5 Colour Frames with a Yashica Mat TLR

My Dad got me into photography in the sixties, and I still use his Edixamat Reflex 35mm camera – it is built like a tank and after a CLA works a treat. His dream camera however was a Rolleiflex which he bought not long before his premature death. I don’t have much memory of it but think it was a “baby” taking 127 film, in 4×4 format. My film “reincarnation” during covid got me thinking about a TLR as I love the square format. Searching for a Rolleiflex and all the different models and high prices however lead me to a YashicaMat 124G which I bought via the usual auction site, buying the best I could find, for about a third the price of a Rollei.

After getting to grips with the camera and its exposure meter (which works well), I tried out my first roll of b/w film, taking photos of the local limestone pavement up here in the Yorkshire Dales. It was a disappointment – the screen was hazy and the results murky! After a search I decided to buy a new focussing screen but thought I would have a go with a cheap Chinese replacement. When it arrived, I fiddled with tiny grub screws and accidentally allowed a retaining spring to leap out of the viewfinder in the process – how I got it back in I am not sure, but in it went with the new screen.

The result – not a lot! The same lesson learnt yet again – don’t scrimp! I then ordered a Rick Oleson Brightscreen and managed to fit this one without too much trouble. Image quality however had of course not been addressed, so I sent the camera off to the same place I used to CLA my Dads Edixamat in Liverpool. They did the work and said they had “done their best” to clean the taking lens – not a good omen. The major problem I feel with buying a fixed lens camera like this, is that you have no idea how good the taking lens is regardless of overall camera condition. Mine was obviously not great despite a near pristine appearing camera.

I mostly favour monochrome photography and especially with film – perhaps because when I had a wet darkroom it was only black and white that I processed – colour was too complicated for me. When the Yashica came back though I decided to load some Portra as I was experimenting with colour film with my other film cameras.

I am very happy with the results – both the improved IQ from the CLA and new Brightscreen and the film. I have attached five images from the same film of Portra 400 – the colours of the trees in the landscape shots are wonderful I think, and I plan to get a large print made. The other images are from Settle town centre which I don’t think take advantage of the capability of this colour film which remains my favourite to date as I migrate from wholly black and white with Ilford films.

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