Kyocera/Yashica Samurai X3.0 Half-frame 35mm SLR (serial 077231)(Kyocera Yashica Samurai X3 0 Half Frame 35mm Slr Serial 077231)

The half-frame fixed lens SLR Kyocera Samurai X3.0 (also sold as the Yashica Samurai X3.0) is a superb camera. It’s one of our all-time favourites and always a pleasure for us to test and use. It’s no surprise to us that it won the Japanese Camera Grand Prix award of 1988. (Due to the more widespread support for half-frame photofinishing, this camera was more commercially successful in Japan than elsewhere).

Half-frame cameras like this use ordinary 35mm film but expose a 18x24mm section at a time rather than the usual 24x36mm. This means you get double the number of exposures (48 on 24-exposure roll; 72 on a 36-exposure roll). The Olympus Pen F series from the 1960s are probably the most famous half-frame 35mm cameras.

The Samurai X3.0 is built around a very sharp and fast 25-75mm f3.5-4.3 (14 elements in 13 groups) zoom lens so it yields photos with a very unique look: very sharp but with more pronounced film grain (because of the smaller negative). It supports a wide variety of film speeds (ISO 50 – 3200) so can use high-resolution films like Fuji Velvia 50 if you wish to minimize grain or a high-speed film Ilford Delta 3200 if you’re looking for exaggerated grain. 

This camera requires a 2CR5 lithium battery (available as an option). 

Note: We showed the test negatives as uncropped pairs to better help people visualize the half-frame negative. Most photo labs will supply the finished photos to you cropped unless you request otherwise.  Note: there is some staining in the highlights in the example scans but this is due to my development error (ECN-2 process), not the camera.

Condition notes
We film-tested this camera and the half-frame negatives were all very sharp and correctly exposed. All functions are working correctly. The camera is in very good cosmetic condition (see photos).

Example photos
Here are some pictures that other people have taken with the Kyocera/Yashica Samurai X3.0: https://www.lomography.com/homes/londoncameraproject/tags/530135-kyocerasamuraix30/photos?order=popular
https://www.lomography.com/cameras/3314934-yashica-samurai-x3-0/photos

Manual
https://www.cameramanuals.org/yashica_pdf/yashica_samurai.pdf

Specs (source: www.mikeeckman.com)

• Film Type: Half-Frame 135 (35mm)
• Lens: 25-75mm (35-105mm equivalent at full frame) f/3.5-4.3 Yashica zoom coated 14-elements
• Focus: Fully Automatic 3.3 feet to Infinity
• Viewfinder: Fixed SLR Pentaprism
• Shutter: Electronic Leaf
• Speeds: 2 – 1/500 seconds stepless
• Exposure Meter: Two Segment Silicon Photo Diode with Full Programmed AE
• Battery: 6v Lithium 2CR5 and non removable internal memory backup battery
• Flash Mount: Built in flash with TTL metering and 2.5 second recycle time
• Weight: 607 grams