Electro 35 Shutter Speed 'choices'

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SebastianS

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Feb 13, 2013
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Hello-

I recently became the owner of a fairly good condition Electro 35 GT with lots of accessories. After some trial and error I got the battery working and the over/slow meters are responsive to my turning the aperture ring for a given scene.

I found this image on yashica-guy (please let me know if it violates terms linking to it)

shuttergraph.jpg


I have a two-part question today:

(1) For the AUTO setting on the ring I can't seem to create a scene where the camera chooses 1/15s, or anything slower without being bulb. At the first setting where the yellow slow light turns on any picture I try and take ends up being a bulb shutter, releasing the iris back to its closed state after I release the shutter button. If I change the aperture one click where it no longer reads SLOW, the shutter opens and closes in a given time, faster than 1/30s for sure. I can't tell if the camera is choosing faster shutters with each increase in aperture either...

(2) Is the flash setting on the ring defaulted to 1/30 no matter what?

Thanks - looking forward to loading in some film and playing around, just wanted to confirm some things before possible wasting a roll :p

Sebastian
 
1) there's a problem with the metering circuit of your camera. Either the infamous "Pad Of Death" (POD) or some other dead component/broken wire/oxidized contact. I seem to remember you can get Yashica's repair manual in PDF format online, with troubleshooting recommendations for the Electro 35 shutter. If you don't want to mess with it yourself you can have it repaired. Mark Hama and http://www.camerarefurb.com/ are the usual recommendations.

2) Yes. However a flash connected to the camera will fire when the camera is set to 'Auto' too, the Electro 35 leaf shutter will sync with flash at all speeds up to it's highest (1/500). Controlling exposure might be tricky, your mileage may vary.
 
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On the Electro, the shutter goes at 1/500th unless the electro-magnetic mechanism holds it open longer. Thus, a bad Electro will not stay open on B and will fire at 1/500th on "Flash". Same for one without a battery.

If your shutter won't stay open for a few seconds in a dark room with appropriate settings, then it's got a problem.
 
Thanks for the replies - I don't mind investigating the POD myself.

Just to confirm though, the bulb setting on my camera does indeed work. Does this change anything?

Finally - I am using a small washer on the battery to make contact between the (+) terminal and the uppermost chrome ring. I took care not to contact the camera's body also, but could this be causing a problem? Or in that instance would the camera simply malfunction altogether...
 
Hey all - thought I would give a brief update on my issue. I did some micro surgery on the POD by only removing the top dials and cover. I used a piece of 0.078" silicone adhesive backed rubber I have from work, cut a 0.157 x 0.157 piece from it, and used tweezers to stuck it to the trouble spot after removing as much as possible from the old pad.

The camera now makes the 'clunk' noise depicted on a video I was linked to, and the camera now chooses shutter speeds accordingly :)
 
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