If you are not going to send your camera to a repair shop for CLA any time soon, this is an option. Go search keyword "mercury battery converter MR9" on search engines. Forth option is simply as the technician to adjust your built-in meter in such way that it takes regular alkaline battery 1. This is the route I've taken due to the fact I had to send in my Yashica to a shop anyway. I like built-in meters. I discover that I do need both hand to operate Yashica and don't have extra hand to operate the meter.
It is my personal preference. Then again, I am not a true photo demigod. Good luck. You must log in or sign up to reply here. Show Ignored Content. Share This Page Tweet. Your name or email address: Password: Forgot your password?
Some later cameras seem to have blocks of numbers issued almost randomly. Even if there is consistency, it is not unusual for a later camera to have slightly earlier lens numbers than the cameras immediately before it. Generally, the ranges for taking lenses and viewing lenses are the same and often, particularly with earlier cameras the numbers are in close proximity. To me, there are three issues which contribute to the difficulty with serial numbers.
The most obvious problem is that for a time, Yashica used a system that made sense to it but until now, we didn't have the key to decipher - we could get a picture of the correct order from trim and detail changes but not understand the reasoning.
The second problem is that serial numbers were pre-stamped on peripheral parts that were delivered separately to the production line and presumably there was more than one line.
It's obvious how body numbers, taking lens and viewing lens numbers can easily get out of sequence with each other, if allowed to not generally the case with bodies , which brings us to the third issue - I don't think keeping lens numbers in sequence was a high priority, certainly at certain times of production. Or, at least that is how it has seemed to me for a long time but with some models with really mixed up lens numbers, mainly in the mid's period, it now seems that there may have been up to three different number series being used at the same time.
In the end, the numbers disappeared from first, the viewing lenses and then the taking lenses. As noted above, the early cameras used consecutive number sequences, usually unique but not always. I believe that serial numbers from September to February contain a date code and that I have deciphered that, bit obvious with hindsight really. How simple is that? The step to seeing year and sequence numbers is not great, I have been numbering my digital files since with year, month and 4 digit sequence codes.
The last 4 digits of date coded numbers are, I believe, a sequence number which simply counts monthly production, e. This is how I believe the numbers from to operate but you will have to read the following sections to understand the logic and how to apply that knowledge. The September to December models used 6 digits, 8, 7, 8, 7, 8, 6 and some briefly the Yashica 44LM not so briefly , 9 digits.
Sometimes the combinations were slightly different. At this stage, I think that I understand the patterns and month codes but for the year codes, I will need to make some educated guesses based on observation of a lot of serial numbers.
Until September , each model had a straightforward and mostly unique consecutive number series with the odd jump, up or down, here and there. Back to Other models seemed to change with October, their numbers becoming xxxx, except that there is one early October Yashica A with xxxx and the Yashica LM continued all through October and into November with xxxx numbers before the first xxxx numbers arrived.
As expected from a date code system, the numbers for models using this system top out at xxxx. By this stage, the prefixes are shared with the Yashicaflex A new model. Both are domestic Japanese models and the last of the Yashicaflexes and could have been given their own series for some reason.
The two Yashicaflexes have numbers ranging from xxxx to xxxx. The numbers seem to imply October to December and seem to align with the xxxx to xxxx numbers of other models. Strangely, a Yashicaflex A new model has turned up with a xxxx.
By lens number, it comes before the xxxx numbers suggesting that it might be a September number - perhaps the change from 79xxxx to xxxx numbers happened in the middle of the month. This is much the same as the Yashica-Mat anomaly mentioned above - in that sense it is consistent. Seemingly logical. The next 15 months requires a real leap of faith to believe that there is a date code. So September numbers can be 7 digit numbers xxxx for Yashicas, xxxx for Yashicaflexes or xxxx for either variety.
