Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

By Hamish Gill

The Yashica Y35 is without doubt one of the most controversial products to have hit the analogue photography community in the last year or so. Of course, it’s not analogue, so why did it hit our community? Why did so many of us got so up in arms about it? And why is it still causing such a fuss? Mainly, I think, it’s because some of us were so profoundly mistaken when we thought it was aimed at us, and even if we didn’t think this, I suspect it might have been because we begrudged who it was aimed at, and indeed the way it was being marketed. I wonder though, just how far up our own arses have we been about it all?

To my mind, the whole story, from the day the Kickstarter campaign launched right the way through to the reviews it’s now getting, has mostly been fairly hilarious. I should caveat this by saying that this is from perspective of someone who understood the way, and to who, it was being marketed. From the perspective of someone inside the analogue photography community, I must admit that there have been moments where I’ve found myself a little irritated, but – perhaps thanks to my aforementioned feeling around it’s target marketing – this has been nowhere near to the extent that I’ve seen in some people. Judging by the strength of some people’s reactions, you would think the Yashica Y35 had committed murder… Of course, to some it did; it murdered (insert dramatic music) the Yashica name!!!

Finding my expectations

When I first saw the Kickstarter, I actually got pretty excited – though the excitement didn’t last! I am a big fan of the concept of the digital camera without a screen. I was lucky enough to spend a couple of weeks shooting the Leica M60, the precursor to the M-D, and loved it. I also used to have an Epson RD-1 with its mechanical shutter cocking lever, and genuinely never felt that it was an odd or out of place feature on that camera. So when I first saw the Y35, I was quite excited that another company – Yashica at that – was to introduce a similar concept. That was until I looked a little closer.

The listed specification, especially around the sensor rung alarm bells with me, and so did the price. I’m pretty certain they increased the size of the sensor since the campaign was initially launched, though not by much. Either way, it was always going to be a tiny-sensor camera. As soon as I realised this, I was knew I was never going to buy one. Quite simply, this combination of the small sensor and screen-less function was one that didn’t sit with me as something I wanted in my life.

YASHICA – digiFilm B&W

The price was the second issue I had. There was no way it was going to be an objectively good camera at the ~£100 price point. It’s not that £100 can’t buy you a good camera, but I felt this price point gave a pretty good idea of the trajectory this camera was headed. It was likely destined to be plastic feeling, and that didn’t appeal to me either.

The uproar

And then of course all the uproar started. We in the film photography community seemed to almost unilaterally lose our shit the moment the Yashica Y35 Kickstarter launched. Perhaps there was an element of disappointment or let down that the return of Yashica wasn’t to be as exciting as it could have been, or maybe we just hated what it seemed to stand for. Either way, it was being reported on film photography websites and podcasts and being discussed on social media and with a great deal of disdain! The Yashica Y35 touched a nerve – in fact it seemed to prod a lot of nerves with something hot and sharp and then pour salt on the wounds.

The branding and market targeting

For a start, how dare this fake film camera take the Yashica name?! Actually, this is the bit that touched a nerve with me a little. The problem is, the use of the Yashica name is so profoundly cynical the mind boggles. You see, the target audience for the Yashica Y35 isn’t really those who will know the Yashica brand. The Yashica name is well know in film photography circles, but it’s not likely to be that well known outside of these circles – not these days.

By using the brand name, this new “Yashica” weren’t targeting the product at us within the film photography community, they were using it to catch the attention of journalists and to give some justification and credibility to the “retro” styling. It was a hook; a brand messaging thing designed to tap into an audience that’s likely much larger than the film photography community!

The Yashica Y35 was of course aimed at – for want of a better description – the “Instagram generation”! Those who’ve seen the likes of Kendall Jenner talking about her Contax T2, those who are more about style, those who like the “retro” thing, those who post endless selfies. Young people, basically, who like stuff that’s a little bit different, a little bit counter-culture, a bit, dare I say “cool”.

“Yashica is back…” the headlines read even before the campaign was launched. The buzz the use of the name caused was huge, at least within the photography press. But all that this buzz needed to create was a bridge from the photographer communities into this world of Instagrammers. These people would read of this old film photography brand coming back with a camera that didn’t let them see their photos until later, one that had these little cartridges that slotted into the back, and needed to be “wound on” after each photo; and they would be enthralled by it!

