ddb@mrvax.DEC (05/30/85)
I had one of these, lo these many years ago. I was very happy with mine; it let me get into 6x6 format on a budget, and the lens was good enough for portraits and landscapes blown up to at least 11x14. Don't recall if I tried going larger. I also worked with a wedding/portrait photographer who used a pair of them for some time, with considerable success (in fact I bought one of his old ones when he invested in 6x6 SLRs). The Yashicamat is a twin-lens reflex, which means it has separate viewing and taking lenses on the front. Light entering the viewing lens bounces off a simple mirrow and onto the top-mounted viewing screen; this leads to left-right reversed images, but at least they are right side up. The pop-up magnifier is good for critical focusing on the ground glass. The "sportsfinder" mentioned isn't good for anything these days; back when 35mm wasn't a usable format, the sportsfinder was an attempt at making it possible to photograph action with one of these. It sort of worked, but a rangefinder or SLR system is much better for action. The coupled meter in the Yashicamat works, but I almost always used a separate meter (I was in the habit of carrying them because my main camera at the time was a Leica M3, with no meter). Since I used the camera only for relatively static situations, this was no problem, and indeed I probably would have used a separate meter to make selective readings around the scene even if I'd been using a 35mm SLR with meter. Since the cheapest medium-format SLR (the Mamiya 645J last time I looked) costs about $500, a $125 yashicamat (or cheaper; shop around) is a reasonable way to deal with at least many of the situations for which a medium-format negative is deisrable. (Oh, for those who haven't read between the lines yet, the BIG drawback of the Yashicamat is that the lenses aren't interchangeable; you can get "auxiliary" wide-angle and closeup lenses, but I never did and I'm VERY suspicious of them.) -- David Dyer-Bennet -- ...decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-mrvax!ddb
mike@asgb.UUCP (06/12/85)
> > I highly reccomend the Yashica MAT 124G for anyone who is interested in > medium format (and doesn't have megabucks for a Hasselblad...) > I second the recomendation, and add another note. Mamiya makes two medium format TLR cameras which also have *interchangable lenses*. While these cameras are significantly more expensive than the Yashica, they are truely "system" cameras with interchangable lenses, focussing screens, and viewfinders. You can even buy two focussing hoods with built in through the lens spot meters. This system was my choice for getting into medium format and I love it. I needed the interchangable lenses, and this was the absolute cheapest way to get it in a 6x6 negative. Mike Rosenlof ihnp4!sabre!\ hplabs!sdcrdcf!-bmcg!asgb!mike { ihnp4, ucbvax, allegra }!sdcsvax!/ Burroughs Advanced Systems Group Boulder, Colorado