Position:Home>Visual Arts> Suggest a good vintage wind up camera?

My suggestion is that you find an old Yashica 120 camera!. There are dozens of models and they are all good!. You could look for a Rollei, but most of the time they are far more expensive!.

The battery in the later Yashica cameras only operated the light meter and if you have a hand held light meter, and you can get one of those that uses no batteries, you are in good shape!.

The only problem is that not everyone develops 120 film, so you would need a photolab near you!. You could do that, or set up a BW darkroom, which is now inexpensive and easy to do!.

The two latest models of the Yashica 120 cameras are the Yashica Mat 124 and the Yashica Mat 124G!. They are basically the same, the only difference that I can discern is that the 124G has gold contacts on the meter!. Both of those cameras take batteries, a 1!.35V battery, which has just been reissued, so you can get them either from the Internet or from a camera store!.

With the hand held meter, though, you don't need to put a battery in the camera at all, and it shoots well!.

They are fun to use, you view by lifting up the lid on the waist level finder, and turning both the f stop knob and the shutter speed knob to where you want them!.

Yashica made a lot of cameras, a bit older, that did not take batteries at all!.

the 2 1/4x 2 1/4 format is fun to use!.

There are many other cameras that are similar!. The Minolta Autocord is a fantastic camera, but they can run higher than the Yashicas!.

If you get one in excellent condition, and keep it that way, they are increasing in value as many of the digital photographers are looking into film to try it out!.

Go onto eBay and search for these terms:

"tlr" that means Twin Lens Reflex
"Twin Lense Reflex"

You can also just look under Yashica and you will see many!. If you have money to spend and want the best that you can find, I have a friend who was the head of Yashica USA service who totally refurbishes them and warranties they for six months!. You can find his web site at www!.markhama!.com!. You can either call him or email him!. He is an incredible man and has all of the parts to keep your camera going for a long time!.

Other brands that are similar are Ricoh, Tower, Zeiss and there are still more!.

If you want a camera that is more versatile, you can get a Mamiya 330 or 220!. These have interchangable lenses (the other Twin Lens only have an 80mm lens)!. The only problem with the Mamiya that I have found is that they are heavy and you might want a tripod to use them!.

If you are searching for big league equipment, try to Mamiya RB67!. You should be able to get an RB with a 90mm lens for substantially less than $200 and then, if you want, you can buy from good list of other lenses that are for them!.

The 2 1/4 format is 6cm x 6cm, whereas the RB shoots a 6cm x 7cm!.

the RB is heavy, a tripod is suggested, but it is truly a professional camera - everyone is not walking around with them!.

All of the cameras that I have mentioned are veritable bricks, very strong cameras, substantially made, and some of them you will be looking at will be 60 years old or more!.

I have two Yashica Mat 124Gs and an RB 67!. A 120 roll of film cost me about 5 bucks or so to get developed, but the print cost is a little more!. You can get them developed and with prints and disks!.

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