Yashica FX-2

Ahh.. what a beautifully made all manual SLR from Yashica. Everything made out of metal and glass, the Yashica FX-2 feels like a robust piece of machine. Heavy and - I dare to say - elegant, this is a quality offer from the early-mid seventies, a camera that was (IMO) just as good as its bigger sister's siblings (Contax) in the advanced consumer market of that time. Yashica sold a bucketful of these and the FX series continued with the FX-3, FX-3 super, FX-7, FX-8, FX-103 and FX-D. The FX line was the lower grade cameras while the FR was more aimed towards the enthusiastic amateurs. If you wanted more than that, then you had to consider the Contax line of cameras. But as i said, despite being a lower grade camera, this is a fantastic offer. Fit and finish is of high standards and the viewfinder is in par with other cameras of that era. It carries the Y/C lens mount which means that every Carl Zeiss lens from Contax could mount and work perfectly well with this camera as well. The Yashinon lenses are quite good ones, my 50 f/1.7 was a capable performer past f/4 but nothing special really. One thing to be mindful of is possible oil on the aperture blades - it is very common, mine had it but it was easy to remove the elements and clean it.

So, a fantastic camera with lunch money - what's the catch? Unfortunately it is not all good news and my sample failed to live up to my initial excitement. That is for two reasons. First of all, the light meter is dead. Yeap, you guessed it right, the previous owner left the batteries in for more than 30 years which meant that all cables were completely corroded. But still - you might think rightly - the shutter is purely mechanical and does not require batteries to operate. Well you are right but you need to be aware of something when you buy those cameras. It is well recorded on the internet (and there is a video on youtube) that on certain speeds - most commonly on 1/60 - the mirror remains up and requires a second stroke for the rear shutter curtain to engage it again. In my case it is the 1/60 but I've heard that it could appear on other speeds too. For some reason, when i select 1/60, i can hear the slow speed mechanism being engaged. Not so sure what is going on but it is something that you definitely need to be aware of when you're shopping around for one of these. Please, don't confuse this problem with the case of the mirror dumper being deteriorated which causes the mirror to get stuck. In this case you can remove the bumper and clean the mirror with Ronsonol and it is as good as new. I am talking about a fault with the shutter mechanism. Apparently this problem was also evident on the FX-7 and FX-3 but it tends to be more prominent with the FX-2.

I shot only one film with it and the results were quite nice actually. Still, i cannot say that that was enough to light my spark and begin to like the FX-2. I noticed myself grabbing more and more other cameras from my wardrobe which was such as same because I really liked this camera when i first picked it up. But the more I use smaller cameras like the Minolta XD-7 the more i find it difficult to switch back to all manual - full sized SLRs like the FX-2. Eventually I took the decision to sell it.

 

Conclusion

So, another camera that found it's way to ebay for spare parts or repair. For some people out there, this might be a great camera to own and use should you find one in good working order. Apparently Yashica sold loads and loads of these so you should be able to find one in good condition. My personal advice would be: If you are a dedicated Yashica-person, keep an eye for a later FX-D as it seems that they are the more reliable ones or maybe the FR-I which appears to be an excellent camera and tends to sell for a bit more money.