antonio_carusone Posted March 16, 2004 Share Posted March 16, 2004 Im about bid for a Yashica TLR on ebay and just wanted to know if there was a difference. I also see a G version as well. Are there any differences? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
douglas_green1 Posted March 16, 2004 Share Posted March 16, 2004 I believe that the Yashica 124 is incorrectly named, and in fact, it should be a Yashica Mat-124. The Mat-124G was the successor to the Mat-124, but the only difference is that it is newer, and it had gold cosmetic trim and gold electrical contacts. These differences are meaningless. However, one thing that you SHOULD know is that the Mat-124 is more reliable than the Mat-124G, because over the lifetime of the camera, the tooling that Yashica used to make the camera's internal gearing actually wore out from long useage (the camera was produced for nearly 20 years). So the later cameras had less precisely ground film advance gearing, and this turned out to be the main reliability issue with the camera, and it was the eventual reason that the camera was discontinued, even though it was still popular - The cost of new tooling would have been prohibitive. In short, for the same money or less, a nice condition Mat-124 is the one to get, rather than a Mat-124G that will probably cost more, and is actually somewhat less reliable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antonio_carusone Posted March 16, 2004 Author Share Posted March 16, 2004 Douglas, as always you have great advice. Thanks. What is a good price for a 124 in good conidtion with a working light meter? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
douglas_green1 Posted March 16, 2004 Share Posted March 16, 2004 From a known good seller who will offer some type of guarantee, I would say $160 - $200 for a perfectly working one, depending on the cosmetic condition, and how comprehensive the guarantee that you get is. FYI, I have found beautiful condition ones for under $100, but that was without any kind of guarantee, and I took a chance on them (especially regarding the meter). You also might want to consider getting just a Yashica Mat, without a lightmeter, and using an external meter. Those could be found for $60-90 and, except for the meter and the ability to use 220 film, are comparable to the the Mat-124. $60-90 is also fair value for an otherwise working Mat-124 with a known broken meter. The meters on these Yashica Mat-124 and Mat-124G use 625 batteries, and also, are the most likely part of the camera to fail, along with the winding mechanism I mentioned earlier. If you pay an extra $100 just to get the working meter, you might soon be disappointed if it gives up the ghost somewhat down the road. My advice is to plan on using an external meter with it, and pay half as much for a Yashica Mat, or a Mat-124 with a failed meter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garvey_p Posted March 16, 2004 Share Posted March 16, 2004 The 124-G has more plastic and is overall an inferior machine because of this. Also, photo.net legend has it that some of the late model 124-G's were using a three-element Yashinon instead of the proper tessar-type Yashinon that came before. YMMV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antonio_carusone Posted March 16, 2004 Author Share Posted March 16, 2004 Thanks folks. Douglas, one of the reasons why I want to get the 124 is the light meter. Do they really fail that much? Are they even reliable? Also would you happen to know a good dealer in NYC that would carry one? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob_rannells Posted March 16, 2004 Share Posted March 16, 2004 The 124G has no added plastic. Many people say it does, but it doesn't. On the 124G some of the silver colored parts of the 124 are painted black. Some people beleive they are plastic. If you scratch off the paint you will see that they are metal. I've taken apart many 124's and 124G's and the 124G has no added plastic. Yashica never put a three element Yashicor lens on a 124G. As Douglas said, later models of the 124G were different. They make a lot of noise when winding the camera. The 124 sounds a lot more solid. That being said, even the 124G's that make a lot of noise are fairly rugged. If the light meter on your Yashica Mat is calibrated correctly, it can give you fairly accurate exposures. You just have to know how to use it. It is an averaging meter and reads a wide area. Many times it will meter a large portion of the sky and underexpose the film. In this case you point the camera towards the ground. A hand held meter is the best way to measure light with any camera, but if you want to travel light the meter on the Yashica Mat will work fairly well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john falkenstine Posted March 16, 2004 Share Posted March 16, 2004 I recently purchased a YashicaMat 124G in excellent condition, with no film advance problems whatsoever from a local Camera shop, and I'm pleased with my purchase. The only gold trim I can find is the actual "G" itself. The internal light meter was not a factor for me at the very reasonable price of $100.00. However, I think buying cameras of any kind on Ebay should first be attempted if your local camera store can't meet your needs. Most of these stores, if they're any good, have a decent selection of used equipment that you can touch and try out...much better than buying "blind" on Ebay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
douglas_green1 Posted March 16, 2004 Share Posted March 16, 2004 Well Antonio, the Mat-124 that I have has a working meter, and I must admit that I do use it, and it is fairly accurate if you know how to use an averaging meter. But I also use a good hand-held Minolta or Gossen meter as well, and I use those in any kind of tricky lighting, or when shooting color slides, which have less lattitude than negative film. My view is that the meter in the Mat-124 is useful, but I would still be reluctant to rely 100% on it. Anyways, $160-200 is a typical price for a fully working (including meter) Mat-124 where the seller will stand behind all the functionality. But, as has been said, very nice ones can often be found for under $100, when bought in AS-IS condition, which usually means un-tested because the seller knows nothing about the camera. I personally have bought 3 of them this way, all in excellent or better cosmetic shape, and two of them were 100% functional, and the 3rd had a broken meter but was otherwise functional. I should add that in each case, the internals of the taking lenses needed cleaning, due to oil droplets on the shutter. If you know what you're doing and have a useable spanner tool to remove the front lens group, that's an easy repair. If you DON'T know what you're doing or lack the right tool, you could easily destroy the lens and shutter. Also, FYI, I kept one of these for myself, and no longer have the others. I passed the others along to a couple of young photo students who are happily still using them. It's kind of a hobby of mine to pick these up at bargain prices and put them into top working order and find them a good home, but I haven't had time to do this with any TLRs recently (such as in the past year or so). