First rangefinder, first photos

[biftek]

Hi,

I've been a member of this great community for a while now, but didn't have the guts nor money to buy myself a first rangefinder.

So I bought an electro 35 gtn. A pretty good camera for only 40 EUR, but with minor glitches (I guess).

The first one is focusing to infinity, when looking through the finder, the images aren't properly covered.
The focusing diamond (don't really know the name for it) is not properly shaped (it is a bit cut-off on the left side).
Are those two things connected?
I tried a focus test on the closest distance and it failed (at f1.7 and distance of .8 meters there was around 3cm of difference).

The second one is occasional light leakage, could it be the photo-lab's fault (I hope it is)?

Otherwise it's a really good camera and my 20d is getting really dusty the last couple of weeks.
I even thought of buying a used r3a, but I'm not worthy of it yet, will think of it after a couple of 1000 rolls with yashica 😉

Here are a couple of shots from the first few rolls ...

First picture with yashica

I like the bokeh in the water, failed to focus right, too bad

light leakage?

really sharp lenses (compared to canon EFS 18-75 😉

Many thanks on any info or further pointers (regarding the camera itself or composition on the pictures).

Cheers,
Peter

 

[feenej]

I like the first and 5th a lot.

 

[charjohncarter]

I doesn't look like light leakage to me. They usually look orange with C-41 film. To me it looks like one of you shutter speeds is slow on opening or closing, and you are seeing the aperture blades. Without film in the camera you might see it you can 'see' this happening. And before a CLA, 'work' the shutter to see if it loosens up.

 

[shadowfox]

The third photo (with the feet above water) is very lovely.

Follow what John said above, but if you're going to burn a lot of film through this camera, I'd still invest in a CLA.

 

[dazedgonebye]

You certainly have a better hang of rangefinders right off the bad than I did.
Keep up the good work.

 

[ElectroWNED]

very impressive shots

 

[35mmdelux]

i love #1 portrait - sharp and great boke.

 

[sweathog]

Very nice shots, the third shot is absolutely fantastic.
Welcome aboard, and I hope you don't fall too deep into GAS.

 

[Superbus_]

Nice shots, I especially like the 1. and 3.

 

[biftek]

wow

wow

thank you all for your input, I never imagined anybody would like those pics 🙂

I doesn't look like light leakage to me. They usually look orange with C-41 film. To me it looks like one of you shutter speeds is slow on opening or closing, and you are seeing the aperture blades. Without film in the camera you might see it you can 'see' this happening. And before a CLA, 'work' the shutter to see if it loosens up.

I tried doing what you said (opening the back doors and shooting at bulb, but didn't see any delays in one of the blades). How do you mean 'work' the shutter?

The third photo (with the feet above water) is very lovely.

Follow what John said above, but if you're going to burn a lot of film through this camera, I'd still invest in a CLA.

Yeah, I just hope the CLA won't cost twice as much as the camera did. I will try and look at yashica-guy.com to see if I can make an operation myself.

You certainly have a better hang of rangefinders right off the bad than I did.
Keep up the good work.

These are one of my top pics from 100 of them, mind you. I'm still coping with the fact that there is only 10% of successful shots per film roll.

The only drawback for me is the viewfinder (I can't really see the diamond well in low light conditions) and that the viewing area is not 100% (the picture is cropped inside the yellow brackets). Can this be the consequence of aging (disappearing of the diamond)?

Thanks again for your effort, you've been a great help!

Cheers,
Peter

 

[JonR]

Welcome to the world of Rangefinders.... I also started with a Yashica GT and have a small collection of them now - they can be found cheap and often work well! After that I have invested more into Nikon Rangefinders so whatch out - there is a big risk that you will want more once you have started!! 🙂
Jon

 

[gb hill]

I would replace the light seals. It's very easy to do. I did my GSN. You can get the kit on ebay http://cgi.ebay.com/The-Finest-Comp...39:1|66:2|65:12|240:1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

 

[Prometheus]

I really like 1, 2, 6 🙂 Great inspiration!