I took delivery of a gorgeous and immaculate 40(ish) year old Yashica-Mat 66 twin lens reflex (TLR). It has already been labelled ‘The Beast’. In its ‘never-ready’ case it has the look of a ‘grandad’ camera. Like something from another age.
The lenses are bright, clear, clean and free of fungus. The shutter speeds sound good and the machinery is reassuringly solid. The view screen is bright too, although I’ll have to get used to the inverted image.
I want to stick my toe into the medium format world and this old TLR is a cheap entry point. Using the Holga recently got me interested again in 6×6, together with a recent doco on the outstanding and extraordinary Lee Miller (she used a Rolleiflex TLR).
The Yashica-Mat is 6×6. I didn’t want the 124 or the 124G models despite them being slightly more modern, having matched-needle meters (uncoupled) amongst other additions. Most likely these meters are unreliable and costly to fix and I hate redundancy. I’ll use my Sekonic 308 meter, way more reliable. The 124G has more plastic than the 124, and neither are as robustly built as the 66.
Why medium format? mainly ‘cos Im curious about the comparitively huge negatives and how much more information they can capture. The two photos above are pretty detailed at 100% and hugely different to a 35mm negative. It probably isn’t going to show on this blog unfortunately.
Another reason is the waist level viewfinder. It is a novelty for me and it is a bit like having a mini view camera. There is something a little bit magical seeing and focussing the image of the fresnel screen. Looking down at it, rather than having the cam in front of your face.
Following on from that, I wonder what effect the WLF will have on composition.
Last but not least, I unexpectedly love the square format.
The ‘Beast’
Because it is so hot at the moment (30C+ in London) we were out of the house by 06:30 to avoid the heat walking the dog. The light wasn’t that good but since I was so excited I thought I’d shoot a test roll in St Alfege’s just to check the cam is working OK. There would also be something to compare it to because I often go there with the 35mm cams.
I had Rodinal in mind for the HP5+ 120. Opinions on this combination seem fairly polarised but I like the look of the photos that I have seen. I also decided to pull the HP5+ to EI200. To my eye, the photos above vindicate this.
I like the out of focus effects of the Yashinon 80/3.5 lens in the above photo. The camera was focused on the far bench. I can’t remember the aperture, but it was either 4 or 5.6.
One thing I will have to watch for is flare. The next two photos show this from above. I’m waiting for a lens hood but it is not a Yashica/Rollei hood. I’m keeping my eye out for one of those. They are bay 1 fit and should turn up on ebay..
Somehow this is one of the scariest gravestones I’ve seen…
Below is the picnic bench that is being tunneled under, refered to in previous posts.
Finally, I couldn’t resist photographing my favourite gravestone
Do I like my new toy? I get the feeling you may have to tear it from my cold dead hands. Or swap me for a cool Roleiflex TLR.
by skinnyvoice
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Stumbled upon your site while looking for Yashica-Mat information. I recently bought a 124 and love it — along with the process of developing my old film.
I love your shot of the two benches — it has great contrast and is very interesting. The picnic table is also really cool, although the sky draws me in more than anything else — I like that you got down near the ground to shoot it.
Keep it up!
Thanks Sean. I do like to get down low to photograph (Britain from below!), and TLRs with WLFs make that relatively easy