Yasuhara

The camera and coffee thread is very long. When it does come up, scroll up to a few posts to see the picture.
 
I bought one last week, ordered it on sunday, received it on tuesday. I'm still waiting for the first pics, but I like it a lot. If you want to know something, just ask, I'll do my best to answer.

Wim

(edit: somehow the pic that I attached, changed to something completely different)
 
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Jeroen said:
Too bad that T012 is so expensive. You can get a used Olympus XA4 for 1/10th of those 600 euros.
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Suppy of the Yasuhara cameras is a bit less, I believe. Not a camera that anyone will be able to just find on eBoy.

Not that I can afford one either - just noting that in terms of scarcity, this beats the various Olympi by a pretty big margin.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks
 
Those Olympus XA4's are great. I lent mine to a girlfriend to take to China. She dropped it, and a car ran over it in Shanghai. Cracked case and no funcionality at all.

When I took it to Olympus repair in London they fixed it for free in a couple of hours.

But I still fancy a Yashamura. The fixed lens one is favorite.
 
I'm sure the Olympus XA4 is a nice camera, but it's not fair to compare the Yashuara with it. The Yashuara T981 is an all-metal rangefinder camera with a large, bright viewfinder, shutter speeds up to 1/2000th, asa-settings to asa 3200. If you want to compare it, you should compare it to the Bessas.
The fixed lens T012 is something else. I don't know if there is an new camera on the market that can compare to it.
And yes, the rarity of these cameras influenced my decision to buy one. I saw that a German camera shop was trying to sell them for 800 Euro on Ebay.

Wim
 
I'd love to find a review of the T012, or see examples of pictures taken with it. Anybody know where they might be? The T981 sounds a little shoddy. (Maybe the T012 is the same way, but I like its features and the 30mm lens.)
 
KoNickon said:
I'd love to find a review of the T012, or see examples of pictures taken with it. Anybody know where they might be? The T981 sounds a little shoddy. (Maybe the T012 is the same way, but I like its features and the 30mm lens.)
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There is a link at this URL to a gallery of photos from both cameras:
http://shop.lomography.com/yasuhara/

Except for maybe the shutter I don't think either of these cameras can be considered shoddy (see the pop photo review link above).
 
Did the camera come from Lomo? And where was it shipped from? Outside EU can be tricky because of customs duty. I thought they were each EUR600 do why is somebody asking EUR800?

But most of all: is this a great camera?
 
Jon Claremont said:
Did the camera come from Lomo? And where was it shipped from? Outside EU can be tricky because of customs duty. I thought they were each EUR600 do why is somebody asking EUR800?

But most of all: is this a great camera?
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I don't know all the details, but I believe that the cameras were hand-made by Yasuhara-san in Japan (he may have had some built in China, I'm unclear on that). I suspect that Lomo ended up with them after Yasuhara-san's company went bankrupt. No idea where they are actually located now.

Why would people ask different prices for the same camera? Because they're pretty rare - only a few thousand were ever built, as I understand it. So no one knows what 'the market will bear' in terms of price, and they're experimenting to find out what people will pay.

Is it a 'great' camera?

Like many things, that all depends.

I understand it has its defects and detractors. Among them, an SLR-style Copal Square shutter that can leak light if the lens cap is not kept on when the camera is not in use. The usual flaws evident when something is hand-built by a one-man company, regardless of how stringent that person's quality-control standards might be.

Great? It depends on your understanding of great. I think it meets that standard and more from the historic 'David versus Goliath' point of view - a one-man company that stood for several years against the odds and produced a TTL-metered rangefinder camera in a day when pretty much only Leicaphiles were interested in RF's, and then only in their beloved Leicas.

From a 'is this a great camera' point of view? Maybe not so much.

It really depends on what you want - a living piece of history that can take LTM lenses and be used to make great photos (which I believe it is) - or a true competitor to Leica for 600 euros (which it ain't).

My general observation - if you haven't taken the time to research the camera, the company, the man behind it, and / or you don't appreciate Yasuhara-san's contribution to history, then you won't like this camera and you'll think you got ripped off.

As I perceive it, the value this camera offers is neither as a wall-hanger nor as a true shootin' iron, but as a roadmark showing us how we got where we are, on the cusp of significance in a bubble trapped in an emerging digital world of photography. It is more important for what it represents than for what it can do, but it can also do.

I mean no disrespect, but in short - if you don't know why this camera is important, then you probably shouldn't buy one.

I don't have one, but only because I can't afford it. I wish I could.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks
 
From the way I understand the various web pages on this, the first ones were hand made by Yasuhara (I bet those are a rare and pricey) and then production was shifted to Phenix in China for the rest of the short run. Funky looking camera...like someone put a Zorki 3, Leica M3, and an Konica III into that contracption from The Fly and pulled the switch. Does anyone know what the size is like...more like a Leica IIIf or a M3? And is it metal-bodied?

doug
 
Did the camera come from Lomo? And where was it shipped from? Outside EU can be tricky because of customs duty. I thought they were each EUR600 do why is somebody asking EUR800?

But most of all: is this a great camera?
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I bought my camera from the Lomographic Society. It was shipped from Austria. No problems with customs. The asking price of 800 Euro was from a German Camera dealer on Ebay. On ebay everybody can ask any price they want for their stuff. The true value of items is what people are willing to pay for them.

To you last question: Yes, but...
If you are looking for a new user camera, consider the Bessas. In addition to what the T981 offers, they have additional frames in the viewfinder, auto-exposure and M-mount.
If you want to own a historical significant camera that is a good user, look for a Leica M2 or M3. They have an excellent reputation, M-mount, frames, wider rangefinder base-lenght, and the Leica name (but they have no TTL-metering).
If you are looking for a usable and a little excentric camera, the T981 (and even more the T012) is a good option. The T981 is really a modernised Leica III or (if you're not so kind) a Fed 5 done right.

Wim
 
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and then production was shifted to Phenix in China for the rest of the short run
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My T981 was definitly made in China by Phenix. There was a Phenix neck-strap in the box.

Wim
 
dreilly said:
From the way I understand the various web pages on this, the first ones were hand made by Yasuhara (I bet those are a rare and pricey) and then production was shifted to Phenix in China for the rest of the short run. Funky looking camera...like someone put a Zorki 3, Leica M3, and an Konica III into that contracption from The Fly and pulled the switch. Does anyone know what the size is like...more like a Leica IIIf or a M3? And is it metal-bodied?

doug
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Well, I can find this:

http://www.cameraquest.com/yasuhp.htm

http://www.cameraquest.com/yasu2.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rangefinder_camera

http://www.popphoto.com/article.asp?print_page=y&section_id=2&article_id=321&page_number=1&preview=

http://www.yasuhara.co.jp/

I believe it is metal-bodied. Beyond that, I don't know that much about it.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks
 
Just FYI, for those who were not immersed in the Leica-vs-everybody wars a few years back, when Yasuhara and Cosina started gaining some serious interest among rangefinder fans, some of the 'True Believers' in Leica started feeling a bit defensive about their beloved German Steel. At least, that is my opinion, based on the reaction. I don't think that the Konica Hexar RF (http://www.cameraquest.com/konicam.htm) engendered the same interest when it was first released, although it got sucked into the debate once Cosina was on the scene. And the poor Contax G1/G2's were hated by everybody all at once (http://contaxg.com/).

Anyone who dared ask in a public forum (not here, on places like PN and Usenet) if the Cosina/Voiglander Bessas or the Yasuharas were 'good cameras' were lectured long and loudly about the virtues of Leica, why they were NOT Leica-like in form, function, or style, and why CV and Yasuhara, like all other brands of camera with the possible exception of Nikon, were complete and utter trash. It got a bit nauseating. You had to kowtow and say that "Leica is the best of course, but..." or you could not ask a simple question without being thrashed about the head and shoulders.

In fact, the only 'correct' answer if someone wanted to buy a Leica-like rangefinder was to buy a Leica camera. Nothing else was a Leica, and not only did all the competition fall woefully short, but they could not even be uttered in the same breath without encountering screams of 'Blasphemer!' from the True Believers. You couldn't even have a rational discussion about it. If one did not have the money for a Leica, then (sniff) perhaps one did not deserve a Leica. Go buy a Canon and take snapshots like a tourist, begone from our august midst.

Things have died down, thankfully. Rangefinder cameras have been reborn, and the bubble has become a fairly stable niche - there *is* a market for interchangeable-lens rangefinder cameras that are well-made and sell for less than an M7.

Nobody is saying that a Bessa R2 is the same camera as an M7 - and the Leicaphiles have pulled in their horns a bit and relaxed. Some of them will even admit, on rare occasions, that Bessas might have a right to exist after all, and aren't that bad at the price point they inhabit - they no longer feel threatened by Cosina. Some of the even advocate taking Voigtlander lenses out into the field when one does not dare expose one's low-serial-number 'Cron to the elements or potential theft in bad areas.

It can be argued that Yasuhara-san was one of the first to explore the Rangefinder Rennaissance and that got all the Leica buffs up in arms. I'm glad things have calmed down a bit since then. This discussion brought back some of those memories.

No offense to Leica fans is meant - I believe the war ended some time ago, and I have no desire to restart it!

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks
 
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