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Created 24 May 2009 ... Updated 24 May 2009



Yashica Samurai X3.0

Yashica Samurai X3.0 Yashica had a fine reputation or building nice little half-frame cameras. Whereas the 1960s versions still very modern "chrome", the 1980s Samurai series were made of heavy-duty plastic and had that typical 1980s look: black, large red or white features and therefore also very modern.

The Samurai X3.0 was the first camera in the samurai series and became highly successful. The camera looks entirely different from any other camera but looks similar to the 1980s handy cams. You hold the camera in one hand (usally the righ hand, unless using the left-handed version of the Samurai X3.0) and are thus able to press the shutter and use the zoom buttons with your finger tips. The left-hand may then be used to control the mode and flash settings. A pretty clever design actually, even though the camera is not very small, especially not for a half-frame camera. The Samurai series moved the film from top to bottom which makes for the more usual landscape format the people are used to.

The Samurai series consist of fully automatic SLRs. The X3.0 has a non-interchangable 25 - 75 mm lens which is sufficient in most cases and makes for an ideal travel camera. The aperture is not bad either and using a "36 exposure" film gives you 72 exposures so no need to carry a lot of film with you and be honest, who really had a lot of large posters made from his travel pictures? So for the average user, half-frame negatives using modern films is a perfect way to save on film cost.

Specifications
Manufacturor  :  Yashica
Model  :  Yashica Samurai X3.0
Type  :  35mm half frame SLR camera
Produced  :  1987
K.D. Müller Reference  : 
Film  :  35mm, 135 Film for 72 photos (Half Frame Format)
Picture size  :  18 x 24 mm
Made in  :  Japan
Quantity Made  : 
Original List Price  : 
Material  :  Heavy duty plastik on the outside
Lens  :  Automatic focusing Yashica Zoom Lens f=25mm - 75mm 1:3.5 - 4.3 Kyocera.
Filter size  :  49 mm
Focusing  :  Auto focus
Focus range  :  80 centimeters - infinity
Viewfinder  :  SLR with a bright finder with adjustable diopter.
Shutter  :  3 - 1/300 sec
Aperture  :  f 3.5 - 4.3 (at the long end)
Self timer  :  yes
Exposure  :  Fully automatic TTL exposure.
In automatic serial exposure mode, up to 5 consecutive exposures are possible.
Some programms such as for back-light are built in making auto exposure accurate most of the time.
Exposure meter  :  internal
Battery  :  2CR5
Flash  :  Built in flash above the lens or through an external flash unit through the hot shoe. However, ths hot shoe looks very unsual, not sure what kind of flash would actually fit.
Flash Contact  :  non-standard hot shoe on top of the camera.
Film Advance  :  Automatic winding motor. Mid-roll rewind available.
Other  :  Date back included, imprints the date up to the year 2020.
A number of accessories such as additional tele- and wide screw-in filters were avaiable.
The buttons came in red, grey or green. Especially red looks soooo 1980s :o)
Dimensions  :  150 x 70 x 125 mm (l x w x h)
Weight  :  ~ 700 gramms
Body serial number  :  331732
Collection status  :  to be sold
Yashica Samurai X3.0

links Internal links
links Yashica X4.0
links The next camera in the Samurai series.


All photos copyright of M. Koning 1997 - 2009

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