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Yashica FX-2: manual and user guide

Yashica’s match-needle SLR, with a Contax/Yashica mount. Its original manual, then the essentials for using it.

View the manual on butkus.orgOriginal scanned manual · 77 pages in English, 36 pages in German, French and Spanish

Manual scanned and put online free of charge by Mike Butkus, whose library runs on donations. The link opens his model page, where you can download the PDF.

Getting started

Battery It takes a 1.3 V mercury battery (Eveready EP-675R, Ucar EP-675R, Mallory RM-675R or equivalent). Open the cover with a coin, anticlockwise, and insert the battery with the + side towards the cover. To test it, set the meter switch to ON and aim at a bright scene with the lens cap off: if the needle doesn’t move, change the battery.
Loading Out of direct sunlight, pull the rewind knob all the way out to open the back, put in the cartridge and push the knob back in. Slide the film leader into a slot in the take-up spool, advance with the lever until the teeth engage the perforations on both sides, then close the back. Turn the rewind knob in the direction of the arrow until it stops, then alternate lever and shutter button until the number 1.
Sensitivity Lift the knurled ring around the shutter speed dial and turn it to line up your film speed with the mark. The scale runs from ISO 12 to 1600 (ASA).
Your first photo Set the meter switch, on the top, to ON. Turn the aperture ring or the shutter speed dial to centre the needle in the space provided at the right edge of the viewfinder: towards (+) means overexposed, towards (-) underexposed. Focus until the shimmer of the central microprism disappears, take the picture, then set the meter back to OFF to save the battery.
Rewinding When the counter reaches the number of exposures on the film, don’t force the lever. Press the rewind button (no need to hold it down), unfold the crank and turn it in the direction of the arrow. After a slight resistance, it turns freely: then open the back and take out the cartridge.

What it can do

It meters light through the lens, at full aperture, with CdS cells housed in the prism. You set the exposure by choosing the shutter speed or the aperture.
Shutter speeds from 1 s to 1/1000 s in 11 steps, plus B.
A depth-of-field preview button stops the lens down to the chosen aperture for as long as you hold it down. Don’t touch it while metering.
A built-in self-timer, operated by a lever.
The advance lever works in one stroke or in several short ones. Until it has gone all the way, the shutter won’t fire.

Which lenses?

Contax/Yashica mount, a three-lug bayonet, with automatic diaphragm.
With Yashica ML and Zeiss T* lenses, you view and focus at full aperture.
To fit a lens, line up its red dot with the one on the body and turn it to the right until it clicks. To remove it, hold the release button down and turn it all the way to the left.
Don’t touch the coupling parts on the body or the lens, and change lenses out of direct sunlight.
The manual lists as standard lenses the Yashica ML 50 mm f/1.4 and f/1.7 and the DSB 50 mm f/1.9, with 52 mm filters.

The flash

The shoe has a direct X contact. A flash without this contact connects by its cord to the X sync socket.
Electronic flash: set 1/60 s or a slower speed.
FP, M and MF flashbulbs: from 1/30 s to 1 s, according to the table in the manual.
Focus, read the distance between the camera and the subject, then choose the aperture to match.

Good to know

According to the manual, the mercury battery powers the meter for about a year.
Battery fitted upside down: the needle doesn’t move, even with the meter switched on.
Wipe both sides of the battery with a clean, dry cloth before putting it in. A greasy film causes poor contact.
Take out the battery if the camera won’t be used for a long time. Don’t open the battery or throw it into a fire.
If the film jams before the end, don’t force the lever: press the rewind button and rewind.

FX-2 specifications

Format: 135 film in cartridges, 24 × 36 mm frames
Mount: Contax/Yashica, three-lug bayonet, automatic diaphragm
Shutter: horizontal-travel focal-plane, from 1 s to 1/1000 s in 11 steps, plus B, built-in self-timer
Focusing: manual, microprism in the centre of the viewfinder
Viewfinder: reflex, 0.89× magnification at infinity, about 90% coverage
Metering: through the lens at full aperture, CdS cells, needle in the viewfinder, from EV 1.85 to 18 (ISO 100, f/1.9)
Sensitivity: ISO 12 to 1600 (ASA)
Flash: shoe with direct X contact and X socket, electronic flash at 1/60 s or slower
Power: one 1.3 V mercury battery (Eveready EP-675R, Ucar EP-675R, Mallory RM-675R or equivalent)
Dimensions and weight: 144.5 × 94 × 51 mm, 690 g (body only)