Just purchased a Yashica Mat 124g TLR Question

smoke665 · Tuesday at 5:42 AM

@mr.mike In college I was working the evening shift at a newspaper and commercial print plant. The owner for some reason liked me and became a mentor. I trained under a master in the plant, and was running everything from the massive web press, to full color on a 18x222 Heidelberg, to business forms on small offset press, to raised letter & embossed on a hand fed platen, to training in the darkroom, by the end of my time. When I graduated in 72, the owner backed me in buying my first newspaper, small weekly, which led to two more. Photography was something I learned on the fly....fast. Unfortunately after 9 years my marriage went under, I became disillusioned with everything, I sold out and went a different direction. I still dabbled in photography but nothing serious until about 10 years ago.

@dxqcanada FYI I successfully got the Yashica EM working, couple of test rolls confirmed it's okay. Truthfully haven't done much with it since. Need to finish it off with new leatherette.

dxqcanada · Tuesday at 6:02 PM

Bonus!!! I knew you could get that camera back to life.

mr.mike · Tuesday at 6:23 PM

dxqcanada said:
I think I am younger than most of you ... I was born when the Leaf's last won the Stanley Cup ... and grew up with family photo albums. I sold off all my film stuff to get into digital, then I got bored ... in the past decade I got back into the old cameras but just to repair them (I am not a collector, though I did keep a couple), get rid of them, and get new repair cameras.

My Yashica Mat finally arrived and found it to be in better condition than first thought. Seems the shutter and the light meter are working and the glass is fairly clean. Now it looks like something I can go to the next level with. Not sure why I can't post photos, maybe a matter of my files being too large. But the camera is working and the few small details I've located can easily be adjusted. The shutter button issue I mentioned earlier appears to be a Yashica 645 replacement. When I wind the advance lever the sound I hear is setting the shutter. The shutter fires when the button is pressed. Blades open and close as they should. I'm sure I'll find other issues, but for now, I'm satisfied with my purchase.

dxqcanada · Tuesday at 6:26 PM

Hmm, sounds better than you originally posted.

mr.mike · Tuesday at 7:22 PM

dxqcanada said:
Hmm, sounds better than you originally posted.

I was pleasantly surprised! The shutter fires, settings appear to function properly, of course not sure how accurate they are, but for most part, it's working. As said, even the light meter shows signs of life. The shutter button is in deed a replacement. No shutter locking mechanism either. But for what I paid, it was a bargain.

mr.mike · Tuesday at 7:25 PM

smoke665 said:
@mr.mike In college I was working the evening shift at a newspaper and commercial print plant. The owner for some reason liked me and became a mentor. I trained under a master in the plant, and was running everything from the massive web press, to full color on a 18x222 Heidelberg, to business forms on small offset press, to raised letter & embossed on a hand fed platen, to training in the darkroom, by the end of my time. When I graduated in 72, the owner backed me in buying my first newspaper, small weekly, which led to two more. Photography was something I learned on the fly....fast. Unfortunately after 9 years my marriage went under, I became disillusioned with everything, I sold out and went a different direction. I still dabbled in photography but nothing serious until about 10 years ago.

@dxqcanada FYI I successfully got the Yashica EM working, couple of test rolls confirmed it's okay. Truthfully haven't done much with it since. Need to finish it off with new leatherette.

I'm sure you'll get around to finishing your project. All my best..................

smoke665 · Wednesday at 7:00 AM

mr.mike said:
I was pleasantly surprised

It's always better to be pleasantly surprised than wonder what you were thinking.

A working light meter is a rarity!

cgw · Wednesday at 8:13 AM

smoke665 said:
It's always better to be pleasantly surprised than wonder what you were thinking. A working light meter is a rarity!

Just get a period-correct Sekonic L-398M meter. Within limits, still a deadly accurate incident meter.

steved55 · Wednesday at 9:46 AM

"Learn Camera Repair" For me life's too short. I get these old pieces to take pics and MF is a great format. If upon receipt, the two lenses are good get it repaired. You'd probably spend $300 (to include postage) and have a super model and user. Mark Hama is noted for working on Yashica. Mark Hama: Expert Camera Repair & Yashica Specialist

cgw · Wednesday at 9:53 AM

steved55 said:
"Learn Camera Repair" For me life's too short. I get these old pieces to take pics and MF is a great format. If upon receipt, the two lenses are good get it repaired. You'd probably spend $300 (to include postage) and have a super model and user. Mark Hama is noted for working on Yashica. Mark Hama: Expert Camera Repair & Yashica Specialist

Despite his reputation, Hama seems on the verge of retirement now. Very slow turn-around. CLA Studios gets good marks.

mr.mike · 2025-02-20T19:36:59-0600

cgw said:
Just get a period-correct Sekonic L-398M meter. Within limits, still a deadly accurate incident meter.

I was indeed pleasantly surprised, put a battery in and watched the needle jump. The gentleman I bought the camera from told me the shutter didn't work either. Turns out, the shutter is working fine. I'm usually the one that gets the lemon, this time I got the plum. Not sure how much use this camera will get due to the high cost of film and processing, but I think this camera is a keeper. I appreciate the tip about the light meter.