C41
Kodak Portra 400
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
View profile →rangefinder-35mm
The Yashica Electro 35 (1966) is the original model in Yashica's long-running Electro series, and one of the first production cameras to implement fully automatic, electronically-timed aperture-priority exposure in a fixed-lens rangefinder at a mass-market price. The camera carries a Color-Yashinon 45mm f/1.7 lens — fast by any standard of its era — coupled to a Copal SVE-type leaf shutter whose exposure duration is governed entirely by the on-board electronics once the user selects an aperture. Two indicator arrows in the viewfinder warn of over- or underexposure; otherwise the camera handles timing without intervention.
Reference
Recommended film stocks for the 35mm format your camera takes.
C41
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
View profile →BW
Ilford HP5 Plus is a flexible ISO 400 black-and-white film with classic grain and strong push-processing tolerance.
View profile →BW
Kodak Tri-X 400 is a classic black-and-white film known for strong tonality, visible grain, and documentary character.
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Labs in our directory that process 35mm film.
Before you buy used
About this camera
The founding aperture-priority rangefinder: 1966, f/1.7 Color-Yashinon, electronic leaf shutter that redefined affordable automation.
| Field | Value |
|---|
| Format | 35mm |
| Lens | Color-Yashinon 45mm f/1.7 |
| Shutter | ~1/500s – ~30s, electronic leaf shutter |
| Flash sync | 1/500s (all leaf-shutter speeds) |
| Meter | CdS coupled |
| Modes | Aperture-priority AE |
| ISO | 25–400 |
| Battery | PX-32 6V mercury (obsolete) |
| Weight | ~770 g |
Yashica announced the Electro 35 in 1966, positioning it against the Canon Canonet and Minolta Hi-Matic lines that were similarly targeting the sophisticated amateur market. Where contemporaries often relied on selenium meters or simpler shutter-priority automation, the Electro 35 implemented aperture-priority through an electronic timing circuit — an approach that gave photographers direct control over depth of field while surrendering shutter-speed decisions to the camera.
The model designation "Electro" referred to the electronic shutter control, a feature Yashica stressed in advertisements of the period. The 1968 Electro 35 G replaced it with a slightly revised body — trimming weight, refining the pad-of-death damper configuration, and standardizing the battery to a cluster of smaller cells — while preserving the same optical and electronic principles.
The original Electro 35 established the template for an entire line and contributed to normalizing aperture-priority automation as an enthusiast-grade feature rather than a professional luxury. The Color-Yashinon 45mm f/1.7 rendered comparably to contemporaneous Canonet and Hi-Matic optics, with rendering characteristics — moderate contrast, smooth out-of-focus rendering — that were consistent with the premium-consumer expectations of the mid-1960s.
For collectors, the original model carries a founding-variant premium relative to the more abundant GSN and GTN. Its operational challenges — the PX-32 battery, the heavy body, the earliest generation of the pad-of-death foam — make it a more demanding user camera than the later variants. As a display or collection object, it represents the moment Yashica committed to the Electro identity that would carry the company through the following decade.
Fixed Color-Yashinon 45mm f/1.7; not interchangeable. Cold shoe (no hot shoe). Standard PC-sync port. External close-up lenses were marketed by Yashica for macro work; thread size varies by variant.
C41
Kodak Portra 160 is a professional C-41 color negative film with fine grain, soft contrast, and natural color.
View profile →C41
Kodak Gold 200 is a daylight-balanced C-41 color negative film with warm color, moderate grain, and a classic consumer-film look.
View profile →Yashica Electro 35
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