Yashica-J

I remember my very first camera. It was given to me by my sister Rose. She bought a Minolta and gave me her old Yashica-J in 1963. I used this camera for many years for taking black & white photos and also for colour slides. I did not take many colour slides because the processing fee was very expensive.

This camera has helped me a lot in documenting a greater part of my life from 1963 to 1978. The shuttle speed and apertures need to be set manually by turning some rings around the lens. I used 11 or 16 for outdoor shots and aperture 8 for all indoor photography. The shuttle speed was set permanently at 1/250 second and I seldom changed that unless I changed from using Kodak Tri-X film (high speed) to a slower film. To focus, I look through the small window with one eye and rotate the lens adjustment knob until  two cross hairs merged and the double lines become one line. I seldom used my electronic flash because it was a separate attachment fixed on top of the camera. It was also heavy because of the many batteries inside.