minister series of rangefinder cameras. Introduced in 1963, the Minister D updated the previous Minister III by replacing that camera's selenium cell meter with a CdS light meter. While still uncoupled, the Minister D used a nifty LVS scale that made it pretty quick and simple to transfer the meter reading from atop the camera to the lens barrel, and even to change shutter or aperture settings while keeping exposure constant.
The Minister cameras, in general, were considered the lower cost alternative to Yashica's Lynx series, which sported the faster f/1.4 lenses. Nonetheless, users of the Ministers will attest to solid image quality from these cameras.
Just a few years later, in 1966, Yashica would release the first of their Electro cameras. There is a good chance that even if you have never heard of the Minister, you know the Electro. It may be the most famous rangefinder that Yashica ever built. It is worth pointing out that those early Lynx and Minister cameras provided the foundation for the later Electros and thus, in that sense, these cameras continued to have impact long after their production ceased.
za/sd
Blue Moon Camera and Machine llc
- sales@bluemooncamera.com
- (503) 978-0333
- (503) 978-0370
-
8417 North Lombard Street
Portland, OR 97203
All rights reserved ©2024, Blue Moon Camera and Machine llc