[davidmanze]

Hi guys,
            

    The subject of the new digital kick-starter project .....the Yashica Y35.......... with it's 135 style film cassettes (kit price $150) came up here on the forum during a spate of similar kick-start products. 
  After achieving their financial target there was a delay that lead to many doubting it's actual arrival..........
                    ......finally it arrived.......in all it's glory..........unfortunately!
  
        ......I don't recommend watching the entire video........a minute here or there will put you firmly in the picture......
 
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvgDtEOzdVU

  A sad ending to the company Yashica who prided themselves on excellent cameras and lenses  .......................

   .........finally years later the company (in name only) finishes up by treating their customers to a scam product..........

   .......is it a scam? ......that depends on your definition.....legally probably not........
 
   ....So let's call it a morality scam!

   .......any beneficial associations with the Yashica name..........have now been destroyed completely.....

              
Apparently the rights to Yashica including the name were sold to...............
   
        JNC Datum Tech International in 2008........

[Brightcolours]

Yashica died more than a decade ago (2005). I think that destroyed the brand name already?

The only successful brand name resurrection I can think of is the resurrection of Bugatti.

[wim]

Yashica died more than a decade ago (2005).  I think that destroyed the brand name already?

The only successful brand name resurrection I can think of is the resurrection of Bugatti.

Triumph (motorbikes) comes to mind too.

Kind regards, Wim

[davidmanze]

Personally, I think a brand name never dies.........it continues on in the minds of those who have had contact with the products.......

It was no sort of co-incidence that the camera used the name Yashica ....far from it! ..with it's old range-finder look is testimony to the brands value even today..........

......the marketing played heavily on the legacy aspect supposedly "blending" the old with the new......

....unfortunately many got sucked in and got sold a heap of proverbial pooh.......and looking at the reactions of the camera buyers.......

...they weren't in the least bit happy about it!

[Klaus]

The brand that I was most sad about when it died was Contax. Yashica ... who cares ... except that the made the Contax cameras, of course.
I still miss the N1 ... carried it up the Kilimanjaro ...

Just look at it ... what a beauty ...
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/~8AAAOSwi1pbp6En/s-l1600.jpg

*sigh*

[borisbg]

I don't understand how people fall for this concepts. Just one example: why pay and wait for something that no one knows how it will turn out? Similar product from Fuji has been around for some time now.

[you2]

Contax had some really unique ideas and high quality. Sadly they jumped into the digital age a wee bit too early. Yashica made some great lenses for contax cameras and that was pretty much the last decent thing they made (though they did provide some cheap cameras that were compatible with various brand lenses (om, contax, nikon, ...). Sort of like an adapter with a film box

[toni-a]

Contax brand name should be quite appealing for an investor wanting to jump into camera business, Yashica was it isn't anymore, you think Leica cameras would sell so good and at those prices if they didn't have the brand name Leica on them ??
would they have sold a single unit if it didn't have the brand name Yashica on it ??

[davidmanze]

Yashica made some very fine cameras......what's more they were well engineered mechanically......

....their twins lens reflex's were particularly good..........and they are still out there today........most of all they were affordable.....

.....a quick glance on ebay reveals many of their TLRs.......pretty much at all prices........many bargains!

That Contax looks great......it was an era that I no longer followed the photo scene.........I knew nothing about the film era AF for instance.

Contax was simply out of my price range as it was out of many people's......I remember gazing at the ads!

[davidmanze]

Follow up to the review of the Y35...............disassembly!..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDDCCRA2kM4 .....the same bloggers do a strip down of the camera...........

.........what they find is one board complete with a tiny sensor sensor-ed minicam.................the lens front element is just fake plain glass......

........nearly all is the cheapest plastic............and they put two metal slabs of steel inside to make a fake quality weighty feel!

Probably not worth viewing but somehow I couldn't resist watching.........these two guys are obviously Yashica fan boys as they seem to have many of their cameras.......TLRs etc.

............IMHO they did well to expose this "swindle" for what it was!