Moreover, even if they read the comments from whining “real” photographers they wouldn’t understand what they were saying, and even if they did, they wouldn’t care. What they would see was a retro thing with some brand credibility. The use of the Yashica name would build on the perception of this product being cool within these groups of people because it was somehow legitimately retro.

Of course, to us in our elitist film photography echo chamber, all we saw was something we felt that was aimed at us, but at the same time didn’t really make sense as a product we would use. So to start with it made us angry and confused. With a bit of thought applied to it, we then realised this new company was stealing something of ours! They were stealing Yashica! How dare they!?

Cultural misappropriation

Of course, the brand wasn’t the only thing we felt they were stealing. They were also stealing our culture. They were stealing our mindset, they were misappropriating how us film photographers think and feel when we go out and take photos. We take these ideas that we don’t like to see our photos straight after we take them very seriously. We think of ourselves as being good enough at what we do, that we don’t need to chimp every frame. And then of course there are those in the film photography community, especially the younger entrants who’ve come via Lomography, who enjoy a sense of serendipity in their results!

YASHICA – digiFilm B&W

The slogan that Yashica used “expect the unexpected” – as ironic as that turned out to be when you take into account all of those within our community that apparently completely missed the point that this product wasn’t aimed at them – was a stroke of marketing genius. For those outside of film photography and used to shooting with their smart phones, it would no doubt have completely encapsulated some of the core ideas we hold so close to our hearts and explained them in a way that could be easily understood and bought into by a new audience.

Of course to us, it was repackaging our core ideals, and flogged them unceremoniously. The worst of it being, the new audience it was being flogged to was one that us elitist film photographers look down upon – those selfie taking, iPhone snapping, Instagram filter using wannabes…! They aren’t photographers! They don’t deserve the Yashica brand! They don’t get us “real” photographers! Is it any wonder we were so up in arms?!

And then there’s the “The Silence of Story” slogan – “A picture tells a thousand words” rewritten to sound more pretentious. It probably went over the heads of most of the target audience, but that wouldn’t matter – the use of it as the last words in the lead video on the Kickstarter was, again, marketing genius. The video itself showed a young, smoking, cool looking girl taking photos in a bar perfectly illustrating the target market. Ending this with a bit of Japanese voiceover would reinforce the credibility of the brand. Rounding it off with this arty-farty slogan – whether it was understood or not – would tap into the mindset of the Instagrammer who maybe thinks a lot of their creative abilities, and would see this Yashica as something that could make their Instagram photos, and their approach to taking them a little bit more unique.

In fact, to the target audience, all that was being waved under their noses would have seemed slightly mysterious, definitely arty, and so very different to what was already out there. You have to realise, these are the sort of people who use VHS emulating filters on their Instagram videos. These are the sorts of people who want shortcuts to cool-seeming creative ways to portray themselves. The marketing assets, from the video, through to the images and even the (sometimes poorly translated) language used here were all so perfectly constructed for this target audience, that it was cringeworthy!

Actually, to be fair, it was brilliantly executed! If you look at all this from the point of view of a marketer, and not from the point of view of a snobby film photographer, it was an incredibly well targeted and successful product launch. Obviously really, it raised a butt load of cash! Yet so many of us in our little elitist echo chamber couldn’t see it from this point of view, and as I’ve said, if we did, we didn’t half resent it for what it was taking from us!

YASHICA – digiFilm B&W

The Yashica Y35 in the wild

So wasn’t it wonderful when we were proved right and this stupid thing started landing in the hands of those in our community who did back it and, of course, it turned out to be junk?! This crappy little plastic thing would be pulled apart, literally, and found to contain a lump of metal screwed inside to make it feel heavier in the hand. Those who are aware of the “scamera” plastic crap Chinese cameras that also contained a lump of metal would be able to draw the comparison and use it as ammo to point at this piece of shit Yashica! Now we were right, we could completely disown this thing – it was not good enough for us, therefore this so-called camera could rot. Who cares that we’re not the target audience – as long as we were right that it would be technically shit from a photographers point of view, that’s all that mattered!

