repair | [gwu] Graham Whitaker Unterberger

I’ve always been intrigued with the TLR (Twin Lens Reflex…ahhh now the title doesn’t seem so creepy right?) and last weekend I set in motion the plan to acquire one. Conventional knowledge would have you believe that the Yashica Mat 124G is the best place to start for a relatively inexpensive, yet relatively high-performing, entry to the TLR game. That same conventional knowledge, however, has caused second hand prices to skyrocket past reasonable levels, shackling the conventional buyer to a decades old machine for 2x the appropriate price. But as we all know, I am no conventional buyer, I am a man of discerning tastes and abilities. That being said, I set my sights on the Yashica Mat LM, an older (and all manual) model without a coupled light meter or the stylish black trim of its attractive cousin. Why would I do such a thing? Because it’s the lens that matters, and this puppy has the exact same version as the 124G. Thus, hoping to keep my incredibly good eBay streak alive, I placed a bid on an “as-is” LM and won the auction for the low low price of $50 even. Would the gamble pay off? Would I be left with the world’s most beautiful paper weight? Will you even read on to find out?

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I’ve talked about my love for the Konica Hexar before, and I am consistently amazed by the output of this unassuming camera. Despite its 90’s era design, unintelligible operating features, and limiting 1/250th top shutter speed, the Hexar has gained a cult-like following among street photographers as a silent but deadly shooter. Armed with a reportedly “identical” knockoff of the beautiful Leica 35 Summicron lens, the Hexar truly earns its chops when shot in “silent mode,” an inaudible method of operation made possible by mashing odd buttons in sync while turning the thing on. Why on earth the designers hid this awesome function beneath a Mortal Kombat like string of commands, only god knows, but once properly engaged the Hexar is scary silent. Like I’m not even sure that I hit the shutter silent. While this operation is EPIC on the street, it becomes much less EPIC when the shutter starts to stick. Imagine my surprise after a days worth of shooting, adoring and admiring the utter stealth of my “silent mode” Hexar, only to find that the silence had occurred because my faulty shutter failed to fire. Apparently, the lofty Hexar is plagued by a notoriously week electrical connection between the shutter button and the body, a defect responsible for erratic focusing and…you guessed it, miss fires! At first it was an inconvenience, but the more I had the Hexar by my side, the more I noticed the problem worsening. My growing frustration led me to begin leaving the Hexar at home, afraid that if I brought it along I would end up missing something important. But one day I stumbled across an online forum that described a relatively easy fix, but still a fix that involved disassembling the body and exposing its guts to the elements. What choice did I have? Do nothing and be stuck with a faulty camera, do something and potentially ruin a cult icon. Did I have the technology, or steady hands to perform a procedure like that? Read on to find more.

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