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antonio_carusone Posted March 17, 2004 Author Share Posted March 17, 2004 Thanks everyone. Im going to check out some stores here in NYC and see they have any. Im going to see how well my photos come out when using the internal meter. If Im not happy Ill just buy a handheld meter. Ill let everyone know what happens. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaiyen Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 <p>I got a really beat up 124 a while ago that, after CLA, surprised me when the needle on the meter started moving after I put in a battery on a whim. The meter has been surprisingly accurate, or at least close enough for slide film, which means pretty close. <p>A few weeks ago, I as down in Santa Cruz for my fiance's family reunion. About 20 minutes after we got there, one of the nicest sunsets I've seen presented me with a preparedness issue. I just didn't have the time to unpack all my gear, get my tripod, bring my 35mm to serve as meter _and_ capture the sunset on 120 slide film, which was one of the "experiments" I wanted to try that weekend. So I just used the 124's meter, down 2 stops. <a href="http://www.pbase.com/image/26941789">Results are quite satisfactory.</a> <p>By the way, Mark Hama does the best CLA work on these cameras. Fantastic. <p>allan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antonio_carusone Posted March 17, 2004 Author Share Posted March 17, 2004 Allan, WOW! The detail on that shot is truely amazing! I cant wait to get one. How do you scan you photos? Do you scan them right from film or from a print? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaiyen Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 Wow. that is perhaps the most enthusiastic response I've ever had to any photo I've ever taken (I'm still a newbie). Many, many thanks... I scanned it with an Epson 3200 we have at work, directly from the transparency (using Doug Fisher's "MF Film Holder" for what it's worth). It's Provia 100F. It's in a public lab, so the scanner was kinda dirty, and I had to deal with quite a few little "snarkies" on the scan. After a long time of clean up in PS I got it pretty okay. I might end up scanning it again after I finally get my own scanner (where I can control the variables a bit better). But otherwise a straight scan - just minimal sharpening (which is rather critical with these flatbed scanners). No levels or anything. allan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antonio_carusone Posted March 17, 2004 Author Share Posted March 17, 2004 Allan, how did you scan it on a flatbed? I have a Epson flatbed as well but it only scans 35mm negs and slides. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaiyen Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 Epson makes a few flatbeds that have a transparency unit large enough for medium or even large format film. The 2450, 3170, 3200, and the new 4870 can all do this. The 3200 and 4870 can even go up to 4x5 large format. allan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antonio_carusone Posted March 17, 2004 Author Share Posted March 17, 2004 Actually I have a freakin Canon. Do you know any holders I can get for it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garvey_p Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 Bob claimed: "Yashica never put a three element Yashicor lens on a 124G. " I have seen it posted here before, and according to Marc James Small, "The three-element replacement for the Yashinon in the last 124G's was the Yashikor, a rather ill-developed clone of the Prewar Zeiss Triotar. It's performance is sadly off the mark compared to the Yashinon." See http://www.ex.ac.uk/mfd/archive/v6/v6n36.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob_rannells Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 I have no idea who Mark James Small is but I have never heard of or seen a Yashikor lens on a 124G. These were used on earlier model D's, 635's and older Yashica TLR's. Newer model D's, I believe 635's, 24,12 124, and 124G's used a four element Yashinon. It is possible someone could of switched a lens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garvey_p Posted March 18, 2004 Share Posted March 18, 2004 "I have no idea who Mark James Small is but I have never heard of or seen a Yashikor lens on a 124G." I think the story was that as it became apparent that the production line was ending for good, they went cheap for the last batches they cranked out. FWIW, Marc James Small is the author of a couple books, "Non-Leitz Leica Thread-mount Lenses" and "Compendium: East and West-1940-1972: Zeiss Ikon in the Postwar World." I believe he is fairly well known in Zeiss/Rollei/Leica circles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob_rannells Posted March 18, 2004 Share Posted March 18, 2004 I guess Small Mark James isn't very well known in Yashica circles. He should stick with screw mount lenses, much better heritage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dale_dickerson2 Posted May 31, 2004 Share Posted May 31, 2004 Marc is more interesting on Zeiss optics. However he is a big fan of the tlr. He is not known for sharing poor information. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lee bells and ginger Posted July 12, 2004 Share Posted July 12, 2004 I've got a Yashica MAt 124G Antonio, and i've never had any problems with the light meter or the winding mechanism. (I bought it - perhaps rather expensively - from Jessops Classic in London for ?250, and I believe they had given it a full service, new battery in the meter etc). It's been a fantastic camera, it's been to Southern Africa with me for 3 months, has never given me any problems and takes gorgeous photos. Buy one! You won't be disappointed. (Plus they look cool) Lee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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