Medium Format for $175
A quality medium format camera for $175.00 or so? Not exactly news, but it bears repeating.
Used Yashica Mat TLRs (twin-lens reflex) cameras can be had for around $100-$200, and they are terrific. Sadly they haven’t been made for about 20 years, so long gone are the days when you could buy a brand new one for about $150. I did just that in 1985, eager for “the thrill of the bigger frame.” (35mm frames are just so puny compared to the 2-1/4 x 2-1/4-inch medium format neg or transparency. 24mm x 36mm is just no match for 55mm x 55mm.)
Yashica Mats are sturdy, well made Rolleiflex copies, perhaps the best of the legion of Rollei TLR imitations. (There are other good Rollei TLR copies too; dozens of manufacturers got in the Rollei copy game. My experience, however, is only with the Y-Mats. Many of the pictures on this site were taken with my Y-mats: see My B&W page on this site, and Food Circus Clown shot, below.)
If you want to go medium format without spending a lot, a used Y-Mat is highly recommended. The 124 G was the last model made, and I bought a gorgeous, like-new example for $100 on ebay a few years ago. But it’s a good bet that an older model Y-Mat would do just as well.
Use a tripod or a strobe with a Y-Mat and you’ve got a truly serious image-making machine. (See Food Circus Clown shot, below.) And amazingly, the highly accurate CdS-cell meters seem to be unbreakable on the 124 Gs
(This is an informative Camerapedia page on these great cameras: .http://www.camerapedia.org/wiki/Yashica_Mat-124G
UPDATE: 12/11/07 - I just lost out on a nice Y-Mat 124G on ebay; it sold to the winning bidder for $172.50.
Below, a 1957 YashicaMat ad.
THE EVIL CLOWN OF MIDDLETOWN, NJ: Food Circus Clown, Middletown, New Jersey, 1986. Tripod-mounted YashicaMat 124 G, Tri-X.
Eric Rudolph
