Yashica 35-ME
The Yashica 35-ME is a compact, cute and somewhat uncommon 35mm camera produced in the early 1970s (sources online site early 1972 while McKeown's states 1973). It is a pretty straightforward camera with a simple control layout. It is viewfinder only (no rangefinder) with zone focusing. Focus distances are split into four zones represented by icons on the lens barrel. Exposure is entirely automatic and governed by a built-in CdS light meter whose eye sits inside the filter ring and just above the lens. This is a handy placement as it allows the camera to compensate for any attached filters. Like many automatic cameras of this era, some manual aperture control is afforded by putting the camera into flash sync mode where aperture can be selected manually but with a fixed shutter speed of 1/25th. In terms of exposure, the automatic mode is capable of setting shutter speeds ranging from 1/30 to 1/650 with apertures from f2.8 to f14. The viewfinder has a convenient meter display that shows the aperture/shutter combination being used. The meter is powered by a single SR/LR44 battery. The 35-ME's lens is a Yashinon 38mm f2.8 (four elements in three groups).
Apart from its technical specs, the most pleasant aspect of the 35-ME is its handling. The camera is pretty small for its era (much smaller than the Electro 35) with nicely rounded corners that make it feel nice in the hands. The focus zones on the lens click nicely into place providing some nice haptic feedback to focusing. The advance lever is awfully short and this helps keep it out of your way but does take away from the "pleasure" of advancing your film somewhat... for what that is worth. Build quality is also fairly bare bones and this does translate to some degree to that aforementioned film advance, film rewinding and the pressing of the shutter button. As a point-and-shoot style, 35mm travel camera the Yashica 35-ME has some definite appeal. It fits in a pocket, it is fast and it is easy.
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