Medium Format G.A.S. Yashica 12 (Page 2): I bought a Rollei 3.5E (xenotar) at a camera show for $40 (circa 1990) and yes, the lens IQ is stunning

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

abc1234 wrote:

My uncle had a Rollei, f/3.5. I had a Ricohmatic 225 and YashicaMat 124G. I occasionally used the Rollei and it was head and shoulders over the other two. Other than that limited experience, I cannot vouch for the other claims. When I outgrew the Yashica, I went to the Mamiya system because of the interchangeable lenses and other other accessories. Far more versatile than the Rollei and, in my experience, as well built. Plus you could focus down to eight inches.

I bought a Rollei 3.5E (xenotar) at a camera show for $40 (circa 1990) and yes, the lens IQ is stunning - but at my age I could/would not put up with the reversed waist level viewing - so I got rid of it.

I have also used the Ricohmatic 225 - which comes very close to the Rollei for IQ !

But for people wanting to shoot 6X6 square with a smaller user friendly form factor and eyelevel un-reversed viewing I now use and recommend the folding Mamiya 6 with the Olympus lens which features unit focusing lens with the film plane and a nice rangefinder.
.

CWGordon

There was a magic to knowing what exposure to use and how to use the film cameras. A good photographer back then really was way ahead of the novice. Today, of course, anyone can get a pretty good picture with their cell phone. Not much knowledge required. The darkroom was also a great reinforcer. Seeing the image developing and for the first time determining what you got quality wise was a neat experience. It took a lot of knowledge and some guts to shoot professionally or semi-professionally.
That said, it has been a long time since I chose to spend time in a darkroom. I take a film camera out once in a great while. Develop at the Walgreen’s or Walmart. Not much excitement. I like my digital an awful lot!

ELNikkor

I had a Yashicamat, sorry, but I hated the thing. So clunky, looking down into a magnifying glass with everything reversed, threw it away.

drobvit Loc: Southern NV

dmagett wrote:

I just acquired this from a friend. Lens clear, shutter speeds appear to work, etc.
Ordered a battery and some 120 B&W film to try.
Something to play with during this time of concern.

Nice. My aunt and uncle had one that I got to use occasionally. They were nice enough to keep all my photos, lol. I went really low-ball...ordered a Holga 120GCFN to play with. Now to get some chemistry for developing.

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

imagemeister wrote:

....But for people wanting to shoot 6X6 square with a smaller user friendly form factor and eyelevel un-reversed viewing I now use and recommend the folding Mamiya 6 with the Olympus lens which features unit focusing lens with the film plane and a nice rangefinder.
.

Interesting!
They made a ton of Mamiya 6 models.
Is this the Mamiya you’re referencing? https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Mamiya-6-Rangefinder-Camera-w-Olympus-Zuiko-1-3-5-f-7-5cm-Lens-/293348176590

abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois

ELNikkor wrote:

I had a Yashicamat, sorry, but I hated the thing. So clunky, looking down into a magnifying glass with everything reversed, threw it away.

I had no trouble with the reverse image.

Carl1024 Loc: Kaneohe, HI 96744

I'd like to buy a Panasonic DMC- GH4 whos LCD screen isn't working, is it worth the purchase?
……………………………………….reply ends...………………..

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

Carl1024 wrote:

I'd like to buy a Panasonic DMC- GH4 whos LCD screen isn't working, is it worth the purchase?
……………………………………….reply ends...………………..

Why are you posting on this thread? I suggest you start a new thread in the classified section here: https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/s-6-1.html

Or the main section:
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/s-1-1.html

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

I have fond memories of my Yashica experience. As a 14-year old kid who was into photography, I wanted a Rolleiflex TLR- it was THE medium format camera around 1958 - but I could not come up with $500. About that time, I secured an after-school job as a gofer/janitor/maker of passport pictures in a local portrait/wedding studio and made enough money to score a Yashica-Mat listed at 75 bucks- got it a Penn Camera for $49.95.

