Electro 35 GT in Sydney

[Paolo Bonello]

Hello all. I went out specifically to test a newly acquired GT and it turned into a pretty nice set so I thought I'd share. I just went with the flow. One little girl actually ran into my frame as I was taking some photos of a statue and turned a relatively boring photo into a smile.

Here's the set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/paolo1/sets/72157626546060204/

And here's a few favourites:

(Totally missed the focus on this one but I still really like it.)

img004 by Paolo Bonello, on Flickr



img003 by Paolo Bonello, on Flickr


img006 by Paolo Bonello, on Flickr


img016 by Paolo Bonello, on Flickr


img010 by Paolo Bonello, on Flickr


img003 by Paolo Bonello, on Flickr


img015 by Paolo Bonello, on Flickr


img014 by Paolo Bonello, on Flickr

 

[Chinasaur]

Ok. I don't want to hear about a "Leica/Leitz/umteescratch" glow... I have a new "look" for ya that I've seen again and again on Yashica pics.

It's the "Yashinon" look. It's so blatantly obvious that you absolutely KNOW when you're looking at a Yashica lens/camera picture.

This is a shot from my Yashica CC. Could have come from the same roll as Paolo Bonello's.

Or this shot from a while back....

This "look". This sharpness, clarity...call it whatever you like; is part of why I wrote this thread. There is "something" about the look of a Yashica picture that makes it reeeeely special.

Nice work PB 🙂

 

[Paolo Bonello]

Thanks Chinasaur. The "Yashinon look". I like that.
Thing to remember though is that these are scans done on my new V700 scanner. First time I used that too so I'm still learning the ropes and did it in Jpeg to save some time. From reading about scanning practice it became clear that I had to scan them fairly flat in contrast in order to retain maximum detail in the digital file. The only thing I adjusted were the histogram sliders to the endpoints without clipping. That meant my scans initially did not look like they were supposed to until I recovered the contrast. In this case I did the contrast adjustment very quickly in Picasa (oh the horror) because it was 2am and I needed to sleep. Luckily I had prints of this roll at hand to be my reference guide. I got as close to that Yashinon look that I saw on the prints using them as my guide. The prints actually look a little less grainy because (i assume) I did no noise reduction on these scans. The only other difference I could tell on screen was a slight almost unnoticeable hue in the prints toward brown in the highlights which I am certain is a result of the paper print and not the negative.

 

[ErnestoJL]

NIce pics PB!
It´s true, there is a "yashinon look" that is unique.
You´ll love your GT as I do with mine.
Cheers
Ernesto

 

[Chinasaur]

PB,

And mine were developed and processed at a Walgreens drug store..uber cheap 🙂 I don't think it matters much where the pic was developed or scanned (within reason). What matters are those terrific lenses 🙂

 

[Paolo Bonello]

Thanks Ernesto. Yes I love my GT and my other GT and my GS, and my other GS and my GSN, and my MG1 and my CC. There's more if I include the TLR's and Ministers but they need some work before they can be used. It's developed into a nice little collection that did not cost me an arm and three legs and I get a buzz whenever I see the results.

Chinasaur, yes the lens has a lovely character to it which does come through in the scans wherever you get them processed even though as I described you might have to estimate the final contrast or curves in post processing due to the rather flat output of scans. There has to be a little creative licence in the final step to get the scan contrast back to what the print contrast would have been like. That's all I was trying to say. I agree that if the lens quality was never there in the first place then you'd be sucking lemons trying to make it look nice and certainly would not be able to simply use Picasa or a rudimentary tuning program like that to do such refinements to the image to simulate that 'Yashinon look'. 😉

 

[farlymac]

I've always known that the Yashinons were a sharp lens, but if the rangefinder is out of whack, well it doesn't really matter then. I like the results from all my Yashicas, even the lowly ME. It's interesting to see the comments about what type of camera/lens combo I used when I don't specify.

That is a really nice set Paolo. The little girl on the statue is a priceless shot, and I also like the seagulls at the ferry dock. The Royal Automobile Club pic is very strong.

PF

 

[Bill58]

I think I recall our head bartender saying on his website that you can tell the difference between Leica and all the others by looking at the B/w negatives under a 10X loupe. I wonder how the the Yashinons would compare?

 

[Paolo Bonello]

Thanks farlymac. I appreciate your positive comments.

With regards to tuning rangefinders that are out of whack etc; I have formed a new opinion on that matter having attempted to tune my own finders in a couple of Electros with reasonable success and a lot of frustration.
Anyway, I come to think that paying for a professional CLA when it cant be done yourself on a camera that costs less than the CLA is hard to swallow at first but not really a big spend to do every five years or so. Nice sharp focussing and a clean, accurate finder is easily worth $25 a year IMO. I think if we all resisted a couple of useless purchases on eBay or a few nights at the pub and put that money toward CLA'ing one of our favorite Yashicas then we'd all be walking around taking photos like we just bought a brand new camera. The feeling is great and I encourage you all to give a little love to your Yashicas. I'm sending my Electro CC, a mint Black Minolta 7s and a Yashicamat 124g to Mark Hama next week. I could probably do it myself (all except the broken meter in the 7s) but I want to feel secure that a pro did those cause I really want to use them with confidence for some time to come.

 

[Paolo Bonello]

Here a few more I took with Fuji PRO160c just to give you an idea of my Sydney colour shots.

Colourful dexterity by Paolo Bonello, on Flickr


Bench seats - Hyde park fountain by Paolo Bonello, on Flickr


Rock in the Mall by Paolo Bonello, on Flickr


Old timer cycling by Paolo Bonello, on Flickr


Giant Chess 2 by Paolo Bonello, on Flickr

 

[arthur sadowsky]

Your color shots are amazingly beautiful!!

 

[literiter]

Kinda makes one reconsider whether one needs a better camera or just learn to use the one he's got.

These pictures are simply great. I think #015 is very special.

 

[farlymac]

Other than 'Bench Seats...Hyde Park Fountain' being overly dark, these are nice. I haven't tried Fuji PRO160C. The skin tones look good.

PF

 

[Paolo Bonello]

Thanks for the positive replies everyone. These old Electros are just the ticket for a relaxed photo walk. I don't think they'll touch the really expensive gear or allow you as many variables as full manual control but you can make up for a lot of shortcomings in your gear with good composition, timing and creativity I guess. Also I don't think I could have found a better camera for the price. Bare in mind that this camera was a freebie! It came to me in pieces in an ice-cream container with another beautifully kept GS I bought. It needed a POD fix and the timer unjammed and the shutter cleaned but after a few nights of tinkering it's heart started beating again much to my joy. 🙂

Farlymac, agreed! The bench seats photo is a little dark or the background is possibly not dark enough in relation to the women on the bench so they seem to be stuck there in the background. Oh well, you get that.

I did like the film though with it's natural skin tones and not-so saturated colours but the grain seemed a little bigger than I expected after reading the manufacturers description. I'm relatively new to film in general so I don't really know what to expect or how much of what the manufacturer writes is just fluff.

You can see the grain clearly on the wall in the Old timer cycling photo. that wall is just a flat painted plywood construction hoarding. The grain is clearly shown on that.