5 frames with the Flea Market Find Yashica T2 – By Nico Hilbert

Going through my local flea market, one camera instantly caught my attention. The Yashica T2. With no battery, I wasn’t sure if it was working. However, I negotiated the price down to only 12 euros and bought it. I took the camera home, got a battery, and it worked!

I was looking for a simple point and shoot for a long time. I also needed one with a flash for party photography. Being quite handy, the Yashica perfectly suits my needs. I was tired of always carrying around my big Canon T70 and wanted something smaller. I loaded it up with some Agfa APX100 and started shooting. Getting the focus right can be a bit tricky sometimes. However, with some practice and getting used to the little symbols indicating the focusing distance (portrait, group and scenery), focusing works most of the time. 

The Yashica is equipped with a Carl Zeiss lens, allowing clear shots, but puts the price tag up to 150 euros on ebay which is quite expensive for a simple camera like this. The camera is fully plastic, but feels of high quality anyways. I read a lot about the battery door braking, but mine seems to be fine. Some people complained about the special battery, a 2CR5. I was able to get one in my local photography shop for a reasonable price. It’s still holding up after around 6 or 7 films I shot with it.

I am especially proud of the first photo. Developing without any prior experience wasn’t easy for me. This shot was the first one that turned out great. Great contrast and fine detail. In the background, you can see the Bundestag in Berlin. I developed this shot, like all my others, with the Cinestill D96 Monobath. I had some trouble getting the temperature and agitation right. I found that about 24°C and one rotation every 30 seconds seem fine.

The second shot is also taken in Berlin. I was taking the subway and saw that nobody was at the station. I quickly framed the shot and took the photo as fast as I could, not wanting people to walk by.

The next one shows the main reason for me buying this camera. It shows my roommate playing darts. I like capturing moments like that, without having to focus or caring about the framing too much. After shooting, it takes some time to see the results. It lets you relive nice moments and really appreciate every photo. 

Being new in analog photography, I started doing little walks around my city to take some photos. I saw the reflection of a street corner, which I always wanted to take photos of anyways. The reflection adds a bit of a frame to the photo and lets the street corner stand out.

In the last photo you can see a nice Cadillac I captured while being on holiday on Sylt, Germany. I only took my Yashica T2 with me and got some great results on the island. It showed again that it is a great point and shoot camera!

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