5 Frames With A Yashica T5 and Ektachrome E100 – By Kevan Wilkinson

One day in October, 2018, I stopped by my local camera store and saw the vibrant blue and yellow Ektachrome E100 35mm film boxes in the large film stock refrigerator. I was like a kid in a candy store, until I saw the handwritten sign that said “limit three rolls per customer.” That said, I purchased three rolls and took them on a weekend getaway to Santa Ynez, California, which is a small and picturesque town located about an hour north of Santa Barbara. I decided to use my Yashica T5 with my three rolls of new Kodachrome E100. 

I like the Yashica T5 for its compact size and razor-sharp Carl Zeiss f/3.5 lens. Based on my experience, the Yashica T5 produces favorable results in virtually any condition. So, I didn’t hesitate to press the shutter button in bright light, low light, and everything in-between. The Yashica T5 lens produces a small amount of vignetting, but it’s an aesthetic look that adds a certain character and quality to pictures. The Yashica T5 is a well-built point-and-shoot camera that is made of sturdy plastic, but it doesn’t look or feel cheap in any way. It’s extremely simple to use. Just load a roll of film and a fresh CR123 battery and you are ready to start taking pictures. The Yashica T5 is lightweight and fits in my pocket. It boots up immediately, so there is virtually no waiting.

Instead of having unrealistic expectations regarding the results, or worrying about what to shoot (and what not to shoot), I just had a fun time and took random pictures of places and things that I thought were interesting and visually compelling. I snapped pictures with my Yashica T5 in small towns in and around Santa Ynez, including Los Alamos, Solvang, and Santa Ynez. When I picked up the film scans from the photography lab I use, I was pleasantly surprised to see the key attributes of Kodak Ektachrome film: vibrant colors, extremely fine grain, and neutral tones, all of which were captured easily by the iconic Yashica T5.

I hope you enjoyed this article and the images.
You can see more of my film photography work on my website.

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