My “new” Yashica Mat 124g
Around this time last year, I came across a great deal to upgrade my Canon Rebel XT digital Camera. I had been drooling over a Canon 5D digital camera for quite some time, but the price remained too high to justify. So, I ended up with a Canon 30D, which is a great camera, it takes terrific photos, but still I yearn for a full frame camera. I am taking lots of photos (some of which I am VERY happy wtih), but I am not yet the point where I can justify a $2000+ camera.
To complicate the matter further, the interwebs are full of rumors of Canon replacing the 5D very soon, as it is about (or past) the age at which Canon usually announces replacements. The 5D is a fine camera at any age, and it’s certainly not going to stop taking good photos, but I kind of hate to buy a camera just to have it upgraded only a couple months later. Plus, as soon as the new 5D Mark II (or whatever they call it) hits the market, there will be a flood of people dumping their perfectly good 5D’s to pick up the new one. Either way you couldn’t possibly go wrong. Both are or will be excellent cameras.
I have recently found the work of some very talented photographers, like Kate Hutchinson (blog) and Thomas Broening (blog), who both post to their blogs with images from their old film cameras (Thomas shoots with this camera). I am not quite sure what Kate uses. I loved the look of their images and decided to search for an affordable option for a medium format film body (the digital bodies can run upwards of $20,000). I saw some images produced with an old Rolleiflex 2.8 TLR film camera, but a more recent version of the Rollei can run several thousand dollars. This is where the Yashica comes in. I read up a bit on the old Yashica TLR’s and many people said that the later models with the Yashinon lenses would give the Rollei’s a run for their money. It costs about $5 to process a 12 exposure roll of 120 film (with no prints).
Here is the first image I scanned from my Yashica. This is my beautiful wife Liz. She’s hard at work on a Friday, they day she is able to telecommute.
I helped photograph a wedding this weekend, and I ran through a roll of film with the Yashica. I am scanning those tonight and will hopefully have a few great ones to post tomorrow. After the first couple images, I am more than happy with this camera…WOW!!! It really makes me slow down, compose the image, meter the lighting, check the camera settings, meter again, and then take the picture. Perhaps just what I need rather than just the “snap and delete” mentality I have had since purchasing the 30D.
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