1961 Yashica 44LM with Expired Macophot 127 Film

[@TheRobertpainter]

Thanks for this video. Enjoyed your casual calm narrative. The honesty in using expired film and the flawed results but still fun to experiment.

[@oddballcamera]

Thank you! I really appreciate your comments.

[@yesteryear2237]

Thanks, that was a great reminder for the number setting technique. I bought a bulk load roll of 46mm HP5 for the first time and am steeling my nerve to roll it into used backing papers from 1976 Kodak VP. I too have been submitting shots on 127 days but missed the last reminder. I agree that the marbling effect can be used creatively in a sky shot but running low on old Verichrome Pan and interested to see how my 127 cameras perform on fresh 400asa stock. The little Yashicas are a neat pocketful!

[@oddballcamera]

Very cool! I am jealous of your roll of fresh 46mm HP5. Will you post your results when you shoot it?

[@nelsonm.5044]

This Yashica camera is the first medium format camera I bought, really well built camera, its only problem is the format in 2023, it is difficult to find 127 film.

[@oddballcamera]

Agreed, that's the one big challenge with using these cameras today. The only mass-produced (if you can call it that) 127 film these days is Shanghai GP3, which I've only been able to find by mail order. The film itself is pretty good--I believe it is based on the Orwo UN54 emulsion--but quality control of the packaging and paper backing is spotty. Other than that, there is only a handful of other small-batch 127 films out there.

[@notyourdad]

I actually found a batch of expired film online but decided not to buy it when I realized there's only one place that develops and scans this film anymore around here and they charge 35€ per roll - ouch - I'll stick to shooting 35mm sprocket hole photos.

[@oddballcamera]

@@notyourdad 35€ per roll! That's outrageous. I thought I was paying too much at $17 per roll.

[@randallstewart1224]

The TLR 4x4 cameras from Japan after the introduction of the Baby Rollei in 1957 were numerous, superficial copies with inferior mechanics and lenses, for the most part. The Yashica 44 was perhaps the best of this bunch. Yashica first marketed it in a gray color scheme copying the Rollei. They also branded it the "Baby Yashica". For such effort, Yashica was sued by Rollei for business and patent infringement, which caused Yashica to cave in, dropping the name and changing color schemes. Like most of the Japanese models, Yashica used a 3-element triplet lens which was deemed adequate, but a far cry from the better Tessar copy lens used in the Rollei. One great exception to the Japanese "me too" look-alikes was made by Topcon's parent company. Actually, they made a 6x6 and a 4x4 version of their TLR, sold under their Primo name. The 4x4 was the Primo Jr. It had all the conveniences of a Rolleiflex, its same high quality, and use a 4-element, top quality lens. In the US, this model was rebranded under the Sawyers name and sold through their distribution. They are arguably built better than the Rollei. The connection to Sawyers was that at the time, Sawyers was one of the three major producers of slide projectors in the US, the other being Kodak and Argus. The little TLR fit right into their product line as a camera made to shoot super slides, which could be projected by any 35mm slide projector. The popularity of the 4x4 super slide format was that it fits 35mm projectors, and the projected slides are significantly larger than 35mm slides. In the early 1960s, interest in these 4x4 products died as Kodak launched a relentless advertising campaign seeking to switch consumer use of color products away from slide film and into Kodak's latest technical advancement in color negative film and prints. This change was supported by a consumer switch to 35mm SLR cameras with interchangeable lenses, causing fixed lens cameras to be abandoned. The 127 film sized used in these cameras was extremely popular and common in the 1930s, more so than 35mm. After WWII, 35mm dominated and 127 roll film was used mainly in cheap, "toy" cameras, like the many little box cameras Kodak marketed in the 1950s. As 35mm became more popular, those types of roll film cameras quickly died out in the early 1960s.