Yashica Diary
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| Yashica Diary image by Adrian Gee (Image rights) |
The Yashica Diary is a 35 mm viewfinder camera made by Yashica in 1978.[1] The camera has an unnamed, coated 38 mm f/2.8 lens, a Tessar-type according to Japanese collector 'Minocat',[2] with scale focusing by zone symbols. It has only programmed automatic exposure, with a CdS meter cell mounted inside the filter ring, and shutter speeds from 1/60 to 1/360 second. A needle meter scale, showing what aperture will be used, is visible in the brightline viewfinder, and a red low-light warning lamp in the VF appears at light levels below EV 8;[2] the shutter is then locked.
The camera has a built-in flash, which retracts into the top housing. Popping the flash up (by pressing the top of it; a simpler action than on some other Yashica cameras, such as the 35 MF) puts the camera into auto-flash mode.[2] There is a self-timer, with the lever on the front right of the body (concealed by the lens in the picture here). The camera's name refers to its built-in date-imprint function. 'Minocat' states that the Diary is the first Yashica camera with such a feature, and notes that it can imprint the day of the week, in addition to the date, month and year.[2]
Notes on the camera at Collection Appareils describe it as a derivative of the ME 1, which it closely resembles, but which does not have the flash or date functions.[1] 'Minocat' describes the Diary as one of a group of three similar cameras introduced at around the same time (the others being the Flasher and the Snap), but notes that, though similar in use, the Flasher has a different lens.[2]
The Diary requires two AA batteries;[2] some other Yashica cameras with CdS metering, such as the 35 MF also require a mercury cell to power the meter.
