Yashica's metered 6x6 TLR — crank-wind fixed-lens twin-lens reflex, selenium meter, 1964.
The Yashica-Mat EM is a fixed-lens medium-format twin-lens reflex from Yashica, a mid-1960s variant of the crank-wind Yashica-Mat fitted with a selenium exposure meter. It belongs to the metered Yashica TLR line and sits between the earlier LM and the later metered models in the range.
It is a twin-lens reflex shooting 6x6cm square frames on 120 roll film, twelve to a roll. It carries the crank film advance and fixed-lens layout of the Yashica-Mat family, with a separate taking lens for the film and a viewing lens feeding the mirror and ground-glass screen. The leaf shutter is in the front lens standard, focusing is by knob, and composition is through a waist-level finder used from above. A selenium meter is built into the body.
The Yashica-Mat EM offers an affordable metered entry to 6x6, suited to portraits, landscape, travel and general shooting where a light, quiet medium-format camera is wanted. Its selenium meter runs without a battery, an advantage for some users, though the cells age and lose accuracy. As with all fixed-lens TLRs, there are no lens changes and the mirror-reversed viewing image takes practice.
On a used EM, check the taking and viewing lenses separately for haze, fungus and separation, and test the focus knob for smooth movement. Fire the leaf shutter at several speeds and confirm the crank advances and cocks the shutter reliably. Verify the film-wind and counter, and inspect the ground glass for brightness. Expect the selenium meter to have weakened with age; check it against a separate meter before trusting its readings.