Yashica Samurai X4.0

From Camera-wiki.org
Jump to: navigation, search

The Yashica Samurai X4.0 is a fully automatic half-frame autofocus SLR camera made by Kyocera. It follows the original Yashica Samurai X3.0, and is fractionally taller, perhaps to accommodate the new, longer 4x range 25-100 mm zoom. It was launched at the 1988 Photokina show in Cologne, West Germany[1].

The camera name "samurai" is derived from a Japanese synonym for "bushi", the Japanese word for Japan's medieval warriors. Outside of Japan the synonym is always used instead of "bushi", thus the camera might have been designed mainly for export.

Its unique design makes it the optimal still camera for people who never made photographs but know to handle a modern compact video camera. It's designed for one-handed operation. It makes exposures in half 35mm frame format, allowing one to make 72 instead of 36 images on one roll. It offers 4 exposure programs: autoflash, daylight, night, and night flash. Time and date can be exposed onto the film.

The Samurai series continued in 1989 with the smaller Samurai Z and Z2.

Specifications

  • Type: Autofocus Zoom SLR
  • Manufacturer: Kyocera
  • Launch: 1988
  • Film: 35mm film with speeds 50 to 3200 ASA
  • Lens: 1:3.8-1:4.8/25mm-100mm Zoom
  • Shutter: speeds 3 to 1/300 sec.
  • Focusing: TTL phase difference detecting autofocus
  • Viewfinder: SLR finder with diopter adjustment
  • Exposure: programmed automatic
  • Film advance: motorized
  • Flash: built-in, alternate flash can be shifted into the hot shoe on the camera top
  • Dimensions: 74×125×146mm
  • Weight: 690 g without 2CR5 6V battery

Notes

  1. "The Big Show," December 1988 Popular Photography (Vol. 95, No. 12; page 98).

Links

In Chinese: