Another GSN in the mail

[Dean]

My $7.50 Ebay purchase arrived today.
It was described as "4 Parts" and came with a UV filter and ratty case. A serious looking camera indeed. This baby will need a fanny pack - my jacket pocket isn't big enough.

I cleaned the contacts, slapped in a DIY adapter (bolt, 2 washers, and 3 hex-nuts ) and battery and everything appears to work. It goes "thunk" and the speeds appear OK.
I also took out my interslice kit and did all seals.

A roll of film will tell how "perfect" it is.

Question: Is there a normal life span for the "pad of death". I don't want to go looking for trouble so should I just leave it until another day ?

Dean.

 

[JoeFriday]

my GSN only required a light seal job to get it up and running.. of course I paid almost triple what you did.. I was ripped off! LOL

hard to say what the lifespan is of the Patio Death as there is no way to tell how many times the shutter has been tripped.. I wouldn't worry about it unless you have to, tho

how is your focusing ring? tight or wobbly?

 

[Dean]

I was lucky - everything is tight and shinny.
I will leave the pad replacement untill it's necessary.

Dean

 

[pabaker34]

I am waiting for mine in the mail. I am hoping that I won't have to do all those things to get her up and running but it sounds like pretty much all the GSN need the same repairs. Now, I guess I'll have to hear it to understand, but from what I've read some people say it should clunk (clunk=good) and others say the clunk means you need to replace the "pad of death". Maybe there are two clunks, a bad clunk and a good clunk? BTW, I like it that I got a camera with a part it in called the "pad of death"!

 

[john neal]

To describe the sound as a clunk is probably slightly inaccurate - I would say the "good" sound is more of a hefty click, caused by the rising shutter rod hitting a fairly bouncy rubber pad. A deeper, hollow clunk could be a sign that the pad is either missing ar badly deformed, so the rising part either misses altogether (unusual) or hitting metal on metal.

You will know it when you hear it. Quite often with the older types, you get no sound at all - that's a sign that the pad has completely departed and the secondary rod is not engaging with its catch in the bottom of the camera, it simply rises back up with the shutter button.

 

[pabaker34]

Thanks for the clarification. I bought this in hopes that it would be a quiet alternative to my SLR or 6x6 camera. With all the talk of it clunking or thunking it's starting to sound like it might not be. Is this true?

Paul

 

[JoeFriday]

the GSN isn't the quietest camera out there, but shoot with it exclusively for a few weeks, then pick up an SLR.. you'll feel like you need earplugs.. LOL

but I admit that when I'm shooting with my GSN in any relatively quiet environment, people are usually aware of it.. but they usually ignore it because it doesn't sound like a 'pro camera'

 

[cp_ste.croix]

I took mine to a magazine launch at a bar las night, and the only time i got noticed was after someone next to me heard me winding the shutter...when he saw the camera he seemed to dismiss it. I got way less attention than i did last time i brought my slr to an event.

 

[jon_flanders]

the GSN isn't the quietest camera out there, but shoot with it exclusively for a few weeks, then pick up an SLR.. you'll feel like you need earplugs.. LOL

but I admit that when I'm shooting with my GSN in any relatively quiet environment, people are usually aware of it.. but they usually ignore it because it doesn't sound like a 'pro camera'

Here's the thing with the GSN. Yes, there is that clunk. But you can time the clunk when it is a little noisy, and people won't notice. The actual shutter click is about the quietest out there. So while someone might notice you are looking thru the viewfinder, they are unlikely to hear the actual shot, at that critical moment.

On another note, I just shot a roll through an early Electro, the type that only goes to 500 ASA, and perhaps not surprisingly, the build quality seems a little better than the later models. I replaced the pad and the lens on this one.

 

[Fedzilla_Bob]

As much as I enjoy my Bessa R (it goes nearly everywhere I do), my GSN is very quiet by comparison. My wife has said that the shutter sound of the Bessa is what she would think a camera should sound like. She never notices the GSN. Which is what I think a camera should sound like.

 

[pabaker34]

YES! This is what I bought it for! This weekend I was at a picninc with the N6006 and it sounds so loud. I can't wait to try out the GSN. Come on Brown truck!

Paul