For afficianados of cheap Yashica rangefinders

oftheherd

oftheherd

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You might want to check this out: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=30028&item=3828257340 (buyer beware) for what I am sure is a real bargain.

Also, the same seller (who I guess works for the Yashica MAT repairman) has some tops for rangefinder cameras; a Canon of some kind and a Konica I think.

Does anybody know about that Yashica? I think they also had a very limited production of interchangable lens rangefinders about the time Konica, Canon and Nikon did back in the 50's. Is that correct?
 
I wouldn't dismiss a seller with 1200+ feedback comments. The price, though, seems a bit too high for the value of this camera... if anyone's thinking of it as a tool (I would never buy a photographic paperweight).

Any takers? I pass... Not that I don't like it, it's just that I don't need it.
 
Sorry, forgot to address the first post.

Wasn't Nicca another Leica copy sold in the US through Sears... or was it the Tower brand?

I also didn't know if Yashica ever made interchangeable lens cameras... Did they, really? Gotta check Matt Denton's website.
 
I have looked at a few offerings from this buyer, but have not purchased any cameras from them. One auction I considered mentioned Mark Hama's name and I asked what the connection was. It was explained to me that there is a relationship with Mark Hama, but the camera that I was looking at had not been serviced or looked over by Mark prior to putting it on auction. It was part of a lot that Mark was selling. My impression is that the group of cameras that I had seen (a couple months ago) were looked at to ID and to provide as good a description for sale.
 
These are pricey Yashicas. I've been watching them for the past couple of years on e-Bay, and they usually go for respectable amounts like this. Way back when, Yashica bought a company called Nicca which made Leica IIIc clones. Supposedly they wanted a company experienced in focal plane shutter manufacture. These cameras were LTM thread and originally sold as Nicca's. Some went Sears and Roebuck as Towers or Nicca/Towers. The YF here was the last model, and may only have been sold under the Yashica and Tower labels. I think they may multi-focal length viewfinders and a flip-up panel on the back like a Leica M-series. The lenses are even harder to find than the cameras.

Given how uncommon they are, one would expect that they should be more expensive than Canon 7's., but they are not.

I think the Nicca shutter expertise was used by Yashica to start their SLR line.

-Paul
 
I've been looking at these for the last few years also and should have bought one when I first started looking as the price has climbed. As far as I know this is the only interchangeable lens RF camera to carry the Yashica name although I once saw a reference to a Yashica YE but I have no idea what that is. In 1958 (I think) Yashica bought the Nicca company who made one of the better Leica copies. Sears marketed Nicca in this country under the Tower brand. Nicca's used Nikkor 50 f2 lenses as standard and they were very well thought of. The Yashica YF is a Nicca IIIS with a redesigned top cover, a combined RF/VF and a Yashinon lens. I always thought that my Yashica collection needed a YF but not at these prices.

Gerry
 
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