Yashica 44 - First Impression

Recently I want to shoot film again.  I started photography shooting mostly with ranger finder cameras and then moving onto Canon SLR finishing with EOS 50E.  While looking through You Tube I came across a video of Yashica 44 converted to shoot 35mm film.  I was curious and found the camera quite cheap.  I purchased my camera at £50 on ebay fully working.  I did some cleaning of the camera lens, ground glass and reflex mirror.  The camera has a 60mm f3.5 lens with shutter speed of B, 1/25, 1/50, 1/100 and 1/300s.  Originally it uses 127 film which will results in 4x4cm square images.  12 images to a roll of film. Focusing was not as easy and I had to use the magnifying glass for critical focusing.  Framing was difficult as everything is opposite and took some getting used to.  

Converting to shoot 35mm film was very easy, by just unscrewing film roller which allow 35mm film to be loaded.  I won't go into too much details about the conversion, you can see how it is done here.

35mm loaded

Electrical tape covering the counter window

After a day of practising with the camera at home and taking it on walks, I was ready and went to London on an afternoon photo walk.  The film loaded was Fujicolor Superia Xtra 400.  It had expired long time ago but kept in my freezer so hoping it will be in good condition.

I took a walk in London with this camera with a light meter app on my phone.  Here are some photos I shot on the day.

I found the back to front view finder difficult to get used to.  The landscape shot above was very difficult as the view finder was back to front both vertically and horizontally.  Next time I will use the sport finder.  One thing I had to do was to unload the film in a changing bag at the end of the day.  This camera was not design for 35mm film and there is no way to rewind the film back in the cassette.  I had to do it by hand in the dark.  Overall, I am happy with the results and can't wait to get out with the camera again.  Maybe some portraits?