The Yashica 230AF 35 mm SLR camera from the 1980s

This is my review of the Yashica 230AF, 35 mm Autofocus SLR which is the latest addition to my growing collection of 35 mm vintage cameras. As well as my impressions of using the camera, there are also some sample pictures taken with this camera.

Table of Contents

Pictures of the Yashica 230AF

These pictures show some views of the Yashica 230AF.

Yashica 230AF Description

As far as I can tell my example of this camera seems to be in perfect condition.

It is equipped with a Yashica 35 – 70 mm f/3.3 – 4.5 macro standard lens, a novel flash unit which slides over the focus prism housing to connect to the hot shoe and a Contax wired remote.

Also supplied was a small carrying case, the instruction book, another hot-shoe flash (Starblitz 2000A) and a battery for the camera. I’d actually ordered a battery from Amazon (it uses a 2CR5 lithium cell) which I’ve fitted at the moment. I paid about £18 for this camera including postage.

I find it a great camera to handle. It seems well-balanced and easy to use although the example I have is a little light on the shutter release button. During my test reel I once managed to fire the shutter when I’d left the camera in manual focus, and I was waiting for the autofocus to work. Aside from that small issue, which is easy to get used to, it’s pretty nice.

In a very typical 1980s style, there are 4 small buttons on the top plate which set Drive mode, Exposure Compensation, AF mode and Exposure mode. There are also buttons for ISO setting and setting/un-setting the camera beep (which I always turn off – I hate cameras beeping at me). A slide switch turns the camera on and has an additional setting to switch to AE-Lock mode.

Exposure modes offered are all the usual ones – program mode, shutter priority, aperture priority and full manual operation.

The viewfinder has exposure information available in a small LCD type display at the bottom, and it’s easy to adjust exposure using a small slide switch which sits under your finger next to the shutter release.

To test the camera I shot a reel of 35 mm Color Negative film (the images of which is shown below) in Aperture priority mode, which is my normal shooting mode, and the results seem to indicate that the exposure system is spot on. Also, most of the pictures came out pretty well focused. The only evidence of blur is more likely camera shake because the shutter speed was too low (basically not enough light).

In common with most 35 mm film cameras, the viewfinder is big and bright. I would think that with a fast lens attached, rather than the f/3.5 kit lens it would be even better.

The manual for this camera is available on-line here.

I’m going to keep an eye on eBay to see if any lenses turn up for the Yashica 230AF. I believe that the mount used is not used on any current digital cameras, so the lenses could be quite cheap. I’ve found that lenses from Minolta, Pentax, Canon and Nikon command quite a price on eBay !

Below are the pictures from the test roll of 35 mm colour negative film I put through the camera. All are copied straight from the scanned CD which was supplied after I had the film developed at the local Tesco store, and have had no manipulation of any kind. Click on the images for a more detailed look.