Yashica Mat 124G

Arch · May 17, 2010

Oh hell yea.. i have finally got one of these bad boys :mrgreen:

I have had an eye out for a Yashi matt for a few months now... i have bought several TLR's since, but i finally won an ebay auction over the weekend and it arrived today. Im happy to say its in great condition for its age and i only payed £50 for it! which i think is a good deal.

Thing is, the seller said that she didn't think the light meter worked very well (which is probably what put other ebayers off), but im not so sure.

It does tend to jump around alot and spends most of the time just not responding, but;
Im not even sure she knew a great deal about cameras, so firstly i don't know if she realized it could need a new battery for the light meter.
Second, it has a 1.5v Alkaline battery in it, and so far from what i have read, it used to take 1.3v mercury batteries (which are now unavailable) so there could be a compatability issue there?

I have read a little about these Weincell mercury replacement batteries, anyone use those? do they do a good enough job?

Other than that i guess i could have it looked at, but im not sure i can be bothered with the expense... i have a seperate light meter anyways, but it would be nice to know that the built in one works ok.

djacobox372 · May 17, 2010

You can use the 1.5v batteries, you will just have to compensate a bit for it. Compare it's readings to another camera.

Mitica100 · May 17, 2010

Congrats Arch on the Yashica! Nice find and good price.

As for the meter, you might have some contacts that are not as clean as they used to be. AFAIK, the meter gets turned on when the viewing hood goes up. If the contacts are dirty you might need to do a clean up. To do that, and if you're courageous enough, there are 4 screws that need to come off. Lift the hood carefully and then see if the foam gasket separating the hood from the meter is still intact. Most of the time it will just crumble off due to aging. That might need replacement and I do have some extra foam laying around, I'll send some strips your way if you need them. Look for the contacts, which should be on the front left of the camera as you hold it. Clean them gently with a chemical contact cleaner, or if you're brave enough, with a shaped pencil eraser (you can sharpen it yourself) and then with some alcohol put on a cotton swab (Q-tip). Make sure you don't leave any residue behind before reassembly.

For battery compatibility and Yashicamat manual check this page.

compur · May 17, 2010

I bought a 124G back in the 1980s when they were a current model offered
by Yashica. It cost around $180. One of the few new cameras I ever
bought. I was very impressed with the quality of the prints I could get
from that camera.

Arch · May 18, 2010

Thanks for the advice guys.

@djacobox, yea i read a bit about using a 1.5v and that it may be a few stops off, but i think mine is either dead or not functional as the needle barely moves.

@Mitica, thanks for the heads up on the battery compatibility page... i will probably order one from one of them.
As for the DIY job... its tempting!.... very tempting, however im really not that brave just yet. I will give it some thought tho... i'd also need a much smaller screwdriver than what i have now!

@Compur, yes i know what you mean about the quality, It looks great. This is why i have been after one for some time now.

When you see galleries like this one, you can see why... here is pages and pages of stunning Yachica images. I just love operating TLR's too :mrgreen:

The World's Best Photos of yashicamat - Flickr Hive Mind