Despite, or perhaps because of this revelation, our little community still gurgles with hatred toward it – it certainly got a hammering on my Instagram when I posted a picture of it the other day. But is it all that bad really? And how suitable is it for those who it’s really aimed at?

A Yachica Y35 review (sort of)

Of course how good it is, as I’ve alluded, depends on your perspective. The one I have here was sent to me by Alex Yates, who backed it was to see if it would be a functional toy camera along the lines of a Digital Harinezumi – which he’d loved but broke by dropping from a great height. Alex is a fairly open minded guy in my experience, he’s someone who shoots film and digital, and in his words thinks “the media matters less than the image”. Unfortunately it wasn’t what he expected to be so he sent it to me without any desire for it to be returned.

Now I’ve got it, do you want to know how bad it is from the point of view of a “serious” photographer? Well, let this serious photographer tell you this: As a serious photographer with a penchant for Leica and Nikon and other hoity-toity camera brands – surprise! It’s a load of shit!

It’s plastic, it feels crappy, the inclusion of the rewind crank as nothing more than a shaped plastic bulge is daft. The shutter cocking lever feels awful, the viewfinder is about as low quality an experience as you could possibly imagine – it’s basically just a plastic window. And then there’s the action of taking a photo. The shutter button has a very long throw with last little click of it being the shutter release. Once pressed, you have to hold still until a red “ready” light on the back of the camera turns purple and it makes a shitty electronic shutter sound, and once it does, you have to wait until it goes back to red before you move else you risk getting a blurry photo. A device for capturing the “decisive moment” is certainly not what you’ll find in the Yashica Y35!

Image quality

Of course, image quality is not what you might expect out of any half-decent “real” camera either… let me rephrase that. The image quality is shit! But I’m not going to dwell on that, for one, Alan Duncan, who reviewed the Yashica y35 here on 35mmc, has gone to great pains to demonstrate where in the hierarchy of cameras this thing sits – the précis version being that it’s better than most toy cameras, but not as good as some very budget digital cameras. I can tell you for free, the relatively huge power of the camera in my iPhone X completely walks all over it! Surprised? You really shouldn’t be!

Suitability for its target audience

That said, I don’t think much of this really matters much. If you’re a photographer looking for a serious tool, let’s face it, you’ll have ruled the Yashica Y35 out a long time ago! My reviewing it as a serious photographic tool is therefore fairly moot. The only real question is whether or not it’s suitable for its target audience. As such, the question is, if I were a cool young thing looking for something to capture something of my cool young existence in a fairly unique way, would this thing work for me?

The answer is probably yes. Once the shortfalls around the shutter lag are acknowledged, it does indeed provide a fairly unique, and dare I suggest possibly even “fun” way to take photos. As it was designed to do so, it even encourages some of the ideals that we in the film photography community often rant and rave about being what draw us to it – that’s right, it does quite successfully steal from the way we film photographer think in the way it works!

YASHICA – digiFilm B&W

For a start, it makes the user think ahead. Since changing the way the photo will look requires changing the little cartridge you slot in the back, the user is encouraged to have forethought and develop at least some level of a pre-visualisation technique. An understanding of which cartridge is most appropriate for the subject matter or shooting conditions would need to be learned to get the desired end result too.

It also slows the user down! That’s an ideal we espouse, right? You can’t take 10 shots a second like you can by furiously tapping the screen of your smartphone, so a little more consideration needs to be applied. Its slowness of function applies limitations that are not likely to have been experienced by its target audience in any other camera. In the same way as we film photographers thrive on the limitations our kit imposed on us, these Instagrammers might thrive on the slightly weird (by our standards) limitations this thing imposes too.

Good or bad, the aesthetic of the results from this thing are going to be different too. Again, aesthetic is something we talk about as striving for in the film photography community. Presenting our work with a different look to it is part of our commonly held motivations for shooting film. We like the images that we share to have a slightly different look to them, something about the aesthetic that’s different to digital, that somehow makes our images more unique, more arty, even… I hope you get the point here, I’m trying to draw parallels between us film photographers and the mentality of these instagrammers. Are we really that different to them…?

