Check out what we found on craigslist!

This friends is a Yashica Mat-124G - an old school twin lens reflex (TLR), 6x6 medium format camera. You read that right, we're talking film. While the 35mm single lens reflex (SLR) cameras use an internal mirror to relay what's happening in the lens through to the viewfinder, a twin lens uses one lens for viewing and a second for capturing the image. The only really important part to get used to is that what you see in the viewfinder is backwards. Take for instance the photograph below. I set up the Yashika as if to take a photograph of the shed. Note that the door is to the right of the window.

Now, look into what the camera shows in the viewfinder - the door is now to the left, the image is flipped. I'm still not used to it but am determined to work through it.

For practice, we thought it appropriate to drive the 5 minutes to Carkeek Park and test out our new masterpiece. This model has a rather archaic light meter, so we also brought Chris's Nikon D80.

Chris snaps the first image of the evening...

Here are a few scans of the images we received from the lab - not bad considering it was our first attempt at using a TLR!! I should note that, in these situations, Chris and I don't remember who took what image, so I'll credit us as a couple.

I can't believe this place is within minutes of our house! The Pacific Northwest is my favorite place on Earth.