Yashica FR

The story of how I got this camera started a couple of years ago and it is quite funny. In a car-boot sale, I came across two books, a 1828 edition of the second volume of "Don Juan" and a 1906 edition of one of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "Uncle Bernac". Having thought that I stroke gold, I bought them for the grand total of £5 both. Unfortunately, they didn't worth much in the second hand book market and I ended up keeping them since they looked nice on my bookshelf. A few weeks ago, one of my colleagues at work told me that she is collecting old books and I told her that she could have a couple of old books that I have at home. She wanted to pay for them but I told her that I am quite happy to swap them with any old film cameras she might have. She said that she has an old camera from the 80's that she bought in order to take pictures of her honey-moon and that she doesn't need it any more.... So this is how this camera ended up in my hands. Thanks for indulging with me....
So, in the late 1970's the Kyocera boffins had a marvellous idea. After some years of R&D, Contax came up with the RTS, a camera that aimed to win the hard-to-persuade professional photographers over. They didn't quite manage to break Nikon's hegemony but nevertheless the RTS was an excellent camera. The RTS was succeeded by the RTS II and III with further improvements. The RTS concept gave Yashica the chance to implement many of the RTS's features into their camera line called "FR". The FR and FR-1 were Yashica's attempt to lure a big part of the semi-pro consumers from Nikon/Canon/Minolta/Olympus and offer a fantastic camera for the money. Not that they really succeeded in doing so, but still the FRs were cameras worth considering.
So, as I said earlier on, the Yashica FR is the Contax RTS's little sister. Let’s see what it inherits from her. First of all the electromagnetic shutter. Horizontally moving rubberised silk curtains with speeds ranging from 1sec-1/1000. Second the Yashica has also the same mirror box as the RTS. Third, the shutter button is electromagnetically controlled and requires a minimum pressure to trip the shutter. All these came in a metal chassis with both top and bottom plates being metal. The FR will work fine with some of the RTS's accessories such as the infrared remote controls and winder. The Yashica FR carries the Contax-Yashica mount which means that you can mount any Carl Zeiss lens made for the Contaxes. Fit and finish of the camera is excellent, every scale clicks as it should and inspires confidence. In the viewfinder there are indications of speed and aperture. Overall, the initial impressions when you hold this camera is that this was an expensive offer from Yashica back at that time.
Now, what's the catch? It seems that Kyocera, in their attempt to cut down costs, replaced some metal bits and pieces from the RTS with plastic ones in the FR. The most well documented problem with this camera is the non-working frame counter; instead for the good old metal sprocket-wheel to rotate the counter, Kyocera opted for a nylon one which eventually breaks. I am one of the few lucky ones as mine works well. In this page <here> you can find a way to repair it should you need it. Good luck. The other well recorded problem is that the electronics of that period eventually cease to work. Having said that, the FR is not any more prominent in this kind of failure that its bigger sister but I understand that this might be a concern as it will easily render the camera useless. Another well documented problem with the FR's is the fact that at times the needle in the viewfinder that shows the selected aperture might come off and float in the viewfinder. Check <here> on how to repair it.
The ergonomics of this camera are quite good although there is space for improvement. When I first read about the electromagnetic "feather touch" shutter button, my mind went straight to the Olympus XA2 I used to own. Unfortunately in the case of the Olympus, I did not enjoy the button's ergonomics as it tented to trigger the shutter with the slightest pressure on the button. Good news is that the Yashica FR has a very nice and well defined trip distance - you cannot trip the shutter accidentally. It feels more like modern AF cameras; you need a gentle squeeze on the button to start them focusing - similar kind of feeling. Noise and shock levels are kept to a minimum in this camera. It is just as quiet as the most quite of SLR's that I have (the XD7) and with the heavy winder attached there are absolutely no vibrations from the shutter and mirror. Actually, setting the camera at 1/15 feels so smooth, quiet and vibration free that is a pure pleasure to use. Using it on an everyday basis, I think that this camera rivals focal plane rangefinders in terms of noise and vibrations. I am tempted to say that this camera is even quieter and more vibration free than the XD-7. The only black mark against this camera is the metering system. In order to get a meter reading you need to lightly press the button on the back of the camera and not the shutter button - something that goes against all my SLR experience and I find it difficult to get used to. In the viewfinder you have an indication of speeds and apertures but unfortunately to get the meter value is a bit awkward. There are only 3 LEDs, over, under and the correct exposure one but there is no indication as to how over or under you are. You need to keep turning the aperture or shutter speed ring until you get the right value. In order to do so you need to keep the meter button constantly pressed while turning the rings or pull back the film advance level and slide the exposure button to the right which acts like an exposure lock. Kyocera engineers should have thought of this a bit better, it is awkward, impractical, time consuming and seriously affects the cameras' usability. Other than that, everything else feels right; the viewfinder is nice (but nowhere near the magnification of the Pentax MX or the clarity of the X-700). My sample came with the noisy Yashica-winder that adds so much to the weight and mass of the system to the point that I am wondering if I should sell it or not. The overall increase in the camera mass has a positive impact on the way it absorbs the vibrations and it does look neat on the camera though... Anyway, I will decide about the winder's fate in the near future. One last think to mention is the film advance level that requires a 140 degrees stroke to advance the film and cock the shutter. This is a long stroke compared with the XD-7 which needs almost half of it but the action is very smooth and seems to be taking place in two stages - half way through where you feel the resistance of advancing the film and after midway where it suddenly becomes butter smooth until the end of the stroke. It feels like a very good quality advance mechanism and it is quite difficult to describe it exactly - people who own a FR probably know what I am talking about....
Those who like googling around will have probably already come across the "Lab Report" from the 1977, September issue of Popular Photography, where the authors performed a strip down of the camera and described it "as being tougher in some ways than the more expensive Contax RTS, including better sealing against dust and contaminants". I tend to read those lab reports from Popular photography on google books, I somehow trust they know what they are doing.