Of course, I might be wrong, I might just be projecting some of my own ideals on to these Instagrammers in some slim hope that I might at least understand a small percentage of their mindset. But if I am right – and I might be giving it too much credit here – if it does inspire some of these feelings in its target audience, then it might even act as a steppingstone to a real film camera for these people. It might encourage some of them into our little community, and that certainly wouldn’t be a bad thing!

YASHICA – digiFilm B&W

So does any of this make me think it’s a good thing that this “camera” exists? Well, I must admit, perhaps through channeling my inner Instagrammer and combining it with my enjoyment of limitations, I have to say I did enjoy shooting some of the slightly (very!) crappy photos I took with it. Is it a serious photographic tool, for slowing the user down, encouraging a different approach to photography, for taking images with a unique aesthetic? Yes, it’s all of those things to the right audience! Exactly as it was designed to be!

Am I the Yashica Y35 audience? No, I don’t think so! I’ll stick to my hoity-toity Leica thank you very much…
Oh, and at $240/£190, they must be fucking kidding! Wait, how much did my Leica cost me again…??

Want this camera? Alex doesn’t want it, I don’t either – if you do, leave a comment. The comment that makes me and Alex laugh the most gets the camera! 

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About The Author

By Hamish Gill
I started taking photos at the age of 9. Since then I've taken photos for a hobby, sold cameras for a living, and for a little more than decade I've been a professional photographer and, of course, weekly contributor to 35mmc.
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Tim Denning on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 07/01/2019

Of course, to really get the feel of engagement that we analogue mortals feast on the image should be recorded on obsolete floppy disk media in a format unreadable by modern technology so that we need to buy a special ‘digiscanner’ to read the data as a raw file. - Tim - [email protected]
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Brian replied:

Comment posted: 07/01/2019

I've done that. The digital image was recorded on 7-track tape, bit errors made it unreadable. So we photographed the magnetic spots on the tape and corrected the error in the Inter-Record-Gap by reading the tape backwards. I have 3.5" and 5.25" floppy drives- with images stored on both formats. Also keep a SCSI card going for the Kodak DCS200. It still works, after more than 25 years. I would not buy this camera. Cell Phone camera hacked to look like film. Get a digital Minox instead.

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Olie on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 07/01/2019

Instagrammer: *Buys Yashica Y35*
Leica Owner: *Scoffs* How can you buy something that ruins the brand name!?... You cant take a good photo with that!... Even my uncoated elmar is better!... how dare you portray photography in that way!?!?...
Instagrammer: *Takes a better composed, more thoughtful, interesting and better executed photo*
Leica owner: *Faints*
Instagram: *Compresses photo anyway*
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Alan Duncan on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 07/01/2019

First a Halina now a Y35. Are you sure there’s not a lo-fi photographer in you Hamish ? ;-)

You kinda hit the nail on the head here about expectations. The spec was very clear (bar the confusing suggestion you could control shutter speed- rightly impossible and later removed) but folks still expected something like an Electro 35 but with a digital sensor. Was never gonna happen for the money. I recently test grouped it

https://austerityphoto.co.uk/is-the-yashica-y35-really-that-awful-part-2-2/

And yup it out performs toy cameras and vivitar vivicams but equates to a budget smartphone (£100) or an older named make compact. But there is an aesthetic to it and there is some skill needed as you outline (also worth remembering the shutter doesn’t fire on depress or even when the fake shutter noise kicks in - you kinda need to keep still until the LED goes red again).

It’s over priced (esp at current retail price of £180) shoddy (my one works but EXIF is useless as all shots seem to have a 1sec shutter). But it is quite nice to shoot slowly with a digital (no bracket bursts) or without the hand holding of a LCD
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Faraz on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 07/01/2019

i don't think you're connecting with the Story of Silence on this review. Dig deeper and find some love for the true analogue experience of our time embodied through a legacy of engineering and brought forth with characteristic boldness of Yashica in this finely crafted, though admittedly largely plastic, camera. I say wait upon the purple light and deny the ingrained habituation to be satisfied in an instant, know that motion blur is poetry...and poetry is art and that is the Y35.

