I bought my first Yashica-Mat about ten years ago. I used the camera for about a year until it developed a film advance problem which I was unable to repair. I liked the camera and wanted to replace it, but that was about the time that film camera enthusiasts were discovering what a fine shooter it was, and the prices got out of my range. Yesterday, a Yashica-Mat very similar to my original one showed up on the local Craigslist at a reasonable price, so I snapped it up. This new one has a covering that is curling at the edges, but it seems fine mechanically. The shutter sounds good at all speeds and the lens and viewing system are unblemished. The Yashica-Mat is the nicest handling of any of the twin lens reflex cameras I have used, and I think you can't beat the images from the four-element Lumaxar.
3 comments:
Nice. I like the shot of the door and the shadows best.
I'd love to have a Yashica Mat, too, but the prices are usually out of my normal range too. I'm considering taking the plunge anyway, and maybe just not buying any cameras for several months to balance it out.
There must have been millions of Yashica-Mat cameras produced over two decades. So, they are definitely not rare. If you avoid the price-inflated 124G models, you should be able to find one in working order for under a hundred bucks. From what I have seen, they all have the same lenses and shutters.
I also like those doors and shadows. There is a sharp lens in that TLR, and the combination of Acros and Rodinal shines.
There is something fulfilling in finding another sample of a camera type that once was a favorite.
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