Yashica TL Electro X

Yashica TL Electro X was introduced in 1968. It was the first camera with electronic lights for exposure information in the viewfinder, and the first with stepless electronic shutter speed control. Black version was also available. This one came to me some day carried by my colleaque. So, my reputation as a camera collector is spreading. WOW !

Yashica TL Electro X is heavy like they used to be at that time and it feels reliable. After a service of thirty years (though modest) it is still in full working condition. I have only one Yashinon lens, (Yashinon-DX, 1,7, f/50 mm) but the common lens mounting, M-42 allows the use of a large amount of "of the brand" lenses.

The Copal Square SE shutter electronically controlled but this doesn't mean that it would be fully automatic.There are two lights (more reliable than the the needle?) in the viewfinder, which indicate over and under exposure, twisting either the aperture ring or shutter speed dial until these go out indicates that the correct exposure has been set. So, the camera should be called as a match light type. The shutter on the Electro X is in fact mechanical but has an electronic timing, this leads to a less noisy shutter at slow speeds and also the shutter operates at any intermediate speed between 2 and 1/1000 sec. giving excellent exposure accuracy. A range of lenses available was from f/21 to f/1000 mm, which proofs, that Kyocera was earnest when introducing this camera. The viewfinder is brighter, than in the predecessors, Yashica TL Electro cameras and it has a central microprism which makes focusing easy. The usual ground glass collar and fresnel are used on outer part of the screen. The meter cells are located on either side of the viewfinder eyepiece and they read the entire area of the focusing screen. The film take up spool is a multi-slot type, which makes film loading easier.