Your review has opened my eyes, I have no more need for the M6 or F3 or similarly superbly engineered junk. It's the Yashica that captures the blur of life reflecting all of its emptiness with it's hollow shell with bits stuck on that will give me the hipster vibe I'm so desperately seeking.

btw. how can I upload shots to IG on it? Does it have WiFi?
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Dave Walker on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 07/01/2019

I was going to day it might be fun for kids... but you've met my kids and even those crazy monsters deserve a camera that takes better photos than this one :o)
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Oliver Clarke on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 07/01/2019

I don't know what everybody is complaining about. This looks like the ideal tool for my new Instagram project: @avocadotoastaroundtheworld ...
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Robert on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 07/01/2019

Long story short it's The Crying Game of photography and fair play for picking one up in the first place!
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Gordon Palmer on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 07/01/2019

Hamish spot on! But I think you flatter it by covering it in a camera forum - The reality of the product - minimum viable specs, an alleged cctv grade sensor, fake knobs and dials, easily breakable shutter release and 'advance', naked AA battery inserts, drop-in (and out) 'cartridges' etc etc and etc - Indicates it'd have been better sold and reviewed by Toys r Us (if it still existed).

Must admit, when the kickstarter first came out I was intrigued/excited by the idea of it all - I love my Electros, and a reinvented classic on the market was very exciting (even w a small sensor - Hey, our phones have small sensors and they're capable - or so went the argument...) - Of course it was only much much later, when deliveries started that we realised they'd ripped the clothes off of Yashica's corpse, to dress a rag-doll as the second coming - It's as much a true Yashica (they're both branded as such., and are both cameras) as I'm Ansel Adams (We both have cameras, and both take photos of landscapes).
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Andrew Li on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 07/01/2019

why did you waste 2 perfectly good Duracell (tm) AA on this?

I don't want this; I just want to be snarky.
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Dale Willetts on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 07/01/2019

I can't agree more. Oh and I DON'T want it....... But Graeme at sunny16podcast really REALLY DOES ????
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Nigel Haycock on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 07/01/2019

Thanks Hamish for this considered view. I was one of the people who offered up money for this camera. I didn't have great expectations just thought that if it were what they said; it might be fun to play with occasionally and if it were terrible then I would probably sell it into what would undoubtedly become a cult market.Either way I saw it as an interesting diversion not as replacing my existing film or digital camera experience.
I think this camera is pretty much what people should have expected and apart from the poor quality control and the poor communication relating the project delays it's adequate.
I agree with you that many in this community were eager to bestow some Yashica grandeur upon it but as you say the name is just marketing and like most other defunct brand names, they never really come back, they only get re-used to satisfy some marketing niche.
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Jano on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 07/01/2019

This is really not funny :D

You know, If you shoot a Y35, am scared of toasters.
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Hari on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 07/01/2019

Yashica Y35: dis I spell it Yashica YES?
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Jake Key on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 07/01/2019

The moment you take the canister down the local lab and you hand it to them and they look at you in utter confusion trying to work out if it's some time of cyborg APS style canister! And you just calmly say back.. it's film.. BUT FROM THE FUTURE!!
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Jennifer Vinh on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 08/01/2019

what even is a ya-shit-ca digimon
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Jordi Deza on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 08/01/2019

I guess it doesn't have an USB port, right? ????
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Mick Read on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 08/01/2019

It should be renamed the Yashocker Why 35.
Still, I suppose somebody, somewhere likes it. Back to "real " 35mm for me.
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Gordon on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 08/01/2019

If I dropped it would I break my toe?
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Daniel Kastner on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 08/01/2019

Why35 tho? I still want one since I shoot on trashy digital and film cameras anyway.
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Peter Gardner on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 08/01/2019

When society falls, and there are only remembrances of what art and photography used to be, it'll be a shame you can't even use this as a blunt tool to kill your enemies as it's so poorly made it won't even draw blood on impact.
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Steve Smith on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 08/01/2019

The moral of the story is don’t exploit the desires of the film photography community to generate a successful Kickstarter campaign only to deliver an unloved piece of plastic toot. In unrelated news, looking forward to receiving the Pixl-latr!
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Sai Krishna Koppolu on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 08/01/2019

Is it a ragefinder?
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Gavin Bain on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 08/01/2019

One of these things is not like the other...
But seriously I kind if want one
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Alistair Murray on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 08/01/2019

Pah!

