edward_feltman Posted November 21, 2001 Share Posted November 21, 2001 I purchased two cameras in a package, one Minolta Autocord in reasonably good shape (execept for the leatherette) and one Yashica-Mat. I purchased them on e-bay, knowing that it was chancy. The Yashica-Mat is DOA with a crank that spins freely in both directions, not advancing the film or cocking the shutter. The Yashica appears to be a unit that is sandwiched between the LM and the 124G, however has no light meter, but has the 4 element Yashanon lens. I took it to my local repair shop who did not seem to want to work on it, but said that he thought that the film advance gears were stripped. I then contacted two mail order repair houses (one that deals specifically with Yashica-Mats and got a price of about $87 for the repair. I have $137 wrapped up in both cameras. The issue is that I can�t get a good fix on the value of either the Autocord or Yachica-Mat to determine if I should make the repair and sell the Yashica, or sell it for parts. Any advice on values would be appreciated as it will help me figure out which way to go! Thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
masatoshi_yamamoto Posted November 21, 2001 Share Posted November 21, 2001 When I saw the subject "Yashica Mat Repair," I already thought that this must be about the film advance. I was right. I had a Yashica Mat, and it took very good pictures when it could advance film, but this was not often. I bought it used, gave it a CLA because the winding was noisy. This did not help, and I had many film jams so that I had to open the camera and lose the film. I took it for repairs 3 times to a repair person who really wanted to work on it, but every time there was no problem to find. The noises got worse, the film jams got more and more, and finally I sold it. So my advice is that if you have a camera with film winding problems, do not waste time trying to fix it. The lens is very nice when stopped down, but the other problems make it very difficult to enjoy the camera. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richard_oleson Posted November 21, 2001 Share Posted November 21, 2001 as a wild guess, i'd think that in good shape either camera is probably worth pretty close to what you paid for the pair. the minolta is probably the better of the two, so if it seems to be in good shape, i'd glue the leather down and go with it, and sell the 'mat on ebay as a parts camera. rick :)= rick_oleson.tripod.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aoresteen Posted November 21, 2001 Share Posted November 21, 2001 Try Mark Hama in Georgia. He bought all the remaing parts for Yashicamats from Yashica. http://www.markhama.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edward_feltman Posted November 22, 2001 Author Share Posted November 22, 2001 At least I know that I am talking to the right person! Mark Hama is the person who gave me the $80 quote. Does anyone have any idea what this might bring for parts on e-bay? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nolan woodbury Posted November 22, 2001 Share Posted November 22, 2001 Good answers here so far. It is very true the weak spot of the YashicaMat series is the film advance. Those that have this camera and use it -to quote my friend Murray Twelves- wind with advance "with care." If it were me, I'd send both to Mark. Fix the Yashica, have him CLA both to insure everything is working properly. With proper lubrication, cleaning and calibration, both will give you years of trouble-free service (the Autocord more so) and excellent images. Again, I think you'll find the Minolta the superior of the two in terms of image quality: corner-to-corner sharpness, and contrast, but I don't want to sell the 'Mat short. I've taken some of my best pictures with the various Yashica lenses over the years. These camera's often have wonderful glass. What is the YashicaMat worth as a parts camera? Not much. Check the prices of "non-working" Yashica TLR's on eBay and I'm sure you'll agree; It may not even fetch a bid over $25.00. If the taking lens is in good repair the camera is worth fixing and should be fixed, its not a throw-away item. Either, or both are great medium format camera's...be it where you start, or finish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aoresteen Posted November 22, 2001 Share Posted November 22, 2001 I agree - get it fixed! It's worth the $80. Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edward_feltman Posted November 22, 2001 Author Share Posted November 22, 2001 Thank you to everyone for your great advice! I bought both cameras as a package with the intent of selling the Yashica-Mat. As this is a low end model (no meter or self timer that I could see) the decision is purely economic although I am tempted to keep them both! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pshinkaw Posted November 26, 2001 Share Posted November 26, 2001 I have 4 Yashica TLR's. The only one that makes me nervous is the Mat because the film advance mechanism feels so fragile. When I was very young, I used a state-of-the-art Yashica 12 for the high school paper. It was a Mat with a match-needle meter but no provision for 220 film. All of the newspaper photographers would tend to snap the wind crank firmly and enthusiastically. It may be that the extra leverage afforded by the long crank is just too much for the gears. A more moderate approach to film winding might make the Yashica last longer. Otherwise, it's a great camera. Yashica's tend to have comparatively bright viewfinders which also makes them nice as you get older and your own optics get harder to focus. These days $80 for a repair seems quite reasonable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now