[thanks thread] Yashica mat 124 g

[gandalfk7]

hi, first post here.

it's just to thank you because you made me decide to buy a Mat 124 g and try to enter the magic world of MF.
i lurked many threads about this tlr and saw many photos.

so thank you, i think we'll be friends in a near future

cheers
Matteo

[cmedin]

Have fun with it; it's a really great camera. The Yashinon lens performs amazingly when stopped down to f/8-11.

[Uwe_Nds]

Have fun with it; it's a really great camera. The Yashinon lens performs amazingly when stopped down to f/8-11.

Doesn't more or less every lens perform very well when stopped down that much?

Best regards,
Uwe

[hofrench@mac.co]

I think the lens performs very well at every aperture except wide open.
The one caution is to find a lens shade, since these Yashinons are not multi-coated.
I ended up switching to a Rolleiflex after several years of Yashica Mat use not because the lenses showed any particular weakness, but mainly because the Rollei is a 2.8 and lets me shoot hand held that much further into the declining light.

[gandalfk7]

she's right there, standing on my table.
in all her black majesty.

i'm satisfied of my purchase.
however i think that in the lower lens there is some mildew (i don't know if it's correct, i mean the mushroom that is a friend of humidity and sometimes lives between the lenses)
but tomorrow i'll check deeply for that problem.

i have another little firend, a lighmeter of my grandfather.
it's a Gossen Sixtomat (description (http://www.optiksammlung.de/Diverse/GossenSixtomat.html)) but i don't know if it meters correctly.
fortunately the Mat has an integrated light meter.

on saturday i'll load my first roll and i'll try the Mat in the historycal centre of my city (Bologna).
and also i'll go to a little shop that may have an answer for the bad things between the lenses.


goodnight

Matteo

[KoNickon]

Matteo, benvenuto! It is a fine camera and it was my introduction to medium format as well. I still have it, and need to use it more, since indeed the lens is excellent. The word you are searching for is "fungus" -- it may not be a problem at all, but it can spread, and damage the lens glass. A good repairer can clean the fungus off, and with the right tools to open up the lens, so can you. But see what the camera store says about it.

Please share your pictures of Bologna with us as soon as they're available!

[cmedin]

Doesn't more or less every lens perform very well when stopped down that much?

Best regards,
Uwe
Every lens has its sweet spot. Here's a good thread on the 124G:
http://photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00031D

The guy doing the testing found f/11 to be quite nice, almost twice the resolution of f/4. Just a data point to throw out there to the new 124G owner.

Also, the internal 124G meter likes mercury batteries, so make sure you check it out if you're using a battery of different voltage.

[KoNickon]

One of the best things about this camera is its very bright groundglass viewfinder -- a fresnel screen and f2.8 viewing lens makes a big difference. Outside of the F and later series Rolleiflexes, I don't think you can get that combination elsewhere.

[cmedin]

The C330 can be pretty bright too. :)

[rogue_designer]

Congratulations Matteo - this is one of the cameras I first learned on. And used constantly up until a few years ago (when I bought a Rolleiflex).

Enjoy! Post lots of pictures!