Yashica's first interchangeable-lens 35mm SLR system. It existed for a little over two years and for a number of reasons never became popular.
THE CAMERAS:
- Pentamatic - a basic camera with focal plane shutter with speeds ranging from 1 to 1/1000th of a second, instant return mirror, proprietary bayonet mount with support for semi-automatic diaphragm;
- Pentamatic II - as the Pentamatic, but with support for fully automatic diaphragm;
- Pentamatic S - as the Pentamatic, but with split-prism rangefinder focusing aid, built-in self-timer, and support for optional clip-on coupled light meter.
THE LENSES:
Despite the short life cycle of the system, two generations of lenses were released:
- Generation 1 - lenses with a silver front rim, introduced in 1959/1960 with the Pentamatic and produced by Tomioka, Kyoei, and perhaps even Zunow. This generation included both Auto YASHINON standard lenses and Super YASHINON-R (preset) accessory lenses. All representatives of this generation are listed on this page.
- Generation 2 - lenses with a black front rim, introduced in 1961 with the Pentamatic S and produced by Tokina and several other little-known companies. This generation included the following Super YASHINON-R (preset) lenses: 35/2.8, 135/2.8, 200/4.5, 300/5.5 and 400/6.3. All of these lenses were available in both bayonet and M42 screw mounts.
One of the reasons for the commercial failure of the system was that despite the fact that the cameras supported automatic diaphragm, apart from standard lenses there were no other models with such functionality, and in general the line of optics was very meager.