This review is meaningless without 100% crops, and graphs, *lots* of graphs!

:p
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Konstantina on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 08/01/2019

Need if for my dog Choco
Check out my Instagram profile:
konstantina_tza
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Mike Barnes on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 08/01/2019

I've figured out the problem Hamish, yours is a fake, it has the same serial number as the one Petapixel tore apart: https://petapixel.com/2018/10/22/a-review-and-teardown-of-the-st-yashica-y35-camera/, yours is obviously just a low quality facsimile of that one, I'm sure a genuine one would be much better.
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D Evan Bedford on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 08/01/2019

The perfect camera for the Trump era: a package full of lies.
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Michael Laptev on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 08/01/2019

Winning this masterpiece of modern technology would be the perfect chance to let it compete against my old Sony Cybershot U.
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Kodachromeguy on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 08/01/2019

Hamish, if you think film photographers were agitated by this new Yashica, the "photographers" and "experts" at Dpreview had absolute paroxysms of scorn and revulsion towards it.
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Matthew on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 08/01/2019

Shoot fake film, camera stays broke.
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John Murch on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 08/01/2019

Instagram hero photo scenario: IG live video of the Y35 kickstarter scammers (errr...founders) standing on the precipice of a mountain cliff, with a huge landscape backdrop taking selfies with it whilst slowly inching closer to the cliff edge to get the greatest IG selfie shot of all time before a big wind gust comes up and the inevitable happens. So, for any doubters that there is a use for this plastic piece of crap, put all those doubts to rest in peace...
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Justin Soto on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 08/01/2019

They should have named it the Yashica garbage fire.
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David Overton on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 08/01/2019

A photographer goes into a camera shop and asks: "Can I get a lens-cap for my Leica?" To which the clerk replies: "Sounds like a good trade to me."
Do I win?

Excellent article, Hamish. It's good to look at things like this from a different perspective. It's too bad this camera wasn't built with higher quality, but at least it got built, unlike some Kickstarters.
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Matt Byrne on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 08/01/2019

The weight of expectation was actually less than the weight inside for ballast.
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Muhamad Haiz Shamsudin on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 08/01/2019

I was pointing the Y35 and talking to a friend about how great it is, and he told me, "Bro, shutter fuck up." That's when I snapped.
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Marco Fava on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 08/01/2019

Hello, I am Marco
I suffer from GAS (gear acquisition syndrome).
I need a cure.
Send me this camera. It might help.
Thanks
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Dyllan Balm on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 08/01/2019

This would be prefect for my 3 year old cousin who loves the sounds and feel of analogue cameras but doesn’t understand limited exposures and wants to see the photos as soon as he can, actually my girlfriend would probably love to wear it like it’s an accessory her outfit
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rich on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 08/01/2019

I would rather shave my own testicles in the 3rd isle of Tesco's than use this monstrosity of a camera .... Bag of shite!
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carlosgrphoto on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 08/01/2019

Is hated by everyone annoying but innofensive, the "skeletor" of the camera world.
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Howard Maryon-Davis on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 08/01/2019

When you want the coolness of looking like a film photographer, but can’t kick the Photoshop habit.......
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Allan Baldago on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 08/01/2019

This camera will make America great. Again. ????????☝????????????☝????????????☝????
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Mike Caputo on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 08/01/2019

LOL I thought it was a film camera. I’d rather win a cucumber! And I’m not trying to be funny to win. Don’t send me that thing haha.
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André Gonçalves on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 08/01/2019

I swear this is nicolas cage of digital photography... And I god damn love it
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jacopomelani on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 08/01/2019

I think you are missing the point here
What's the utility of an analouge camera if you can't use it as a weapon ? Pathetic.
I bet any old bulky soviet camera would crush taht yashica in a second.
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Ken Hindle-May on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 08/01/2019

I still think the idea itself - of a faux film camera with different presets and no chimping - is a good one, especially when paired with the market they were aiming at. The fact that it so quickly and easily found an audience and got funded speaks to that. As it wasn't that expensive, I gave thought to backing it but stopped when I saw the sensor size. The example photos had clearly been taken on something very much like a full frame SLR and the suggestion that the makers might be trying to mislead was enough to keep my credit card in my pocket. I decided I'd wait and see what it was like.

