Yashica Mat 124G Sample Images

My last post talked about my new acquired film camera, you can check it out here. For today’s post I wanted to share a few pictures from my test roll that I had a local lab develop and a roll that I shot and developed myself. When I purchased the camera it had a working(original) battery that I verified was giving my the correct exposure. I don’t trust it 100% so I decided to get a replacement battery and keep the original working one as a backup.

For the first roll I wanted to try several lighting conditions. Shooting into the sun, shooting in part shadow and in broad daylight. The camera performed as expected in these conditions and I have to say I’m pretty impressed.  The second roll was more documenting our day in Jackson Hole Wyoming on the 4th of July.

One thing I absolutely love about this camera is it forces you to shoot in square format.  When I printed some of my favorite images my daughter promptly said “hey, these are square like Instagram”.  I quickly reminded here that Instagram is just like this camera, the square format has been around long before Instagram was just a concept.

For those interested I used Tri-X 400 and developed in Rodinal(adonal)

 

This was my first image taken with the camera, I managed to get a double exposure.  Not sure how that even happened but I liked the result.

Yashica Mat-124G

Today’s configuration:  Leica M(240) with a Summicron 50mm f/2.0 & Voigtlander 75mm f/1.8 Heliar Classic

Thanks to a good friend, I’ve been getting into shooting film more and more.  He and I headed to San Clamente California a few months ago to attend a workshop by the Film Photography Podcast hosted at thedarkroom.com.  I met some great photographers there and have really been wanting to shoot more film since then on a decent camera.   I own a couple of 35mm film cameras but haven’t been very impressed with the quality of the frames that they produce.  I’ve been wanting to get into medium format for quite a while but just haven’t found something that would work for me.  The camera’s I want are too expensive for the type of shooting I do.

I’ve always been intrigued with a the concept behind a TLR camera.  I’ve been following a great film photographer Bill McCarroll on Google Plus for quite while and I happened to run into him at the workshop in California.  He had his Leica MP and boy did it feel good in my hands.  One day I will own a Leica film camera.  About a month ago he posted some pictures from his Rolleiflex TLR and I was immediately hooked.  They had a different look and feel to them that I really liked.  I knew that a Rolleiflex would be too much for me to invest in.  I started researching and found that the Yashica Mat 124G or the Yashica Mat 124 was a good alternative to a Rolleiflex.  I jumped on our local classified site and stumbled onto the exact Yashica that I wanted.  After exchanging a few emails and a couple of phone calls we sealed the deal and worked out a place to meet for the exchange.

Harold was the original owner and treated this camera very well.  He and I chatted for about 30 minutes about how he got into photography and when he decided to buy this camera.  When he told me he has only shot 3 rolls of film through this I couldn’t believe it.  After a close inspection I couldn’t let this camera go, it was in mint condition.  I asked Harold if I could take a photo with him and his camera to send to him later.  He of course said yes and asked his wife to join him.  The last words he said to me was all I want is for this camera to go to a good home and to be used, not sitting on a shelf.  I assured him I would take care of it and use it.

I have since run a few rolls through it and have to say I’m very impressed with the quality.  It’s a fun camera and a great conversation starter.  More on that with images in a later post.

Self Reflection Project

 What to do while waiting for your girls to get ready for church?  Pick up the Leica camera and take a selfie!

Eucalyptus Tree – Kauai Hawaii

Today’s configuration:  Leica M with a Summicron 50mm f/2.0

My wife and I never get tired of Hawaii, specifically Kauai.  We’ve spent time on Oahu and Kauai and have no desire to spend time anywhere else but Kauai.  While there last year we spent some time at a local park and ran into these trees.  Having never seen a Eucalyptus tree before I was intrigued by the colors of the bark and took some time to document them.  More info about Eucalyptus trees can be found here.