The boss at the studio was training me to use the 4x5 press cameras so I would be able to practice for wedding work. On my own time, however, I was putting lots of mileage on that Yashica-Mat- street shooting, landscapes, at the zoo, and lots of my high school sports games. In two months I manage to yank the film advance crank right out of the camera. So...I brought my wounded camera back to the dealer and Mr. Erenrich told me the camera was still under warranty and to take it directly to the importer in a loft somewhere around Central Park West.

Upon arrival at the loft, I was greeted by a Japanese gentleman in the "service department". There were six guys unpacking camera from crates packed with excelsior (that straw-like stuff) and placing the cameras in nice silver and blue colored boxes. No repair folks insight.

The gentlemen's command of English was limited but he was very kind and attentive. He asked me if there was film in the camera- I said no. With that, he tossed the camera into the garbage bin, reached into the crate and gave me a new camera and some sage advice; "...delicate small Japanese camera...you have large- not delicate American hands...crank slowly...not Rolleiflex"! His accent was precious! I could not stop laughing all the way home on the subway!

I must have put a thousand rolls through that thing. The lens was no Xenotar but I processed my Verichrome and Super-XX carefully and my 11x14 prints were damn sharper that all my cohort's 35mm stuff.

Meanwhile- back at the New York Daily News, the photographers were going off their Speedgraphics and transitioning to medium format. The paper bought a bunch or Rolleiflexes. These guys were used to beating up there nearly indestructible (mostly military surplus) 4x5 cameras- finish a shoot, toss the camera into the trunk of their car and race back to the darkroom to make the deadline. In the words of my Japanese friend- "Rolleiflex not Speedgraphic"! So again, after a few expensive repairs and replacements, the paper purchased a few crates of Yashica-Mats and almost considered them as disposable cameras. If any of the staff wanted to have a Rolley- the had to buy their own!

More history- At one point the folks at Rollei sued Yashica for patient infringement- seemed that the bayonet filter/lens shade mount was fashioned after the Rollei- among other cosmetics. The case fell apart after the Rollei and Yashica-Mat were disassembled by independent experts and found to be extremely dissimilar! It was noted in the report that one of the early Yashica models had a blue-enameled metal internal part that was found to be from a Maxwell-House coffee tin- good to the very last drop! The Rollei folks persisted and reinstated the claim under a legal technically called "passing off" not "pissing-off" and that one never made it to court either.

When I grew up and became a wedding photographer, I shot black and white on my Super Graphic and my first color outfit consisted of 2 Rolleiflexes- a 2.8 and a 3.5, A Rollewide, and a TeliRollei. SHARP!!!

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

GoofyNewfie wrote:

Interesting!
They made a ton of Mamiya 6 models.
Is this the Mamiya you’re referencing? https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Mamiya-6-Rangefinder-Camera-w-Olympus-Zuiko-1-3-5-f-7-5cm-Lens-/293348176590

NO - that is an early inferior version

This is the one I am using and recommend - the things to look for are SQUARE rangefinder windows, an auto-stop film advance knob with marked frame numbers, and OLYMPUS lens with PC flash connection, and finally, make sure the camera has the spring loaded film pressure plate for holding the film flat in the moving /focusing film chamber. These pressure plates have been known to get separated from the camera by dumb people ! There is a later model called the AUTOMAT that somehow cocks the shutter automatically - but for me, that is just another source for a mechanical problem

https://www.ebay.com/itm/EXC-4-w-CASE-Mamiya-6-SIX-IVB-Late-Model-6-6-Rangefinder-from-JAPAN-1853/303509314386?hash=item46aa909b52:g:8VUAAOSwtyxeZQ5G

At one time in my past, I took the lens from a 3.5 Rollei (Xenotar) and put in on a Mamiya 6 - worked great ! But, as usual in a weak moment I sold it

I have also put Minolta Autocord and Zeiss Ikoflex lenses on the Mamiya 6 with good sucess. The early Olympus M6 lenses had a propensity to fog up for some unknown reason - so that is why I started relpacing some with GOOD TLR lenses.
.

gchapell

Remember your basics. Sunny 16 rule shutter speed= 1/asa of film @ f16 on a bright sunny day gets you started. A lot of fudge factor with negative film. Have fun.

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

imagemeister wrote:

NO - that is an early inferior version br br This... (show quote)

Thanks for the info!

Badgertale Loc: Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

imagemeister wrote:

The 124 was my first medium format camera

It was my first, too. It was a great camera and took fantastic portraits! If I could buy one again, I would. I moved up to the larger Yashica for weddings.

It was the best camera! Loved it....

Badgertale Loc: Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

Badgertale wrote:

It was my first, too. It was a great camera and took fantastic portraits! If I could buy one again, I would. I moved up to the larger Yashica for weddings.

It was the best camera! Loved it....

Sorry...it was a Yashicamat 125G.

abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois

E.L.. Shapiro wrote:

I have fond memories of my Yashica experience. As a 14-year old kid who was into photography, I wanted a Rolleiflex TLR- it was THE medium format camera around 1958 - but I could not come up with $500. About that time, I secured an after-school job as a gofer/janitor/maker of passport pictures in a local portrait/wedding studio and made enough money to score a Yashica-Mat listed at 75 bucks- got it a Penn Camera for $49.95.

The boss at the studio was training me to use the 4x5 press cameras so I would be able to practice for wedding work. On my own time, however, I was putting lots of mileage on that Yashica-Mat- street shooting, landscapes, at the zoo, and lots of my high school sports games. In two months I manage to yank the film advance crank right out of the camera. So...I brought my wounded camera back to the dealer and Mr. Erenrich told me the camera was still under warranty and to take it directly to the importer in a loft somewhere around Central Park West.

Upon arrival at the loft, I was greeted by a Japanese gentleman in the "service department". There were six guys unpacking camera from crates packed with excelsior (that straw-like stuff) and placing the cameras in nice silver and blue colored boxes. No repair folks insight.

The gentlemen's command of English was limited but he was very kind and attentive. He asked me if there was film in the camera- I said no. With that, he tossed the camera into the garbage bin, reached into the crate and gave me a new camera and some sage advice; "...delicate small Japanese camera...you have large- not delicate American hands...crank slowly...not Rolleiflex"! His accent was precious! I could not stop laughing all the way home on the subway!

I must have put a thousand rolls through that thing. The lens was no Xenotar but I processed my Verichrome and Super-XX carefully and my 11x14 prints were damn sharper that all my cohort's 35mm stuff.

Meanwhile- back at the New York Daily News, the photographers were going off their Speedgraphics and transitioning to medium format. The paper bought a bunch or Rolleiflexes. These guys were used to beating up there nearly indestructible (mostly military surplus) 4x5 cameras- finish a shoot, toss the camera into the trunk of their car and race back to the darkroom to make the deadline. In the words of my Japanese friend- "Rolleiflex not Speedgraphic"! So again, after a few expensive repairs and replacements, the paper purchased a few crates of Yashica-Mats and almost considered them as disposable cameras. If any of the staff wanted to have a Rolley- the had to buy their own!

More history- At one point the folks at Rollei sued Yashica for patient infringement- seemed that the bayonet filter/lens shade mount was fashioned after the Rollei- among other cosmetics. The case fell apart after the Rollei and Yashica-Mat were disassembled by independent experts and found to be extremely dissimilar! It was noted in the report that one of the early Yashica models had a blue-enameled metal internal part that was found to be from a Maxwell-House coffee tin- good to the very last drop! The Rollei folks persisted and reinstated the claim under a legal technically called "passing off" not "pissing-off" and that one never made it to court either.

When I grew up and became a wedding photographer, I shot black and white on my Super Graphic and my first color outfit consisted of 2 Rolleiflexes- a 2.8 and a 3.5, A Rollewide, and a TeliRollei. SHARP!!!

I have fond memories of my Yashica experience. As ... (show quote)

Great reminiscing. Thanks for posted. I never had as fond memories as with my Ricohmatic and Yashica. My two dream cameras were Hassie and Rollie. I could pick them up today but, except for the memories, digital is far better. However, my pictures today are, technically, far superior. In the time I needed to set up, wash prints, and close down the darkroom, LR can process an entire shoot with better results. Now, that is comparing monochrome film to digital color. For color prints, I would need hours to get just one final print.