Yashica Mat History
Yashica a japanese camera brand born in 1949 gently telling it s stories through various photos and videos.
Yashica mat history. Yashica mat lm a lightmeter app and lomography 800 this time eric l. In 1957 the yashima company released the yashica mat with crank advance. Yashica 635 is a double format film tlr camera made by yashica and introduced in c 1958. It was improved to make the 124 g but the improvements are essentially trivial.
It notably manufactured 35mm slr cameras under the contax brand from 1974 onwards. Yashica was a japanese camera maker founded in 1945 and absorbed into kyocera in 1983. The first yashica tlr with crank advance was the yashica mat released in 1957 the earliest models are equipped with a 75 mm 3 5 lumaxar taking lens and a 75 mm 3 2 lumaxar viewing lens succeeded by 80 mm lenses with the same specifications. Yashica from 1958 to 1973.
1 company history 1 1 yashima period 1 2 yashica from 1958 to 1973 1 3 yashica and contax lines 1 4 into kyocera 2 35mm film cameras 2 1 slr 2 1 1 fixed lens 2 1 2 yashica proprietary bayonet mount 2 1 3 m42 screw thread. Both 6x6 cm 120 film and 4x4 cm 127 film format tlr cameras are covered. The yashica mat 124g introduced gold plated contacts and some minor improvements to the yashica mat 124 the most important of which were internal light baffles and an improved exposure meter switch. The yashica mat 124b was assembled in brazil and took away the gold plated contacts along with the exposure meter the battery compartment cover.
It also entered the 8mm cine camera market with the yashica 8t. It is enhanced yashica d with the added ability to use 35mm film as an alternative to 120 to use 35mm requires an adaptor kit. This site is dedicated to understanding and preserving the details and development history of the company s tlr cameras from the first model pigeonflex introduced in early 1953 through to the yashica mat 124g which ended manufacture in 1986. My bargain 150 or less film picks in each form factor.
The same year it founded yashica inc its first subsidiary outside japan based in new york city to manage marketing efforts in the usa. It will meter accurately if operated with a hearing aid battery of the correct size. The yashica mat 124 just plain 124 non g an attractive high quality cds metering machine is equally as good. The quality of the images taken with a yashica mat are outstanding yashica used high quality yashinon f 3 5 80mm lenses made for them by tomioka optical of tokyo.
When shooting 120 film the standard 80mm lends itself well for landscape or architecture but lacks focal. They are a joy to use and it s a great camera to get into medium format photography with.