The World of Medium Format Film
Lucky find, the film camera collection grows a little. Shots with the Yashica Mat.
I never thought I’d make it into the 120mm world. I considered it but never really thought I’d actually end up getting a medium format film camera, well that’s changed.
Not sure if I’ve mentioned it on this blog but since getting back into film I’ve also gotten into thrift shopping in the hope of finding more film cameras.
Once a month (sometimes twice) ill head down to my local Salvation Army store to see what they have. Most of the time there isn’t anything worth while but occasionally I’ll find something. My first worth while find was a Minolta XG-1 with Rokkor 40mm f2 lens which my son now uses and it produces some nice images.
Lets get on with the find this post is really about, that would be when I came across a Yashica Mat TLR. When I first saw it I knew what type of camera it was and had a rough idea around how it worked but was a little reluctant to purchase it.
So I called an attendant around to open the cabinet to take a closer look at it. Close up the leather was peeling on almost every panel, it needed a clean and the shutter button felt a little sticky. Things I kind of expect from a camera this old that hadn’t ever been restored. I opened it up and had a look around and seemed to be in good condition, lenses seemed clean, view finder was good, shutter speeds seemed to be accurate when firing and the film advance winder did its job.
I jumped on eBay and had a quick look to see what they go for and saw they were around the $280-350 AUD for a working example. Considering it was $80 I took a gamble and bought it.
When I brought it home I gave it a quick clean and ripped off the old peeling leather and cleaned off as much of the glue residue as possible. I then jumped online and purchased my first roll of 120mm film from Walkens House of Film which was a roll of Kodak TMax 400. I figured I’d have a better chance at getting something half decent from some black and white film first. Here are some of the images from that first roll.
Once i knew that the camera worked i ordered a replacement leather set for the camera off of eBay to give it a fresh look. The pictures of the actual camera at the start of the post are it with the new leather panels.
For those that don’t know much about the Yashica Mat its a 6x6 square format twin lens camera which has one lens to look through and the 2nd lens is the one that exposes the film. It also has a waist level view finder which is mirrored, so when composing and making micro adjustments your always moving the wrong way (takes some getting used to). It has two 80mm fixed lenses that range from f3.5 to f22 and a max shutter speed of 1/500, ISO is limited to 400. These Yashica TLR cameras were manufactured from 1957 up until around the 1980s, they went through different specs and names but essentially had the same layout. My particular model doesn’t come with a built in light meter so having to use my phone with an app. Having to meter with an external device and the fact that it’s a waist level view finder, your forced to slow down even more so than I would with my manual focus Contax S2b with build in light meter. This is a good segue onto what it’s like to shoot with the Yashica Mat.
I find focusing to be hard with the standard screen it comes with, I tend to focus back and forth past my focal point and gradually shorten the distance until I hit that focal point (well I think I’ve hit it). This can take me 30 seconds or so as I’m second guessing myself as to whether I’m actually on my desired focus point, it doesn’t help that the view finder isn’t the brightest out there. Once I hit focus I then compose, this definitely takes longer than it should because of the mirrored view in the view finder were moving left is actually right. I really don’t think I’ll ever get used to this to be honest.
I make it sound like it’s a nightmare to use this camera, but it’s not. Yes it’s a slower process but with practice like most things I’ll get faster at using it. I definitely think it makes getting nice results back so much more rewarding as you had to work for it.
Of course if your going to be shooting anything that requires you to be moving from scene to scene quickly and getting those shots out, this probably isn’t the camera for it.
I’ve been shooting stuff with it that’s been slow paced with no time restraints, so I’ve been enjoying learning the qwerks of the camera.
As you can imagine I have only touched the surface of medium format and look forward to getting into it a lot more, with the potential of getting another medium format camera in the future (watch this space).
I havent put many rolls through this camera yet, maybe 3-4 but here are some of my faves so far.
Thanks for visiting.
The Analog Journey Continues
The analog world can bite hard sometimes, it lures you in and then takes hold and doesnt let go. Tales of the journey.
So i’ve been on this analog journey for around 10-11 months now and i must say its had its ups and downs. Ups are definitely the moments when you get your scans back and you have some gems. Downs were when i came across those scans that i didn’t quite nail and didn’t understand why.
Before i get onto that lets talk about the new cameras i’ve added to the list. Let me start with “gear does not make you a better photographer”, but i love talking about it. Hey i’m in I.T. and love gadgets and photography gear is one of the things i love to have, know about and talk about (feel free to skip further down if gear isn’t your thing :-P). Like many others i cant afford to upgrade my camera body to every new body thats released, so i weigh up my needs and see whether i would actually benefit from the upgrade. Film SLR’s are no different (sometimes cheaper is the only diff).
