Yashica Mimy (1963)

Yashica Mimy (1963)

#455

This photo is from the copy I own

History and technical features 

The cute little Mimy was the most basic of several half-frame Yashica models. Half-frame cameras (18x24mm, half the size of the 35mm format but using the same film) had a brief spell of popularity in the mid 1960s; other examples on this site are the Canon Demi and Minolta Repo. The Mimy was essentially a dressed-down version of the Yashica 72-E (see below). Like the 72-E it was a viewfinder camera but with fixed focus and without manual exposure controls. Due to the short focal length of the lens (28mm, equivalent to about 40mm on full frame) the depth of field was relatively large, which was why Yashica could get away with a fixed focus lens. The focus distance was set at 3m, so one needed to stop down to at least f/11 to get infinity focus. Thus, this camera was more practical for street photography.

The Mimy was equipped with auto exposure: upon pushing the release button half-way down the bottom left corner of the viewfinder frame would change from red to yellow if light was sufficient. The camera could also run in aperture-priority mode, although it appears this was mainly meant to be used with flash, as the lightmeter window did not clearly indicate if the exposure was fine. Film was advanced by means of a small thumb wheel at the bottom of the camera. The Mimy was succeeded by the Mimy-S, which had a redesigned viewfinder area and a lens that could be focussed.

Source: cjs-classic-cameras.co.uk

The Yashica Mimy is a lovely half-frame 35mm camera from the early 1960s. The half-frame picture format is 18×24 mm rather than the 24x36mm of standard 35mm. This means that you get double the amount of shots out of a standard film roll (48 photos out of a 24-exposure roll or 72 out of a 36-exposure roll); this of course means your photos will have more noticable film grain. 

This camera has a fully automatic exposure mode powered by a selenium cell (no battery required). In addition, you can manually pick an f-stop (use this mode for flash photography). The lens is a nice fixed focus Yashinon 28mm f2.8; At f.28, everything from 2.39m-4m will be in focus; by f11 everything from 1.5m to infinity will be in focus (see the manual linked below for a full depth of field chart). 

Source: newwavepool.shop


Specifications

Country : Japan
Year : 1963
Type : 35 MM HALF FRAME
Format : 18 X 24 mm
Lens : Yashinon 2.8 / 28 mm
Shutter : Automatic
Support : Film 35 mm

Source: appaphot.be


Model

Serial number ME 3091796


Reference sites

appaphot.be

cjs-classic-cameras.co.uk

newwavepool.shop


Manual

English manual

Film

35mm film

Pictures taken with this machine


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