June 17

I received a new vintage camera today!

The camera is a Yashica 635, a twin-lens reflex camera probably produced some time in the 1960s. I'm incredibly pleased to find it in such wonderful shape and completely functional; once I get my photo workshop out of the way later this month, I'll probably put a roll of film through it to see how the images come out.

The camera is unique in that it's designed to take both 120 film (medium format) and, with an adapter, 35mm film. It's an interesting, if somewhat useless, feature, but the camera did come with the adapter, so I could do it if I wanted to.

What it's missing is a light meter, so I'm going to have to really work on the estimating exposure and Sunny 16 rules to get my shots. Fortunately, modern films are pretty forgiving in that respect. I have two other manual cameras with meters, but without batteries (the mercury cells aren't made anymore, for environmental reasons), so I'm getting better at guesstimating exposures.

I'm pretty excited by my new toy, and only hope I can give it the care and attention it deserves.

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