Fixing Yashica Mat with Lens Fog

[Kevin Kehler]

I was able to purchase a Yashica Mat 124G for cheap (less than $100) a couple of months ago. The guy bought it in 1972, shot 3-4 rolls through it and then died; son put it in a closet and forgot about it. Grandson was going through the closet, saw the camera and brought it into my camera store to sell on consignment. I bought it instantly; the camera is mint, the leather case does not have a scratch on it, it winds and fires beautifully, none of the leatherette is peeling and it is so light, it's a beauty to carry around. Even the original string light seals are still in perfect shape. Found the original receipt from Sears in the case, $372 from Sept 17, 1972; according to the grandson, he was not around at Xmas.

Anyways, I was house sitting for a while then, then moved into an apartment over Xmas and so never had a chance to develop any of the 4 rolls I put through since everything was packed. I developed them last week and initially was very disappointed with the lack of sharpness with the lens. Everything was fuzzy. I was convinced it was the 4 months the film sat in the fridge between shooting and developing but...thinking about it, I opened the back, fired the shutter on B and looked out the window. Definitive cloud of something. I took a couple of Q-tips, dipped in IPA and cleaned the front element, then cleaned the rear element. Still there. I can't really get a picture of it to post but it looks like fog and not fungus. It is definitely white to translucent, more grouped than spider webbed and is in between elements. It cannot be seen on the front element, which eliminates cleaning marks (no scratches either). I am enclosing a negative scan which shows the flare; negative is Tri-X 400 in ID-11 at 1:1. All other negatives from that camera are similar, other films developed from other cameras at same time in same equipment have none of the softness/flare.

Is this something I can take apart myself and clean or should I send it off to get done? The camera is in mint and I do not want to rip off the leatherette only to discover it cannot be reattached, nor do I want to risk jamming a gear trying to reassemble the thing. On the other hand, if it is a fairly simple removal and cleaning process, I am very handy. If someone knows of a guide to doing this, please let me know. I am in Canada, so shipping across the border to get the work performed is a bit of a hassle and I think I know of a place 3 hours away that can do it; I would just rather not spend the money if it is simple.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Jon Shiu]

If you look inside the back, it looks like you can get a spanner in there to remove the rear element.

Jon

 

[wotalegend]

I have a Yashica 124 (not G) which I bought on the auction site last year. For the purpose here, it is constructed the same as a 124G, of which I also have one. When I received the 124 I noticed when looking from the inside of the film chamber that there was some sort of whitish grey deposit inside the lens. I thought at first that it was fungus because I had never seen lens fungus first-hand before (still haven't). To keep the story short, I found that the front two elements of the lens can be easily screwed out as one unit. Behind that are the diaphragm and shutter, both of which have to be fully open to access the rear group, and I was able to completely remove the slightly oily deposit with methylated spirits (alcohol) and a cotton bud.

Another possible source of your problem is flare caused by reflection off the inner walls of the film chamber. Yashica TLRs are notorious for that, and much has been written about it. One of the Yashica groups in flickr has a recent discussion on applying flocking to the interior of the film chamber. However this problem should be minimised in the 124G, which is the last Yashica TLR model and they finally "saw the light" (to coin a phrase) and fitted some light baffles.

 

[ic-racer]

The front and rear element groups will unscrew, but to get to the inner surfaces, you would need to remove the rings holding the front and rear elements in. If you have never done that, I'd experiment on a beater. If the 124G is otherwise mint, its worth sending out.

Someone gave me a Rolleicord that was worse than what you describe. I was able to get the lens apart, but the front ring was stuck really bad. I even scratched the ring using a spanner wrench. The good news is that it cleaned up very well and the increase in contrast shows in the pictures.

If you are going to do this yourself, invest in a spanner wrench. It will come in handy; once you know how to take a lens apart, you may find a lot of junk lenses you can clean.

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?t=59159

 

[engjoneer]

I had the exact problem you described on my lens. The Yashica Mat is known for throwing shutter oil on the lens elements - the shutter is between the front and rear elements and this is why it can't be cleaned without disassembly. I've never taken a camera lens apart before, but found this guide to be very helpful:

Dead Link Removed

I fashioned a "wrench" from a piece of flat sheet metal and used a dremel tool to grind it to the right size - a better solution I think than the wood and nail tool shown in the above link. You do not have to peel back any leatherette, just unscrew the front element from the front and the rear element from the rear, clean them in alcohol, and reassemble. It was easy and the subsequent photos were a fantastic improvement! Take a look here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/engjoneer/sets/72157622973960431/. The first photo, "Winter Trees", was after cleaning; the second photo, "No Hope, Lost" was before cleaning. You can easily see the "flare" in the second photo.

 

[Kevin Kehler]

Thanks everyone for the responses. If it was rather beat up, I would be more willing to home repair but it is in fantastic shape and I do like carrying it around, since no one ever thinks your taking a picture.

I tried engjoneer's site and was able to get the front bezel off, however, contrary to the instructions I have a secondary lens which is held behind a holder with no way of removing it. My understanding from internet searches is that the 124 and the 124G are significantly different in that the 124 lens can be unscrewed in pieces, whereas the 124G is a whole lens assembly that must be removed before disassembly. That said, thanks again and I will take it to the repair people.