Yashica's mid-range 6x6 TLR — fixed-lens twin-lens reflex on 120 film, waist-level finder, 1964.
The Yashica-E is a fixed-lens medium-format twin-lens reflex made by the Japanese firm Yashica, part of the broad Yashica TLR range that gave many photographers an affordable route into 6x6 shooting. It sat among the mid-range models of the line and was produced in the mid-1960s. Yashica built large numbers of TLRs in this period, and the -E was one of the less common variants, notable for an unusual electronic-flash approach to metering rather than a conventional selenium exposure system.
It is a twin-lens reflex (TLR) camera shooting 6x6cm square frames on 120 roll film, giving twelve exposures per roll. The lens is fixed and not interchangeable: a separate taking lens exposes the film while a paired viewing lens feeds the mirror and ground glass. Focusing is by knob, viewing is through a waist-level finder viewed from above, and the shutter is a leaf type mounted in the front standard rather than a focal-plane shutter in the body. Composition is done on the ground-glass screen at waist level.
The Yashica TLRs are widely bought today as a low-cost way into square-format medium format, and the -E suits general shooting, portraits and landscape work where the deliberate waist-level handling is an advantage. As a fixed-lens TLR it is simple to operate, quiet, and light next to a medium-format SLR, though it offers no lens changes and the reversed left-right viewing image takes practice.
When buying used, check the taking and viewing lenses separately for haze, fungus and internal separation, and confirm the focus knob moves smoothly across its range. Test the leaf shutter and aperture on the front standard at several speeds, and check the film-wind and frame counter advance correctly. Inspect the ground glass for brightness and cracks. Selenium/electronic metering on older Yashica bodies is often dead or inaccurate and is best treated as a bonus rather than relied upon.