Yashinon DSB 50 f/1.9 - Oil on the aperture blades - Read this

My sample came with the Yashinon DSB 50 f/1.9 which is of a lesser quality lens compared to the more prestigious ML line but is still a good performer. Just like the other sample of this lens that came with my old Yashica FX-2, this seems to be suffering too from oil on the aperture blades. In the past I did manage to clean my previous sample but I found impossible to unscrew the rear element on this one - this is needed in order to reach the aperture blades. Have a look for a step-by-step guide. So ashamed and defeated I decided to give up. But, as I was putting the lens together, I noticed that the pin that controls the opening and closing of the aperture (back of the lens) was getting stuck on gummy oil on the base of the lens that it rubbed against. So I cleaned it with a cotton bud dipped in Ronsonol and applied fresh grease. Now the lens works smoothly and it does not stick. So before trying to disassemble the lens, have a look if this will fix any problems.

 

Conclusion

So is this the best Yashica SLR ever made? Difficult to say, it is definitely the best Yashica I’ve ever used and it compares very favourably against other high quality SLRs (Pentax MX, Minolta XD-7) that I own. It is certainly extremely well build but it seems that time has not been on the FR's side. The majority of them come nowadays with non-functional frame counters or fried up electronics. My sample suffers from none of them and I paid nothing to get it but most things in life are not for free so if I had to pay for camera + lens + winder, I wouldn't give more than £35 provided that the frame counter works. Not that these are not great cameras - as I said, they really are. The problem is that the £30 to £60 price bracket is probably the most competitive category with a vast variety of SLRs offered from all major camera manufacturers. A bit more than £40 can give you newer cameras, either AF or manual focus that you could potentially build a system around them compatible with both film and digital. If you are really not bothered about it (like me) then go ahead and buy it. For me, this camera is the indisputable "King of the Sub-£35 category".

Lasting Impressions

Another one that had to go while i was experiencing a "downsize crisis". While a very good camera, the light meter switch never won me over. A good camera, i highly recommend it although make sure that the ergonomics suit you.