Yashica Mat-124G
This was the first camera I ever bought—from a camera shop in Downtown Miami. I paid for it with money earned from a $5-an-hour job passing out flyers for a local store, along with a few other odd jobs. The store owner even wanted me to wear roller skates while handing out flyers, and I was like, nah bro! So that gig didn’t last long.
I was probably around 17 or 18 when I bought the camera and used it consistently for a few years. Eventually, after landing my first real job—which marked the beginning of my sales career—I started using it less and less. Still, I would take it along on trips, until eventually it ended up tucked away in a bag in my closet, forgotten for many years.
Fast forward to 2020. For various reasons, a lot of people were picking up new (or old) hobbies. I decided to dust off this camera again. It was October, and we weren’t going to let a pandemic keep us locked in our home. We decided to road trip to Maine—our first time visiting. To break up the drive, we made overnight stops: first Boston, then Salem (it was October, after all), followed by Kennebunkport and a quick stop in Portland to visit the L.L. Bean store and photograph a lighthouse. Finally, we arrived in Bangor, where we spent most of the trip.
From Bangor, we explored Acadia National Park—making trips to Bar Harbor, Jordan Pond, and other beautiful spots to shoot landscapes. It was my first time using the Yashica after so many years.
The trip was incredible. My wife and I really enjoyed capturing such majestic scenery. When we returned home, I sent the film off for processing (I wasn’t developing my own yet). But what I got back was a huge disappointment: cloudy photos, unsaturated colors, and fuzzy, low-quality images. I was heartbroken—felt almost betrayed by the camera I had such fond memories of.
In the meantime, I started using a 35mm Minolta SLR that belonged to my brother. Still, I couldn’t let go of the Yashica. After doing some research, I cautiously sent it out for repair. There’s a Japanese gentleman based in Georgia who used to work at the official Yashica repair center in Japan. When the facility shut down, he was given all the spare parts and continues servicing these cameras to this day.
He completely overhauled the Yashica: disassembled it, cleaned it thoroughly, and fixed the balsam separation in the taking lens—the culprit behind those hazy images. After the repair, the camera began taking beautiful pictures again.
Since then, I’ve taken many cameras with me on travels across the world, but this one remains my favorite. It’s compact, simple, and elegant. The only real drawback is the “limitation” of the fixed lens—but in photography, sometimes limitations are okay.
Here is a shot of Bass Harbor Head Light Station as you can see lacks contrast and just a blurry mess.
Here’s a good example of the quality image this camera can produce. This was taken in Key West, one of the doors to a Pirate/Shipwreck museum.
Shout out to Mark Hama!
120Junkie 