So unlike a lot of film photographers, I wanted to like this camera. I'm a big fan of the Yashica brand but I'm not sure it means a great deal in itself after the Kyocera acquisition. Sadly though, despite feeling positive towards the idea of the Y35 the execution was clearly poor. Horrendous build quality issues and bugs abound, things that really shouldn't be anywhere near a finished product in this day and age. I'm not too bothered about it being plastic and weighted down. There's a strange kind of snobbery by photographers toward the use of plastic, even when plastic is an entirely appropriate material to use. Just because something is metal does not mean its inherently better - I remember people saying others were wasting their money on the Leica Z2X because the Minizoom had the same internals in a metal chassis and would be far more durable. Fast forward 20 years and Z2Xs actually seem to be faring better, thanks to tight construction and being made from a more naturally forgiving material. It's like all those photographers who wouldn't be seen dead with a plastic mount. There's little realistic chance of it ever being an issue, but by doing it they can say "I need metal mounts because I am a Serious Photographer."

Anyway, I digress. I think it's a shame the Y35 has been a disappointment, but I thought Alan's review of it was very even handed. This is still a camera you can enjoy shooting, provided you're aware of its (many) limitations. I've even thought about picking up a second hand one, but the chances of getting one that actually works seems remote.
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JamesW on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 08/01/2019

If I 'wannabee' a photographer, do I use a 'wannabee' camera? If I am at the moment a lousy photographer, will this make me a better photographer? Hey, I can always blame the camera.....!
Ta 4 the review, at least your review is based on actual experience.
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Jim on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 08/01/2019

They should have built in the required "thunk" when winding, and if it doesn't "thunk" they should include a little repair kit that includes a little fake "pad-o-death" that the user can replace!
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Jonathan on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 08/01/2019

*sees Yashica Y35*

"What a total waste of camera tech and money!!"

*Goes and compresses medium format scans to fit a 3" tiny iPhone screen*
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Aaron Ramirez on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 08/01/2019

You're not giving it enough credit. Zero. Zero is a value.
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Beau Austin on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 08/01/2019

(Imaginary) Yashicas y35: “hi guys! Glad to join the party!

Yashica electro 35: “hmmm you look familiar, but somethings off”

Yashica mg-1: “ so bro, your asa limits... 400, 800, 1600? What’s the story?”

(Imaginary) Yashica y35: “huh? I have digifilm!”

Yashica t4: “ soooo you look like them but try to act like me?”

Yashica mat 124: “ now now children don’t get your levers all jammed up”

My wife: “who are you talking too? What the fuck are you doing with all those cameras on the ground & why aren’t you working? It’s 2pm on a Tuesday and your in a robe playing the brave little toaster with your stupid cameras?!”

Me: “ummm I’m trying to make this guy I don’t know laugh to get a free shitty camera I’ve been curious abou... never mind I’ll go uber...”
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jeremy north on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 08/01/2019

You think I'd want a camera like this?
As soon as I heard about it I
Said to myself, I'd
Hate to have a camera like this.
Instead, I thought, I'd prefer
Contax anything.
A Contax iia preferably with...

You guessed it!
35mmc's favourite
50mm Sonnar.
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Oscar on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 08/01/2019

Plz gibs to me. I want compare to digi film. Thanks.
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david hill on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 08/01/2019

Ok, ok, its a load of shite. I get that. But the photos you illustrated .. are, um .. actually quite good. I mean, I ain't pixel peeking, I'm just lookin' at my screen, but they ain't half bad. Just sayin'.
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Joe Van Cleave on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 08/01/2019

Actually, this reminds me of the Fisher-Price Pixelvision camcorder that came out in the late 1980s. It used a 90 minute CrO2 compact audio tape to record 5 minutes of monochrome video with sound. It too had scorn heaped upon it by the hobbyist wanna-be video shooters of the era, with their hifalutin tape-based camcorders. And then some artists discovered the 15 FPS, 90x120 resolution dreamy black and white video had some merits to it and produced some interesting work. Now you'd be hard pressed to buy one off eBay for many hundreds of dollars.

