Yashicamat 124G camera review
The tiny powerhouse of a camera, the Yashica Mat124G
If you want to get into medium format photography and use a good camera, then the Yashicamat 124G is probably one of the cheapest options to buy and get very good results. The Yashicamat 124G is a 6×6 TLR camera that was produced in the 1970s and came with an in-built light meter, which is great if you’re stepping into medium format photography for the first time.
The Yashica Mat 124G standing tall and is ready to be used.
This was my first medium-format camera, and I loved using it. There are just so many good things about this camera. The Yashicamat 124G is made out of metal and is well-constructed. It feels solid, but it is not too heavy compared to other medium-format cameras. The best thing about the Yashicamat 124G is that it is relatively small and does not take up too much space in your bag, so carrying it around is a breeze.
This is a beautiful camera in my opinion and it will attract a lot of attention when you shoot with it.
The camera itself is very simple and only contains a few components. On the right side of the camera body are the film advance crank and the shot counter. The film advance crank feels very strong and gives a nice clicky sound as you advance the film to the next frame. However, each frame you advance does not really take a full revolution of the crank, so you often have to reverse the direction of the crank to put it away. I really wish the crank would rotate a complete revolution for each frame.
The film crank never completes a full revolution when you wind on the film, so you will have to move the crank backward to put it away. This is kinda annoying at times, but it is a minor flaw in an awesome camera.
The film crank is strong and well made but make sure to store it in the correct position otherwise, it can hook on your clothing while you are walking around.
The left-hand side of the camera is where all the action is for focusing and loading the film. You will see the focus dial and the two film spool knobs on the left-hand side of the body.
The left-hand side of the camera has the focus dial, the battery compartment, and a cold shoe for flash. The focus dial is nice and dampened, so focusing precisely on your target is easy as long as you have a good eye. More on focusing later. The camera also has strap lugs on the top of each side to attach a camera strap, if you desire one.
The heart and soul of the camera. The two lenses, the shutter and aperture control, and the shutter button are all located in the front portion of the camera.
The heart and soul of a TLR camera is the lens unit. This is where all the camera controls are located, along with the shutter button. The first thing you will notice is the two lenses. The lens at the top is your viewing lens. This is the lens that you focus through; it is usually slower than the shooting lens. The bottom lens is the main shooting lens, and this camera has a YASHINON 80 mm f/3.5 lens, which is composed of 4 elements in 3 groups. Under the lens and to the right-hand side is the shutter button. The shutter button is threaded, and I usually use a soft trigger with it. The shutter can also be locked by twisting it to the little red “L” sign on the body, which is good when you are traveling with the camera.
As you adjust the aperture on the camera, you will see the changes on the small window, above the taking lens.
The aperture is set on the left-hand dial next to the lens, and you can set the aperture from f/3.5 to f/32. Since this camera has a slow maximum shutter speed, you will usually need to stop down a lot.
Both the aperture and the shutter speed are very easy to adjust with this design and can be easily done while the camera is at your waist when shooting. This camera is perfectly designed for waist-level shooting.
The shutter speed is set by the dial on the right, and you can select a shutter speed between 1 and 1/500 sec. It’s not a very fast maximum shutter speed, so if you are shooting with ISO 400 or pushing beyond that, you will need some ND filters or you will have to stop down the lens a bit.
The top window on the camera will display both the ASA or ISO readings as well as the exposure mechanisms of the camera. The light meter only turns on when you open up the viewfinder.
The circle next to the camera’s name is the light meter sensor. The light meter works by lining up the red indicator in the yellow wrench-looking indicator. It is fairly simple, and you can get the correct exposure quickly. These are old cameras, and their light meters can be inaccurate, but mine worked flawlessly. I never had problems with the exposure with this camera, but I did often have trouble with stopping down the lens enough to get a correct exposure because of the limited shutter speed.
The ASA or ISO dial is on the side of the light meter and is very easy to change.
The ISO or ASA is set on the side of the camera, and the ISO can be set from 16 to 400. This means you cannot really push film while using the camera’s meter. If you want to push the film, then you will have to meter the scene manually.
Looking down into the viewfinder is awesome. The view screen is huge compared to any DSLR that you may have used before.
The viewfinder is the heart of any camera, and this camera’s viewfinder is completely different from any SLR or rangefinder camera that you have used before. Firstly, the viewing screen is really big, but there is no mirror to flip the image you are viewing, so it can be confusing in the beginning. When you move the camera to the left, the image shifts to the right, and vice versa. This does take some time to get used to, but it is also really fun to use because the image you see is huge. The viewing screen is clear and bright, but I am told that the Rolleiflex screens are brighter. The viewing screen can be replaced, though, with a newer, brighter screen if you desire, but I was more than happy with the default screen.
The magnifying loop is so useful. I use it all the time when I am shooting.
If this is your first step into medium format film photography, getting used to the limited depth of field is difficult, and making sure your focus is accurate is a critical step. There is a magnifying loop attached to the view screen, and it helps a lot. I use the magnifying loop all the time to confirm that I have the correct focus. But working like this does slow you down. If you want to shoot faster, then you can try some zone focusing and shooting with the action finder that is built into the camera.
The sports finder in action. Shooting like this is not easy.
