New vintage toy from the present past – Photo of the Day #23

January 4th, 2010 • photography
Tags: 35mm, camera, cameras, d90, nikon, photo of the day, photography, project 365, project365, rangefinder, slr, yashica

This is my new vintage Yashica Electro 35 GSM 35mm rangefinder camera. It was built circa 1973 and is a testament to the industrial design that was so chic in 1970s Japanese culture. It was one of the first rangefinders available that made use of electronic step-less shutter which was controlled by an electro-magnet. It’s built like a tank and has atrocious ergonomics, which apparently didn’t exist at all until the late 1980s in camera design — my early 1990s Yashica 230-AF displays a dramatic change in body shape, built for hand-holding compared to the Electro 35 GSN.