The thing about imposing technical limitations upon a creative endeavor is it usually spurs more creative results. I'd like to see someone do some good work with this one.
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Hamish Gill replied:

Comment posted: 08/01/2019

Wise words

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jacopomelani on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 08/01/2019

I think you are misisng the point.
What’s the utility of having an analogue camera if you can’t use it as a weapon ? Pathetic.
I bet any old soviet bulky camera would crush that yashica in just a second
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Leo Vega on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 09/01/2019

"Yashica Y (why)?"
Maybe putting an outdated full frame sensor inside it then not much people would complain, but to add crappy specs and quality compared to what you can buy in stores and at thrift shops.
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Theo on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 10/01/2019

The film broke my scanner.....
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Barry Reid on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 10/01/2019

I'm pretty agnostic about this camera it looks like a fun toy and priced about right. However, the idea that the Y35 is a stain on the name of Yashica, referenced in your article, strikes me as weird. Don't get me wrong, I love the brand for it's quirks and have owned and used a lot (e.g. all the ML 50's from f2-1.2) - and still have a 124G, half frame adapted FX-3 and the superb ML 50mm f/2.

The reality is that Yashica was consistently at the top level on quality or performance. There were notable exceptions of course, like the T4 and a handful of very, very good ML lenses. But some of the good rep comes from the value proposition the cost of an ML lens vs a Contax one is sometimes more significant than the quality differential... The 124G is a great value intro to the TLR... The Electro 35 rangefinders are better value than a Olympus 35SP...

On that basis could something like the Y35 be said to fit the Yashica legacy quite well?
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Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 10/01/2019

I'm so F***ing glad i backed out of this KS.
They played everyone like fools; They bagged 1.3 Million Dollars?!
In return they gave everyone a free focusing Samsung Galaxy S1.
That's DAYLIGHT ROBBERY if i've ever witnessed it!

Literally go on their website and read the "Silence of story"
THE ABSOLUTE CHEEK OF IT is Leica Level Pretentious.
If you plan to sell as if you're premium, ACT PREMIUM not this rubbish!

Don't start writing poetry as if you're one of Leica representative BSs themselves through a 2 minute video about why they love Leica so damn much all of a sudden (not going to lie, I was also like that when i got my M6.)
Then SAY some real grade a nonsense like "the Leica SL is the only camera shoot with because they pickout all the best bits that create the most fine details in my photography. It's so well built that it pulls out the microsharpness and contrast out of my images that I wouldn't normally get from other cameras" or whatever bs they say... Looking at you Greg Williams & Mary McCartney! You're great togs but just don't okay.

Seriously though, Yashica 2.0 were so inconsistent, caught out on the comment section, using phrases like "this image is only for reference" which was a MAJOR red flag for me as a kickstarter backer and most importantly, No initial prototype and when they did show one it was very much a disappointment that i instantly backed out.

I genuinely, wanted to believe in this camera and see it make a difference in the community... well it has.
I just wonder why kind of images it can produce in some good hands.
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Thorne Stopps on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 13/01/2019

The Yashica Y35, for when the shop runs out of single use cameras.
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Fabrice on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 02/04/2019

Please do not give me this camera, *unless* if you want me to make a very slow motion video of it exploding :)
Might be beautiful, after all, it's meant as an accessory for poseurs, so it's a photographic camera that's not meant to take photos (like the empty plastic TVs in IKEA showrooms?) - just to look like something evocative
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The Most Read and Commented upon Posts Published on 35mmc in 2019 - 35mmc on Yashica Y35 Review – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!?

Comment posted: 31/12/2019

[…] The Yashica Y35 – it’s not for us hoity-toity elitist film photographers, you know!? […]
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