Yashica Mat 124G ? + THANK YOU DAVID!!

[Steve Boykin]

Has anyone used the Yashica-Mat 124G? If so what do you think? I know the Rollei is a better camera but it costs a lot more too. So in relation to the price I guess is what I'm asking.

Also a GREAT BIG THANK YOU to David Mitchell for the Fuji ST705. I just ran the first roll through that camera and I love it!!!! I'm trying to build up a few rolls so I can send them to the Dark Room in sunny CA for developing. The Hawkeye is next on the agenda if my 120 film will ever show up.

David I owe you big time and I won't forget it.

 

[David Mitchell]

There are plenty of other TLRs out there that don't cost a lot, you should have said that you wanted to shoot MF lol

Use those films as test rolls, try out the Agfa colour film first to check that the metering is ok

 

[Steve Boykin]

There are plenty of other TLRs out there that don't cost a lot, you should have said that you wanted to shoot MF lol

Use those films as test rolls, try out the Agfa colour film first to check that the metering is ok

I can't afford to buy one right now. However, I have a chance to make a trade so it's revenue neutral.

I want a square frame camera. I do have a Brownie Hawkeye but I was thinking about getting something a bit more....er...sophisticated to compliment it. To be honest I went to Flickr to look at some samples. Virtually every shot seemed out of focus. Admittedly focus is a overrated concept but still....

That was the roll I shot BTW. I'm going to try out the Kentmere next.

 

[David Mitchell]

The shots from the box cameras are usually in focus but are just soft, they have a simple single element lens which produce an image, however it won't be as sharp. Its why lens design changed adding additional elements and coatings etc to get a sharper image. Look at something like the Zeiss Ikon perhaps, I haven't shot mine yet but the images I have seem from the camera so far is quite good. There are some cameras like the Olympus trip that do have a sharp lens in a more consumer grade body, high quality vintage lenses are usually quite a lot of cash due to the skill of the lens builders.

Also be aware when looking at older cameras around the 40s and 50s is that the film speeds back then were much much slower and something like ISO 200 was considered very fast at the time. Due to the slower speed of the films the shutter speeds were also quite slow. This means that you would need to be careful with the shutter speeds a camera has to make sure today's film is ok to use. The issue comes when you have a fast film but not a fast enough shutter speed which in turn means you would need to stop the lens down which might then mean the shutter speed is too slow to hand hold etc.

Just have some fun with the cameras though I shot some ISO 400 through my Kodak Six-20, the lens was fairly slow meaning that even at the slow shutter speed of around 1/40 the images were still exposed ok. The benefits today is that you can scan in film and tweek the levels slightly, as long as its not too over or under exposed an image can easily be corrected. I have been amazed at some of the detail that has been pulled out of certain shots I have found to be a bit washed out or over exposed.