Yashica Mat and Hotshoe flash - any ideas ?

Dear all,

 

I am looking for some good light source for Yashica Mat. I do the documentary

and portrait (usually not in the same time) black and white photographs.

 

Any ideas/solutions for some useful and effective portable light for this camera

will be appreciated.

 

Kind regards,

PG

Your flash mount is on the side of the camera. This means that any larger flash units will

hang off the side. When I was using these cameras for weddings and school photography

(many moons ago) I preferred to work with L-shaped flash brackets mounted in the tripod

socket (on the bottom of the camera). You can probably find one in the catalog from, or

online at Porter's Camera Store in Cedar Falls, Iowa or other specialty photo distributors. The

Hotshoe flash you're apparently using (from the title of your thread here) will need a cord to

plug into the PC socket on the camera. I don't believe Yashica put a hotshoe on any of the

Mats.

Maybe on second look, I didn't answer your question. You could do well with any current

brand of flash unit that would have a number of auto output ranges and manual. Sunpak for

instance, is a widely available brand and not overly expensive. Some Sunpak models might

still supply the needed PC cord for your camera. Is it possible for you to find a reputable

camera specialty store where someone could demonstrate a few different units on your

camera for you?

Stroboframe makes a bracket that is specifically for medium format cameras that have a waist-level viewing screen like your Yashicamat. It holds a shoe mount flash above the camera and just slightly forward of the viewing screen so you can still look down on the screen. There is a shoe mount on the left side of the Yashicamat but it's a "cold" shoe -- no electrical connection -- and normally mounted backwards so the flash would point backwards (who knows why). (It can be reversed to point the normal way.)With a simple mechanical camera like this I would recommend a Vivitar 285HV flash. They are being made new again and sell for about $90, much cheaper than fancy new flashes with features like TTL that aren't supported on this camera anyway. It's a rugged powerful flash that has been a workhorse of news and wedding photographers for 25 years. You can also get the virtually identical 283 used for a few bucks. You can get both the bracket and flash from www.bhphotovideo.com. (Don't go to Porters -- they are horrendously overpriced.) I have a mint Yashicamat 124G that I love and a couple of older Yashicamats, along with four of the Vivitar flashes. There's a lot you can do with this combination.

Look at Vivitar 283 & 285'S. They are powerful, ajustable and great for the price. You can get new 285's for $80-$90 and find used for all ranges of price. PC to hot shoe cables for firering the main and and a wein hot shoe optical slave to fire other flashes if wanted. Look at the http://strobist.blogspot.com/ for all kinds of info on lighting with this type of setup.

Thanks very much indeed.

 

The Vivitar solution is the thing that I looked for, thanks for the great website.

 

Just for having it clear , is it this one that you all talk about?

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/61441-REG/Vivitar_233965_285HV_Auto_Flash.html

 

..and bracket:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/52727-REG/Stroboframe_310_666_Bracket_Quick_Flip.html

or this one from the ebay

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/STROBOFRAME-R4B-Rotating-Flash-Bracket-Medium-35-Format_W0QQitemZ290190540720QQihZ019QQcategoryZ64354QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD2VQQcmdZViewItem

 

Is it all needed ? PC cord included in Flash set - as in specification.

 

Pawel Gega

Both B&H items are correct. The one on Ebay is a bigger more expensive Stroboframe model. I'd have to look at the Strobframe web site to see if it is designed for waist level viewing. I think it is but it would also be overkill on the Yashicamat. It's a much bigger and heavier bracket than the other one. The Vivitar should come with a short sync cord. Obviously you can also get longer cords if you want to hold the flash off to the side at arms length, put it on a light stand, put it on an umbrella or softbox, etc. See www.strobist.com for ideas on that.

Thanks very much Craig, I will enjoy Strobist during the Christmas. Thank you for making me sure about the stuff.

Hi Pawel,

I started with a Yahica 24 ( precursor of the 124 G) and still have a Yashica 635 in my collection.

My favourite flash is a Metz 45 CL4, which I use with my Bronicas, Canon A1's and even my Nikon D200, but more or less any manual flash will suffice and give good results as long as you can work out the aperture from the GN..

I have the SCA adapters for my neg film cameras but, like most other Metz 45 users, I just use the thyristor with very accurate results.

Originally, I used to use an old Sunpak GT 33 on my first Yashica back in the 70's but the side mount was a bit of a pain so personally I would advise getting a hammerhead with the undermount bar like the Metz - they're a bit big but they give top results, especially if you add the bounce reflector and they have quite a low trigger voltage so I can use it on many digital cameras too without damaging the electrics.

The main flash head is tiltable, so indoors, it can be bounced off the ceiling and the secondary small flash acts quite nicely as a fill.

The Metz is a real pro tool - it's big and powerful BUT, you won't go unoticed if you mount it on your camera LOL.

Regards...

Tony

Hi Tony, Thank you for this and sorry for the late reply.

Would I need some additional cord to connect Yashica, or there is one in the box ?

 

And what about the stuff from Strobist - will I have any problems to connect some additional things to ths flash like umbrellas etc. ?

Tony, Is this ok ?

 

http://www.warehouseexpress.com/?/photo/flashguns/metz.html#45cl4

 

The prices varies much, frmo 300 to 600 dollars.