So the first SLR i bought when getting back into this analog game 10 months ago was the Fujica AX-1, which is an entry level SLR in the AX range not sporting a full manual mode. I originally went for this camera as i honestly wasn’t 100% sure whether id get back into it or not, and didn’t want to spend too much money on an SLR. It didn’t take me long after buying the Fujica that i knew i wanted to continue on this analog journey, so i started looking into a 35mm SLR body that i could invest in that i knew would last me for a long time which also had a lens range i would be happy with.
I came across this video on youtube by Kyle McDougall, he opened my eyes to some brands i hadn’t really heard too much about like Yashica and Contax. He also had this great video about the amazing range of lenses that these cameras supported.
I knew i wanted my next SLR camera body to tick the following boxes:
To have full manual functionality (with no add ons parts)
Have a max shutter speed of at least 1/2000 of a second
An internal light meter
Fully mechanical
Have a great range of lenses
Reasonably priced
What SLR body and lens range did i settle on you ask? My next purchase was the Yashica FX-3 Super 2000 with a Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f1.7, i found it for a super cheap price (pun not intended). The Yashica ticked all the boxes, except for one which is why there is a 3rd and final 35mm SLR purchase. Before we get onto that camera, the Yashica allowed me to use any lens in the Carl Zeiss C/Y mount range or Yashica C/Y mount range which you can find the list for here. Im sure you’ve heard of Carl Zeiss if you’ve been in the photography game for while, they make some amazing glass, this was a range of lenses that wouldn’t disappoint. As for the body it had everything you could want in an SLR body, it was also light and as mentioned by Kyle in the video above it sits very nicely in your hand due to the nice ergonomics.
Now why did i buy a 3rd 35mm SLR, as good as the Yashica FX-3 Super 2000 is you do notice the lack of precision with it. It has a metal frame but has a plastic body, so wouldn’t handle the rain or being knocked around very well. The film advance lever doesn’t feel sturdy along with the rest of the body. I wanted something that again ticketed all the boxes in my previous requirements but also adding one extra box. I wanted something that had a little more precision to it, that had better build quality and that would potentially last me forever. The type of SLR i was thinking about was to the calibre of the Canon F1 & Nikon F3 ranges, sturdy well built and renowned for their build quality and durability.
I chose the Contax S2b, this thing is a tank. It is fully mechanical and has a max shutter speed of 1/4000 of a second, only needs battery for the light meter, has centre weighed metering and of course supports the amazing C/Y mounted Carl Zeiss lenses. Oh and its very pretty.
The Contax S2b is definitely my go to 35mm SLR, i cant see me purchasing another 35mm SLR unless its purely to add to my collection but definitely not to replace it.
As for lenses, the Carl Zeiss list of C/Y mounted lenses is very large. At the moment i have invested in the Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f1.7 as mentioned above as well as the Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 35mm f2.8. The other lens id like to eventually invest in is the Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 28mm f2.8, these 3 lenses are great to travel with as they aren’t big like the extremely desirable bigger brothers Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f1.4, Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 35mm f1.4 and Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 28mm f2 (maybe one day).
Thats the gear out of the way, how about how I’ve been going with it all. Initially i was into the Fuji film stock, since then i have discovered Kodak and haven’t gone back since. I think i initially tried a roll of Kodak TMax 400 which i really liked, i was reluctant to do much of anything in colour based on some early result not turning out how id liked. But again ive started shooting alot more colour and been shooting a lot of Kodak Portra 400, 800 and recently 160. I love the colours from Portra and think i’ll stick to that range. I have since shifted to Kodak Trix for black and white, I’m liking the slightly more contrasty look the TriX gives over the TMax.
As some more experienced film photographers would understand, film tends to handle highlights much better than shadows. When starting off its something you don’t really understand or know about, i understand now why a lot of photographers choose to rate film that is 800 speed at 400 or 400 speed at 200 so they can stay within the threshold the film best performs in. Knowing this from the beginning or at least knowing to overexpose shots, i think I could have saved a lot of images.
I feel i still have plenty to learn when it comes to film stock which is why I’m trying to stick to Kodak Portra and TriX to try and get consistent results across different lighting situations (i fear this will take sometime). With time I hope to become more familia with these film stocks and know what kind of results I’ll get for each shot.
Hear are some of my favourites over the past 6-7 months from both the Yashica FX-3 Super 2000 and the Contax S2b. Film stock varies with Kodak & Fujifilm.
Thanks for visiting.