YASHICA MAT

The first Yashica TLR with crank advance was the Yashica-Mat, released in 1957. The earliest models are equipped with a 75-mm 3.5 Lumaxar taking lens and a 75-mm 3.2 Lumaxar viewing lens, succeeded by 80-mm lenses with the same specifications. According to some authorities (most notably Mark Hama, who formerly worked in a Yashica factory), the Lumaxar was manufactured for Yashica in West Germany; according to others, it was made in Japan by Tomioka. The lens, a four-element design said to be of the Tessar type, was later re-named Yashinon. The Yashica-Mat's shutter speeds are marked according to the older system (1/25, 1/50 etc.) and range from B to 1/500 second.