The new 7 digit numbers only appeared for part of one month and so far I have only found Yashica-Mat, Yashicaflex B and Yashica 44 examples. Logically and in a similar pattern to , the October to December numbers appear to be 8 digit numbers xxxx to xxxx. Then come the familiar 8 digit numbers but only for October, xxxx. Presumably, this is shorthand for Showa 34 by itself. These numbers range from xxxx to xxxx, what I believe to be the typical October to December pattern.
These ranged from 61xxxx to 69xxxx. By their trim, they are undoubtedly cameras. If the January to September numbering system continued on for the rest of the year, you would expect 7 digit numbers xxxx, xxxx and xxxx and this exactly what happened, except that the numbers are now 9 digit with two variable digits in front.
My database has one Yashica A serial number xxxx , one Yashica D serial number xxxx , one Yashica serial number xxxx , four Yashica-Mats all serial numbers xxxx , two Yashica Mat-LMs serial numbers xxxx, mid-way from September already, and xxxx and twenty three Yashica 44LMs serial numbers xxxx to xxxx. This was both a long term system and a short lived interim solution. Effective from 1 January , the 7 digit date and production code introduced in September would remain in use for the the next 20 years but with an alpha code replacing the 2 digit model code.
That leaves the Yashica B and 44A without any examples so far. The Yashica B was a low volume model, possibly offered in limited markets and was likely made in limited batches. Of course, I just may not have found any yet, several models are represented by just one found example so far. The table summarises my analysis of the serial numbers by model from this period but does not include the earlier Yashica and Yashica 44 style consecutive series numbers before they too adopted this system from mid The serial numbers and dates that they represent are numbers that I have found, nothing has been extrapolated.
Any gaps indicate that either I haven't found any examples, or that there wasn't any production of that model in that month. There were a lot of models at the time and there is evidence that at least some of the lower volume cameras were produced in batches. It could be argued that I have simply put the number patterns in an order that fits my theory. As I explain further down, the order of the patterns fell out from placing cameras several thousand into my database based on known factors, lens serial numbers, trim and other variations.
The possible date code link between the patterns came later, in in fact. Alpha prefixed 7 digit serial numbers and also 7 digit Yashica Mat and Yashica MatG numbers note, does not apply to 6 digit prefixed Yashica D Hong Kong production or the last 6 digit Yashica MatG numbers both of which appear to be simply consecutive , appear to incorporate a date code which is a bit more obvious than the preceding period. All the relevant numbers follow the pattern and generally match the release and end dates of a particular model, but there are some date discrepancies which I will discuss later.
Basically, the alpha prefix identifies the model , sometimes obviously and for some models, seemingly chosen at random. The first digit from the left is the year , e. The second and third digits are the month , i. Therefore we can refine the general formula in Decoding Serial Numbers to:. If we accept the commonly quoted 16 year life span of the Yashica MatG and , produced, that is an average production of approximately 2, per month. Not all, perhaps any, models will have achieved similar average rates.
But there are exceptions, the early Yashica Mat-EM reaching over 9, in both its first two months of production of February and March My database has quite a lot of examples from both months but there are no examples from April through to and including August. My interpretation is that Yashica produced an initial stockpile for the model's release in June Similar things have happened on a smaller scale at other times. This numbering system started on 1 January In the first case, there could still be a lot of stock to dispose of.
So, in some cases, there won't be an exact match between the serial number range and the dates of a models life. Also, some dates, particularly end dates may be questionable. Except for serial numbers located inside cameras, Yashica had a habit of sticking them on easily removable components which could either be damaged in a fall or like exposure meters, be susceptible to failure.
How did Yashica deal with the serial number issues? No one really knows apart from the fact that the new items definitely have new serial numbers.
I can think of three possibilities:. You have a camera bought new in Email Address: Follow. Welcome, you are my , Visitor. A new TLR camera and accessories store is just launched. What's'hot dzp-camera-cafe. Follow Following. TLRgraphy Join other followers. Sign me up. Already have a WordPress. Log in now.
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