Once back to my car parked outside Keeble & Shuchat, I eagerly examined the images from the first roll of film I put through my Yashicamat 124.
And I wasn’t very happy, because this is how my prints turned out (click any photo in this post to see it larger):
So I went back inside to talk to one of the guys at the desk. Not from a What the hell did you do to my pictures? point of view, but from a What do you think is wrong with my camera? point of view. The guy I talked to was relatively knowledgeable, but his answer (light leaks) did not totally explain my issues. Yes, the flare in the lower left corner of many of my frames was likely a light leak. From the research I’ve done, it is common (almost expected) for the foam/string seals on Yashicamats to stop working after 20 or 30 years. After all, these are what my seals look like:
Not so nice, and I’m planning on replacing them.
The other issue confused me more. It seemed like contrast was lost in bright areas, almost like a soft focus lens. While soft focus is not always a bad thing (in fact, I kind of like it on some of the shots of my kids) it is obviously pretty extreme, and I wasn’t satisfied by the K&S guy’s answer to it. This was not just a light leak.
Well, the problem turned out to be this:
Yes, that is the taking lens of my Yashica mat 124. And that dot… that’s actually closer to the proper transparency of a lens; the rest of it has a nasty film on it.
But, it turns out that this is a pretty normal problem for Yashicamats (and many old cameras). Apparently, over time, the lubricant in the shutter evaporates and re-condenses on the optics leaving an oily film that kills contrast. The solution is to disassemble the taking lens, clean the oil off, and reassemble it, being careful to not break anything. I’m a bit nervous about this process, because it involves brewing up a spanner tool substitute to remove the lenses:
And yes, the spanner tool needs to get into those notches — believe it or not, I’m planning something involving sharpened nails!
But it does not seem that difficult. In fact, in the camera repair business, this is termed a CLA, for Clean-Lube-Adjust (although many shops don’t like to use the term “CLA”). An old used camera boasting a recent CLA is definitely worth something extra. On the other hand, sometimes a CLA means very little. In this case, a professional CLA would cost just as much as the camera itself ($70) so I’ll be doing it myself. Besides, it will be a fun project that will get me that much more attached to the hunk of metal.
Expect details soon — I’m planning to post before, after, and during photos of the procedure(s).