Lens quality in GTN, MG1 & CC

[JonR]

Friends

I have recently bought three Yashica cameras - GTN, MG1 & CC.

All work well after some re-sealing and I have taken a couple of rolls of film with all three now. Results are great but in terms of ease of use I have come to like them in the following order:
1. CC - so small and great to bring along to allmost any occasion
2. GTN - good build quality and good flash functionality but big
3. MG1

But what about the lenses and optical quality !? I cannot really see any big difference so far between the thre models - photos all seem to come out good, sharp and with the right colours and in a very similar way for all three cameras.

Anyone having any comments on the optical quality of those cameras!??

Jon

 

[Avotius]

I am blown away by the fine yashica optics in my gsn, so much so that I would love to have that lens sitting on the end of a leica

 

[Steve Bellayr]

If you go to Avotius' Flickr photos he does prove his point about the quality of the lens. These old fixed lens rangefinders had lens quality that belied their price then and now.

 

[#FT2_8*fffg.]

The 35cc lens reminds me of the Nikkor 35mm f2 Non-AI. I had both for the summer in 2005; no M2 at that time. Sharp enough, but sometimes sketchy bokeh. It's the best non-snob camera to use with an M. They used to be fifty dollars when I bought the two I use, but now they cost about one fifty. Too bad.

 

[JonR]

Yes - extremly good quality for the money!

Yes - extremly good quality for the money!

Yes agree and I am surprised....

I bought my Yashicas for very little money:
- the GTN for approx 30 USD
- the MG1 for approx 15 USD
- the CC for all in all maybe 100 USD or a little bit more incl leaving it to the repais shop to fix the viewfinder and to do a full re-sealing

Compated with how much money I have spent on my old Nikon SLR-systems on bodies and lenses and my new D80 plus all the new AFS-VR lenses it is surprisingly good quality for the money!!

I bought the cameras most for the fun of it but I am now pretty sure I will continue to use them, especailly the CC, as a complement to the Nikon cameras and they will for sure keep up my consumption of film!

/Jon

 

[NickTrop]

What's interesting, is that while everyone talks about the rarity of the CC, I find the GL and GX to be rarer. Especially the GL.

 

[NickTrop]

I just shot the CC recently. I developed it - Tri-X in rodinal @ 1:50 and got proof prints made on color paper ala XP2 Super, though I did the development. Very, very nice. Super sharp imo.

Now, I knocked this camera in the past for its 1/250 top shutter speed and its max film speed capability of 400. I shot this indoors ambient light and outdoors on a sunny day. Film was rated at 400. I've only shot 3 or 4 rolls with this camera. It always performs well. At working apertures it is sharp and contrasty. In low light - (say a restaurant), again very nice for a wide open aperture and 1/30th "people shot" shutter speed.

When you have 400 speed film in the camera, and are shooting on a bright sunny day, expect the overexposure light to go on. (I assume this might be an engineering constraint. The Hexar AF, which came out 20 years later, with a similar 35/2 spec'd lens, also tops out at 1/250)

If you have this camera, ignore it (the over exposure light) and shoot anyway. It's only a stop, probably, overexposed and my experience is the picture looks fine, assuming print film.

The CC definintey has grown on me. Its stealthy and classy in black, aperture priority, fast in operation, with killer Yashica glass, nice and compact, a perfect street shooter.

 

[JonR]

GL vs CC

GL vs CC

Agree with your comments about GL and GS being rare... I have looked for a long time at the auction sites here in Sweden and the GSN is most common followed by GTN, MG and ME adn then there has been a few CC out for sale but I have not seen any GL or GS.... may vary between markets depending on how they sold and what distributors they used back in the 70-ties but at least so far I have been unable to lay my hands on a Gl or GS.

/J

 

[ErnestoJL]

The MG1 has a four elements-three groups lens of the Tessar type with max. aperture f 2.8.
The GSN as well as all the other variations the Electro 35 had, used a radically different design of 7 elements to achieve f 1.7. I heard a rumour saying that this lens wasn´t designed by Yashica. Instead, it was designed by a famous german company... but IMO this isn´t true.

Both lens are sharp and well contrasted and the only significant differences I found are the maximum aperture. The GSN lens is sharp even at full aperture but requires very carefull focusing. Obviously, stopped down to f 5.6 /8 it performs better and both lenses perform equally well.

Perhaps the MG1 lens would be a bit better in terms of sharpness due to it´s simple design but I have no means to confirm this point.

Ernesto

 

[mike_j]

You may be interested in the Yashinon comparison in the General discussion forum

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39802

Yashinon compares well with Jupiter J8 and Summicron