Going on holiday, which TLR?

Dan Daniel said:
Autocord. The only weak spot is the focus knob. Everything else is a step from the Yashicas. And the way the lens is held to a brass helix mechanism, very hard for it to go out of alignment bouncing around on the trail. Yashica's rail are not the strongest.
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From Karl Bryan working on my Autocord, it appears some of them have a steel focus lever rather than a pot metal one. Mine was a 1965 model looked at apparently in 1977 by Minolta.

So you might get lucky.

In any case, so long as the focus is free and not stiff, it should be just fine, keep it in the case if carrying it in the rucksack and make sure you keep the focus tab in the infinity position when not in use, save it getting knocked. Then you should be good for well, good.
 
Whatever TLR you get make sure you have time to test it out and develop a couple of rolls BEFORE you go on a trip. (Um, I won't make that mistake again.) And if you're still not convinced about the merits of a Minolta Autocord, I'll cast my vote for that fine camera as well. I think it has the best balance of quality build, ease of use, viewfinder brightness, price and quality lens of any TLR out there.

Joe
 
Got bored of your other cameras already? ;)

My 124G has all those issue plus a knackered (abraded) lens.

Seems to still work well enough though.


Untitled by Bobfrance, on Flickr

My vote is for a Yash because I have experience of them, but I imagine all the cameras suggested will all work well enough.
 
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If you can't afford a Rolleiflex, look for a Rolleicord. You'll be glad you did.

On another tack, a 120 folder would be smaller and lighter, and possibly cheaper than a TLR. You just need to find a good one.
 
Yashica TLR's are perfectly good. I've had a couple, including the Yashica-Mat and 124G. Bear in mind that the "G" stands for gold-plated electrical contacts and actually adds nothing to the previous model except price. It was also the last model produced and is alleged to not have as robust a winding mechanism as previous models so if you get one, don't crank it too hard.

Yes, the Autocords, Rolleicords and Rolleiflexes are a considered in class above but the Yashica will do what you want. I think from memory that the Yashinon lens was regarded as the better of those available - the Yashikor being of earlier design. You can check that by Googling a few websites for information. Here's one - http://www.frugalphotographer.com/info-YashicaTLR.htm
 
Got a nice rolleicord V this winter and it just lovely on trips and holiday-sort-of-time due to its smaller weight and the lens is just great. I am still learning to shoot these analog stuff again, but the cord is just magnificent for the weight and size, i put an old nikon nylon strap on it so its comfortable enough to carry around. Still have to learn how to meter hand-held.
 
For travel I love my Rollei MX from 1951. It's really quite affordable, around $300. It's really lightweight and very simple. Mine has the Xenar, but you can find them with Tessars as well. Same lens performance, just a different contractor, Schneider. Good luck and enjoy your trip!
 
_larky said:
So the 124G is hard to focus
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Wow. If they think the Yashica's hard to focus, they've obviously never tried to use a Lubitel.

(Which, incidentally, isn't a bad camera in itself. There are certainly worse ways to spend a tenner. Bloody dog to use, though.)

But honestly, almost anything would be a good solution, providing you get one in good condition at the right price, and you enjoy using it. Do you need a lightmeter built in? If not, there's even more options, some more obscure than others. How about a Flexaret, for example?

And, of course, as FrankS pointed out, if you're more interested in the negative size than the waist level finder, why not look into a folder? It'd be a much, MUCH more portable option.
 
HoodedOne said:
Mamiya C330 (or any other from this serie of TLR's)
The only TLR with interchangable lenses, but it's a bit larger and heavier then the other TLR's.
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I agree!! a bit larger but tough and great glass. I have had a c220 for years and its never let me down!
 
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Maybe you should make a poll including several Medium Format systems: TLR / SLR/ RF. Maybe Rangefinder medium format will be more suitable to you since you want to focus more easily and rapidly, and you want to pack light and small.

However, buy a cheaper reliable and good camera, and get a lot of variety of films and shoot more :)
 
I have Rolleiflexes, Autocords and a Mamiya c330. If I were traveling I'd take either the Rolleiflex or Autocord due to their smaller size compared to the c330. If I want the lightest then it would be the Autocord. All take great images. And you can use the Rolleinar close up lenses to have a pretty versatile kit.

But the OP mentioned focusing fast, so why not a Mamiya 6? They are going for a bit more $$ but it has a rangefinder and a built in meter. It also has that cool retracting lens!
 
I had Rolleiflex T for 2 years and it was an amazing camera. Wide open very nice for a portraits and from f/5.6 on very sharp. I sold the camera to fund my Mamiya 6. A completely different animal. Lenses are extremely sharp, the camera is light. Focusing (in particular with 50 and 75 lenses) is no problem, with the 150 on needs to be careful when shooting wide open. However the meter is a bit of PITA - it is NOT a TTL and it is very top sensitive - shooting something with bright sky may lead to underexposure of 2 stops. The meter is also sensitive to a large area - up to the edges (and probably even a bit beyond) the 50mm frame lines. So, if you start to consider Mamiya 6 and want to use the light meter than read a bit around from more experienced users. The camera is definitely more fragile than a Rollieflex T, but holds up quite well. Keep in mind that some parts a hard to find, so if you get one make sure that the film winding mechanism is OK.
 
TLR? Mountain walking? Not a great combination I suggest whatever the make TLR.

I am just back from a week in the Yorkshire Dales. I took my new Yashica Mat TRL intending to put a couple of rolls through it and took just 6 shots. The rest of the time it stayed in the car. Leica was used for a couple of hundred.
 
A Mamiya C plus the wide 55 mm lens would be great (equivalent to ~35 mm in 24x36), maybe with the 80 mm for normal field of view.

Or if you want to stay with the normal field lens only, any lightwheight compact quality TLR like Rolleicord/Rolleiflex T/Minolta Autocord/Yashica… would do it.

And a Gossen Digisix lightmeter.

The major issue with TLR's is the front plate parallelism and alignment.
 
jeanba3000 said:
The major issue with TLR's is the front plate parallelism and alignment.
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Not the Autocord. I had one apart yesterday to get the dried grease out of the focus system and clean it up; I should have taken photographs. It is quite sturdy, and ties everything together in such a way that it would take some major damage to knock the shutter and lens out of alignment from the film plane. The thinnest piece of metal is close to 2mm thick, and the whole assembly involves some serious machined pieces of brass and aluminum.
 
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