Electro 35 shutter release

[Vendee]

Hi, its been quite a while since I posted on Rangefinderforum. The reason for posting here again is that my neighbour has just gifted me an absolute mint Yashica 35 GTN, complete with case, tele and wide adaptors and the associated external viewfinder. He told me a couple of days ago that he was going to give me the camera as he hadn't used it for 20 years or so. I've spent the last day or so trying to find out more about the camera.

Externally its mint and the lens is clear as a bell. I worried that it may have fungus due to the long time in storage but its fine. I read about the "pad of death" but I think mine may be fine as there is a reassuring clunk when I cock the shutter. It had the original mercury battery fitted... long dead, and I plan to buy a 4LR44 battery and adaptor but as an interim measure, just to see if everything works, I took four LR44 batteries that I use in my Pentax SLRs and taped them together then used some silver foil to make it fit in the camera. It worked and Slow and Over lamps light when they should.

My only concern is the shutter button itself. It activates the shutter right at the end of the button's stroke with quite a bit of pressure needed to fire it. Is this a problem or are they all like that? Thanks.

 

[tbhv55]

My only concern is the shutter button itself. It activates the shutter right at the end of the button's stroke with quite a bit of pressure needed to fire it. Is this a problem or are they all like that? Thanks.

I'm no expert, but I do own a GSN - which, coincidentally, has a rather similar history to your camera i.e. 20 years or so, stored in someone's attic, before I 'rescued' it.

It still works fine after ten years in my possession, and the shutter button on my example also activates right at the very end of its 'travel', so I guess that's normal. However, mine doesn't require an inordinate amount of pressure to activate the shutter, so maybe this indicates a potential problem with yours.

I'm willing to bet that someone more expert than I will be along soon to provide more detailed knowledge. 🙂

 

[NorpA]

Hey Vandee niche catch, especially with the complete set of accessories. Do you have to press quite a long and even then there is a kind of delay before you hear the shutter closing (1/500)? If so, I am experiencing the same on my GT. I cannot find a resource online, in my opinion is not the POD, while I am mostly looking at the release lever in the copal shutter. Observing this mechanism I fell like over time it gained too much space and now the opening latch needs that extra push to jump. If you search for the Electro 35 repair manual available online, I am talking about page 43-44. My idea (crazy one) was to add a little spacer to between levers to restore a normal pressure. NOTE this is only my observation and probably I am not in the right direction.


// forget what I said adding is not the way :/ still studying

 

[Vendee]

Thanks for the replies guys. I don't think it helps that the shutter lock ring is concave which hinders my finger depressing the button all the way to the bottom. It doesn't feel like any of the other older SLRs that I own but maybe I just need to get used to it. I'll change the light seals and wait for the battery and adaptor to arrive before putting some film through it. Cheers.

 

[NorpA]

note in the meanwhile I decided to polish a bit the inner release lever, now I do not have to press harder and the shutter close just at the bottom of the concave release button.


If may I, when you will receive the battery adapter be ready to double check the negative battery terminal, in each of my two Electro the white cable was corroded, and I needed to cut it a bit and re-solder it to the terminal. This is page 51 in the repair manual 🙂

 

[Vendee]

So I took the top and bottom off to double check that the POD wasn't breaking up. The pad was just fine. As mentioned elsewhere, Yashica seem to have changed the pad materiel to something more durable on the GSN and GTN models.

But I was still having problems with the pressure needed to fire the shutter. With the top off, I noticed that the shutter activation rod (the rod that the shutter button presses on) has a screwdriver slot on the end so I decided to experiment. I screwed the rod in (clockwise) and the shutter became harder to fire. I then screwed it out (anticlockwise) and things improved. So now the shutter still fires at the end of the button travel but without having to exert any pressure on the button like before. I've got some light seals and a new battery and adaptor on the way so hopefully I can test it with some film soon.

 

[tbhv55]

I then screwed it out (anticlockwise) and things improved. So now the shutter still fires at the end of the button travel but without having to exert any pressure on the button like before. I've got some light seals and a new battery and adaptor on the way so hopefully I can test it with some film soon.

Sounds promising, @Vendee........ I hope the tests reveal that you've got yourself a good GTN.

 

[nparsons13]

With the top off, I noticed that the shutter activation rod (the rod that the shutter button presses on) has a screwdriver slot on the end so I decided to experiment. I screwed the rod in (clockwise) and the shutter became harder to fire. I then screwed it out (anticlockwise) and things improved. So now the shutter still fires at the end of the button travel but without having to exert any pressure on the button like before.

As you discovered, rod adjustment is important to the operation of the Electro 35. Instructions on how to make the adjustments can be found at http://www.contax139.co.uk/yashica-35-rods-adjustment.