POINT A SHOOT Editor: Dan Richards ‘ashen tthe company mou usin Tey be noinae bre at Seah ves ara Cam onto ots lie he Vahen Tesi tye the had aye 5 cen aee eer tes ecnion Gisign anda ging wrt =o el bers fo mare Yash sleeper th shld hoa fel with rea ea cme ee Crane fom 1 4 ‘rte ao 9 their ames fet avoiash vith red-eye re- suggest these ction (singe pest, Nash we Tm ‘eu fash on wih rede re tnd 3-20 acon ash of andthe sm vey ity ack Yeh a fair compact pac ber Futon reso agen The 1, fete endo be meng, while on Be bata minora. Then here’ Th si wl apes into aoe nth but i il iy for asetiner bution and hat i shi poste The 90 ads very Tao range, ‘he Micote fash but itl size penly-vithas 8 Hate overeomplcated point ton ces through autflsh, plumper micsecton and alte and-shoot cameras? Wel we autotest wh ante red-eye a never tosomh as ape te (aso sng pres, fash af, Regtege veered rma tr etter fee ce | MO AO | an ony ane tatty {heir thumbs coliding withthe’ e725, except wine it came time | gatabsok. Store price, (Oday, there's no ash-on with floss when zooming the tiny toloocup specifications, Tae Mi-- | shautst40. anti-red-eye setting.) The MI ‘irate 7. Souton: Zoom with crotec 70, the simpler ofthe two, | Lens: 35-7Omm 45-8. | crotec 9s setimer button has your index igor using the ute is set to autoflash when turned | Shutter:2-1/300 sec pus | a single selftimer, then a triple Ibentep ofthe zoom rocket. gn-Youcanthenpushabuttono | autactrateg Bu wits |) setsimer continuous un (a {Cd pre natn prety sit 1 frames per se: Dimenstons: (WHO) tnd), and then atozoom, whch pp onl ‘we don't particularly like, but tonces wi try. s ations One 1238 fiom, | Somebody out there must. Like Focuuhgractrowterea’ | the Micmte 7, the 50 reverts font so in tatpeto | 10 ull auto when shutoff and Feet on, juss ishould. {80 rane:60-2200intut | "The batons onthe Microtec steps: cefaut 10 90 ar slighty harder to press Flas: Red to 13h tet at | than onthe Micrtec70, but ne- ‘mm, 406 foot at 70mm ls ther camera required an assist $80 100; antired-ove by from a ballpoint pn. clear and distortion-free. The 2 POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHYIMAY 05Microtec 90 has somewhat more eye relief and is therefore a tad easier for eyeglass wearers to use, but either model's viewing is more than acceptable forthe spectacle set Yashica remains ‘one ofthe few manufacturers to provide a closeup focusing cir cle in the finder as well as closeup framelines—a good idea although we wonder how many point-and-shooters out there pay any attention to them. In our optical test on slow slide film, the Microtec 70 pro- duced very sharp sides at the 35mm position, center and edge. At 70mm, center sharp- ness stayed quite high, with very litle loss at the edge (al: ‘though our sample had one cede that was somewhat worse, but still quite acceptable). Light falloff was slight at 35mm, un noticeable at TOmm—excellent fora litle lens ofthis type. Fare performance was above aver age, with itl loss of contrast in severe backlight. Ghost images just visible a 35mm were alitle more evident at 70mm, Distr tion was very low—slight pin- cushion at 35mm, and almost ‘unnoticeable bare at 70mm. The Microtec 90 turned in a similar performance. Slides at ‘38mm were very crisp, center to Yashica Microtec Zoom 90 LUst price: $420, S445 wit, taback. Stor price, stout $180. ons: 38-90mm 14-9. Shuttor2-1/500 se. Dimensions: (wH0) ‘dx inches; 9% ‘unces with battery. tery: ne 123A Iti, Focusing: Activ inrared contra spot, in 254 stops 103 feet inches at 38mm, Jn 368 tops to 20 inches at Som. 180 range: 50-5200 tu stops; deaut 100. Flash: Rated to 14 foot at 5mm, to 8 eet at 7Omm se and tripe self-tmer, ‘auto backlgh-compensat- Ing ash, continuous rn, _autozoom (autotraming). No cuter: Concise LOD panels, straghtlorward controls distin- tush Mierotee 80, top, and Ml- ‘lee 70. edge; at 90mm, high center sharpness declined slightly at the very edge. Light falloff was quite noticeable at 38mm, but gone at 90mm. There was some flare and rainbow ghosting in extreme backlight at 38mm— sill well above average—and flare was extremely well con- trolled at 90mm, with ile loss of contrast and no ghosts. Dis- tortion: a small amount of pin cushion at 38mm, virtually un- noticeable at omen In short, the overall optical performance of both cameras was very consistent, with at Teast above average marks on every indicator we test. Flash power forthe Mirotec ‘TO was adequate ais rated ds tances at both 35mm and TOmmn with slide film, so you can ‘more with print fim. There was noticeable falloff in the lower ‘comers at 35mm, none at 70mm, ‘The Microtec 90 lash made Its rated distances at both 38mm and 90mm with some ‘mph to spare on slide film, so print film shooters will have a 00d safety margin. The 90 had quite noticeable corner fash falloff at 36mm, none at 90mm. Finally, both Micratecs come with a nice, braided nylon neck cord—not a silly little wrist- strap—further demonstrating that these Yashicas were de- signed by people who actually take pictures. So there you have them: Sim ple in operation, clear controls ‘and finder, good lenses, in the ‘compact size just about every- body likes. And then you lok at store prices, and see the Mi- cerotecs also go fora consider- able chunk of change less than ‘comparable models, It sounds like a pretty good deal tous. ‘You might even say it sizes. stretch flash shots a few feet QUICK AND QUIRKY STEREO 3-D PAIRS! We were goofing around with a pair of the new Kodak FunSaver Pocket cameras, and we noticed that when we put them base plate to baseplate, the distance between the two lenses was about 55 mm. So wihat’s the big deal? Well, 55 mm isn fr off rom the dis ce between a person's two yes. This means that, ifyou at- tach the two cameras, then take pietures with the two simultane ‘ously, you should end up with prints that you can view as Bug-eyed mon: stor? No, 2 3+ D enthusiast using two Funsaver Pockets rub- bor-banded to- ether to shoot Stereo pars! stereo pairs—3-D photography, cheap and easy. ‘Ana so, we attached two Pack ets with a couple of gutta-percha bbungees, snapped away, and es it works! The accompanying photo shows how to do it: Make sure the leases line up horizoataly, and place the rubber bands so that they don’t interfere with the lenses or control buttons. The cameras have to go base to base because otherwise, the shutter release of one camera would be inaccessible. This rakes fora somewhat dumsy press of two shutter releases, S0 mind you don't pu your fin fers over a lens ara fastube. (You might try flash to help “pop” foreground subject ou doors, which will enhance the slere feet) While you dont have to fre ‘he shaters precisely silt neously (at eas for non-moving sabjets) isa good deat hold the paire’ Pockets as steady as posible soa not og them uring the two exposures. As You can see, the stereo pairs sst be verticals excl When you get your prints back, ll you nee doi pt them side by sie, oF if you wish, mount them on imate board or on an album page. Those of you who can free- view tre pais, of course, can get continued on page 20