Yashica Minister D rangefinder

I started this forum for any collecting hobby and it turned into my camera collecting and using forum. I use it mostly to keep a record of my photo adventures. Nobody but me seems to have photo adventures that visit here....but however. I have so many cameras now that I forget which is which and which ones work and which ones don't. If you have cameras and adventures you would be welcome to post here.

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Niner
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Yashica Minister D rangefinder

Post by Niner » Mon Oct 01, 2018 3:14 pm

I noticed this on on Ebay before and it expired before getting any bids. Then I noticed it relisted with a starting bid of $1. A "different" rangefinder. It was introduced in 1963 as the fourth in a series. The others were I,II,III, so when this one came along they thought they would call it the fourth letter of the alphabet rather than IV. It was the first of the line to use a Cds meter rather than the selenium version. The light meter was on one corner of the camera...not TTL. The light meter reads a bit oddly old school, much like the Kodak early light meters. The activated pointer, from a 625 mercury battery originally, after pushing an on button, gave a reading running 3 to 17. On the outside of the lens barrel are matching numbers. You turn that ring until the suggested number is lined up with an arrow. You then can read a shutter and aperture setting linked to the directed rim setting. If you didn't like the combination you turned a middle ring and select an alternative aperture and shutter that would still align with the forecast number that the meter predicted as good. Odd ...but works.

I had a modern 625 battery that had a slightly stronger charge than the old mercury ...but you use what you got. So that's what I used and it turned out better than I would have suspected. I didn't make any ASA change in anticipation of over or under exposure.

The lens is a respectable 2.8. This is a middle line rangefinder for Yashica. The top of the line rangefinder at the time was the Yashica Lynx 14 with a 1.4 lens that was really only equaled in size by Leica. The camera, outside of the meter, is all mechanical. The back opens with an unusual move the button between P-O and press in feature.

I was the only one to bid. $1 plus $13 to ship to me. This kind of camera buying is a pig in a poke thing. Sometimes you get lucky and you get one that works just fine...like this one.
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joseyclosey
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Re: Yashica Minister D rangefinder

Post by joseyclosey » Thu Oct 04, 2018 2:02 pm

I reckon you did well with that purchase Robert, those are nice images from a 50 something year old camera.
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Re: Yashica Minister D rangefinder

Post by Niner » Thu Oct 04, 2018 3:35 pm

Thanks Joe. Old mechanical cameras can work nearly as good as 75 and 100 year old milsurps...and they are a lot cheaper to buy and shoot now days.
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