Top of the Yashica Minister II
The selenium light meter is shown in the centre in red and white, each number on the light meter corresponds to a red number on the front of the camera lens housing. Twisting this ring will also adjust the shutter speed automatically. Adjusting the F/stop will also adjust the shutter speed, so you will be able to always get the shot you desire. The light meter can be adjusted from 10 to 400 ASA which is the same as 10 to 400 ISO.
Film must be manually advanced using the lever on the right hand side of the top. An exposure counter is includd which shows you how many shots you have left. This can be manually changed to any number between 0 and 36, which is useful if your roll of film only has 24 shots on it like some Kodak Gold rolls.
On the far left hand side of the top there is a folding winder for pulling film back into the canister after all the shots have been taken. There is also a shoe for mounting a flash attachment or a light meter if you wish.
Rear view of the Yashica Minister II
The viewfinder is pretty small and is tinted blue when looking through it. When viewing an object a second mirror image overlays the actual image, adjusting the range on the front of the camera aligns the two images. When they merge to become one the object you are looking at is in focus. This is the rangefinder part of the camera.
I bought this camera at a second hand shop. This camera at one point previously belonged to someone named Neil Taylor, sadly I haven't been able to find any info on who he was or whether any of his photos were published anywhere, but he clearly loved the camera enough to have a nametag made for it.
Front view and lens of Yashica Minister II
The front of the camera is pretty ordinary, the viewfinder window is on the far right side. On the left is the window for light to enter and hit the selenium light meter, and in the centre is the window for the rangefinder, this is how it projects the image onto the viewfinder window.
Mine is a bit dusty, and has some slight damage. I haven't used this camera in several months now. When I originally bought the camera it was missing the shutter release button, which can be seen in the first photo where there is just a hole next to the film advance lever. The camera still took photos, but only when the film advance lever was pulled all the way forward and then released. For $5 and my first film camera this was a pretty good deal, and it worked for some time, but one day the film advance began to only work every so often. Sometimes it would advance the film and other times it would not. One time after getting my film processed they returned only 15 photos out of a roll of 36, and almost all of them had double exposures on them, making it a total waste.
Photography
Double-exposure of a rose
This is probably the best photo I managed to get out of the camera, anything before this was me learning the ropes, and most after it were completely unusable. The double exposure is pretty nice on this one, and I love the colours.
Two more photos with the Yashica, one featuring a giraffe
These are the only other couple of photographs that I got out of the Minister II, the one featuring a giraffe is a double exposure as well, I was trying to get both a landscape and a portrait photograph. The one with the plant is obviously blown out with flare to the right side, but otherwise the photo is very clear and colours very vibrant. If this camera worked better then it'd be great to use for daily photography.
Review
I'm not sure I can give this camera a fair review for anyone reading this, given that mine was faulty and missing parts from the beginning. But having seen some of the photos that it produced in the hands of an amateur I can say that the camera is very capable if it was in full working condition. Even with the limitations placed on it, the camera still produced clear and vibrant images. While unintentional, I prefer the double exposure on the rosecompared to if it was just a normal photograph. The flare on the third image could've been easily avoided if I had been more careful with the sunlight, and demonstrated that when paired with quality film (Kodak Gold 200 in this case) the camera could make some very nice pictures. Colours are consistently vibrant and there is little to no grain on the image at all, the lens is incredibly clear and the rangefinder and light meter are both great tools for photography on the go without carrying around additional equiptment.
Overall, even with the deficiencies that my Minister II faced it still showed that it could produce excellent photographs, with amazing clarity and rich colours. If I had a complete and functioning version of this camera I would use it for all my photography. If you manage to find one of these cameras for a good price, I would definitely recommend to pick it up. I feel like good quality film is a requirement for this camera, and Kodak Gold 200 would be my recommendation, however it can be pretty expensive. I think Ilford 35mm films could also produce very good results with this camera, but cheaper brands like 1shot 35mm may degrade image quality.
Resources
Here are a few links which you may find useful if you have this camera, or are planning on buying one.
Here is the Yashica Minister II manual provided by M Butkus
Here is a great review showing some great shots with the Minister II