With the action finder, you look through the small hole at the back and frame through the large hole in the front. This is really not easy to use, and people who shot like this in the past have my deepest respect because it is really tough to do well. The only other problem with focusing on this camera is parallax error. You are viewing the scene from the top lens and the bottom lens is the shooting lens, so the closer the object is to the camera, the more parallax errors you can get.
The bottom of the camera, and the open and close dial.
Loading film in the camera is really easy and does not take too long. At the bottom of the camera is a circular dial. Turn the dial to the “O” symbol, and the rear body plate of the camera will pop open.
The inside of the camera. The design is really clean and simple.
The inside of the camera is really simple. You have the pressure plate at the back, and two film spools to load the film into. The film is always loaded at the bottom film spool and fed to the top one.
The pressure plate for the camera. Set it to 12 exposures or 120 films and forget about it. Finding 220 films is really difficult these days.
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The pressure plate can be switched from 120 to 220 film, but I recommend just leaving the film plate set to 12 exposures for 120 film. There is not a lot of 220 film available, so just leave it alone. If you set it to 24 exposures, you will have problems with the sharpness of the film as the plate will put different pressure on your film.
The focus knob and the two film spool knobs are clearly visible on the camera body and so it the battery compartment for the light meter.
Loading film is really easy. You insert the film into the bottom of the camera by pulling out the film spool knob and twisting it to keep it open. Insert the film into the film spool and twist the knob again to lock the film spool into place.
Loading the film is relatively easy. Just feed the film across the camera body and into the top film spool
Pull the film up across the camera and start to feed it into the empty film spool at the top of the camera.
Keep the film nice and tight across the film plane.
Turn the film advance lever and the film should start to feed into the camera.
Lining up the film is a pain so I just aim to get the film arrows around this area and then I know that I am good to go.
Keep on winding the film until the film is around this position. There are arrows on the camera but they are hard to see when you are loading the film.
Once the film is loaded, then it is time to begin.
Once the film is loaded and it is advanced to the first frame, then you are ready to shoot and the fun can begin.
I mostly only shoot black and white film. I did one roll of color with this camera but I just prefer black and white film.
So let’s get to the camera and how it renders images. I mostly used this camera at work and it delivers some really nice sharp images with nice contrast but this is also determined by the film that you use.
Composing with the square format is not easy. This is from one of my first rolls of film that I shot with this camera.
One of the biggest problems with the lens, though, is flaring. The lens can flare a lot without a lens hood, and after my first roll of film with the camera, I immediately ordered one. Luckily, the lens uses a Bay 1 mount, so it was easy to find a lens hood, as many TLRs use the same mounts for filters.
This camera is great for taking on walks, it is light and easy to carry.
The one thing this camera has going for it, which might also be a disadvantage, is the fact that it attracts people’s attention. Strangers will come up to you to talk all the time and ask questions about the camera. This camera is truly a people magnet.
This camera uses a leaf shutter so you can really shoot at some slow shutter speeds and still get really good sharp shots. I shout this at around 1/8 and it is still sharp enough for me. This would be very tricky on my Nikon F2 and impossible on my Pentax 67
But one of the best things about the camera is how quiet the shutter is. If you shoot someone who is a few feet away, he will never hear the shutter, but he will more than likely see the camera though.
The camera forces you into shooting at different angles and this can lead to some interesting shots and change the way you think when you are shooting.
Shooting the square format does give some interesting challenges as well, as the usual rule of thirds really does not work well with a 6×6 image but finding new ways to compose an image is the fun part. This camera has challenged me many times in my composition and shooting with the waist level finder gives the photos a different feel.
The composition is a real struggle for me with the 6×6 format, so I keep coming back to the camera to push myself. It is not easy to think in a 6×6 frame when you grew up shooting on SLR.
This camera is really not suited to shooting fast-moving action; you can try, but it would be very difficult. I have used it at work, and I like the results, but even then, I have to work very hard to make sure I nail the focus, as it is so easy to miss focus on a moving subject. I tend to use this camera more when I am walking around now, shooting interesting things I see in China.
The shutter on this camera is so quiet that anyone more than 3 or 4 feet away, will never hear this.
The one thing that no one talks about is, how small the camera really is. For a medium format camera, TLR is tiny and you can carry them very easily. There are almost no interchangeable lenses, just one camera, one lens, and your film so it simplifies your shooting a lot.
Shooting in public with this camera does get you a lot of attention. When I was shooting in this park in China, I got stopped at least 20 times by people who wanted to ask me questions about the camera.
This camera was my first step into medium format film photography, and it really changed the way I think about shooting and what I can do with film. It is a camera that trains you with its limitations, and I highly recommend that you pick up a TLR and shoot it for a while. It will push you to adapt and improve.
Conclusion:
To grade a camera is difficult; to grade an old film camera is even more difficult. There is no auto-focus, just a box and a lens that takes photos. But what a glorious box this is. It works beautifully, the images that it generates are lovely to look at, and the lens is sharp if you nail your focus. However, it is not a perfect camera. The ASA or ISO is very difficult to work with if you like to push your film, the lens has a rather long minimum focus distance, and it can flare badly without a lens hood. I can only compare the TLR to my other film cameras, but I would say that it is a really good film camera—not my favorite film camera of all time, but a really good, solid camera that can produce beautiful images. Overall, I would give the camera an 88 out of 100.
Pros
- small and light
- good light meter
- good construction quality
- the lens is nice and sharp
Cons
- lens flare
- limited ASA or ISO range
- Difficult to focus quickly