Yashica Electro GSN Problem

If you have a good pad there's normally no need for a rod adjustment. If it's too thin you might need it because then it will not hook up in the right position. Cork is crap to use. Go either good fresh leather or synthetic material used for cutting your own gaskets.
 
Argenticien said:
1. Shutter release button does not stay depressed after it has been pressed. (Before pad replacement, shutter button often stayed down, only popping back up when I would wind on.)
2. Winding on makes a considerable "THOCK!" noise every time, which it did not before the pad replacement. (Win! -- I think. This is the new pad in action, right?)
3. When I depress the shutter release halfway, in an underexposed situation, I get the yellow light only at that halfway-depressed point. As I press further down toward the shutter actuating, the light goes out.
4. If the camera has been wound on (so, shutter is cocked), and I create an overexposed situation (say, pointing the camera into an overhead light at ASA 1000 and f/1.7), then the red light comes on without me touching the shutter release button at all. If I depress the shutter release past halfway, then the light goes out before I reach bottom and actuate the shutter (much as the underexposure light does).
5. In all cases, I have to press the shutter release as far down as possible, absolutely bury it, to actuate the shutter. It has a little bit of lag (like a modern digital P&S) between my burying it and the shutter opening.
Click to expand...

1. Probably OK. The key question is does the shutter stay open, if it should, even though you are not holding the shutter release down.
2. Good. A serious clunk is what you want to hear.
3. OK. As you push down the shutter release, there is a spot in the travel for each of the lights.
4. Not good. The red light should only come on as you push down the shutter release.
5. Doesn't sound right. Shutter should fire at the bottom, but you should not have to mash down on the button.
 
ColSebastianMoran said:
1. Probably OK. The key question is does the shutter stay open, if it should, even though you are not holding the shutter release down.
2. Good. A serious clunk is what you want to hear.
3. OK. As you push down the shutter release, there is a spot in the travel for each of the lights.
4. Not good. The red light should only come on as you push down the shutter release.
5. Doesn't sound right. Shutter should fire at the bottom, but you should not have to mash down on the button.
Click to expand...

I was in the camera again today, futzing around with both the release switch rod adjustment screw and the transport release adjustment screw. There was no combination of adjustments (and I tried for an hour) that would solve the problem in point #4, where the red light came on without me depressing the shutter release. Also no combination of adjustments would cause the release switch latch to engage at the same time the shutter releases (as page 9 of the repair manual says should be the case). Now I'm at a loss! But I'll probably run a test film through it anyway, even though it sounds like I have not got this thing calibrated yet.

--Dave
 
Well, I just got done processing a test roll that I put through the GSN. It's still drying, so can't post scans, but apparently the exposure is right. I did four series of eight shots each of the same scene, running the full range of apertures (1.7 to 16) in each set. Two sets were in hazy sun (EV 14 perhaps), one set in full shade (EV 11 perhaps), and one set indoors with only existing room lights (EV 5 maybe). In each case, as hoped, the 8 photos look (to the naked eye; I haven't a densitometer) to be identically exposed, including some crazy-long exposures (f/11 and f/16 in the indoor set, this being Efke 25 film). Looking across sets, the exposures seem a little greater in the shade and indoor sets, but some of this may have been down to my semi-haphazard choice of subjects and backgrounds. All in all, I'm happy with the result. If only I could get my silly red indicator problem sorted and feel more comfortable leaving the battery in, this would be a great "keep with me at all times" camera.
--Dave
 
The red light coming on without depressing the shutter button makes me think that the POD you installed might be a tad too thick, causing the electrical brushes to be too far down and contacting the "over" area of the contact board.

Russ
 
Thanks Russ. That would certainly make sense, the more I understand how these brushes and the metering circuits work. Looks like I'll need to take this puppy apart and redo the pad replacement 🙁. It turns out that in my test roll, once I got it scanned, the wide-aperture shots indicated that the camera is back-focusing, so while I'm in there I'll have to adjust the RF as well. (I know that could be done under the accessory shoe with the camera top on, but if I'm going to have it topless anyway...). Ah, the joys of a five-dollar camera buy.
--Dave
 
Rod adjustments can't compensate for a deteriorated POD. The spacing that the POD provides is crucial to the PROPER operation of the camera. Rod adjustments are stopgap measures at best.

Russ
 
b1bmsgt said:
[Yeah, 16 months ago.]
The red light coming on without depressing the shutter button makes me think that the POD you installed might be a tad too thick, causing the electrical brushes to be too far down and contacting the "over" area of the contact board.

Russ
Click to expand...

Russ, it appears you were exactly right. What happened was, soon after that discussion last year, I got a piece of replacement pad material from Jon Goodman; greatest thanks to him, and he should probably be knighted for all he does for the vintage camera community. Then in my busy life, that new pad sat on my shelf for over a year. Recently I finally did the pad replacement surgery again (to put in Jon's in place of my 2012 one made of a chunk of rubber washer). Jon's was indeed slightly thinner than mine. This appears to have solved the problem. The lights behave as they should (no more self-actuating red); I readjusted the rods so that everything is going off with right timing/sequencing, and the shutter speeds now sound right compared to other cameras at same aperture in same light. All that remains is to do another test roll, but I'm confident it will expose properly. Thanks to all you gents who offered advice. What a community!

By the way, a lesson learned on the side: the damned battery check light is pretty useless. For awhile during testing with this repair, the shutter fired only at the doomsday backup 1/500 speed. I thought "battery dead," but the test light still glowed, and the battery, a 4LR44 (when taken out of my homemade adapter sleeve for the Electro), still successfully powered the shutter of a Canon AE-1 as a test. So then I was cursing, trying to figure out what I had broken in the Electro. :bang: After a great long time, I tried a new battery, and all was well in the Electro. So (on my example at least), evidently a battery can still light the test light, or power an AE-1, but be too weak to power the Electro shutter. Weird! Annoying!

--Dave
 
Glad to see of your success, I was able to trim the cork piece I used to the stated thickness and after a year it's still fine, (hooray for cork) and it allows a satisfying thunk on winding.
Peter
 
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