Flash does not fire on yashica electro 35

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karven

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I am new to this forum and I got a yashica electro 35 (not gsn or other models).

The camera has a cold-shoe for flash unit which can be connected to the camera by PC-cord to the x-sync socket.

So I want to try my camera with a flash unit (National PE-120M(N)) but the flash unit does not fire, whether in B mode, Auto mode or flash mode.

I check if it is the flash unit's problem by pressing the test button. The flash fires by pressing the test button when it is not connected to the camera by PC-cord. However, when it is connected, the test button does not work.

I also open the top-lid of the camera and the sync-wire is still there - connected from the tip of the x-sync socket to the shutter parts, though I have no way to check if the wire is properly connected.

So what could be the problem causing the flash not to fire ?

I also wonder how the yashica electro 35 causes the flash unit fires. Supposingly the fire unit fires when the "needle" of the plug of the PC-cord is shorted with the outside metal part (or when the two metal parts at the "shoe" of the flash unit are shorted). But the yashica camera only has only a wire connected to the "needle" of the plug of the PC-cord. So how can it short the "needle" with the outside metal part of the PC-cord when the shutter opens?

Many thanks for answering!
 
Usually one of: Flash wire corroded or severed in a previous repair attempt, lens board ground connection lost in the same, flash contact in shutter bent or fried. Oh, and flash socket entirely missing inner contact...
 
The outer part is grounded to the camera's case, so only one wire is required. If you connect an ohm meter from the center hole on the camera to the metal case, you should be able to see if there is contact when the shutter is tripped. Usually this is easier to see with a analog meter as opposed to digital.
 
Flash fires even without battery, just tried.

If camera comes from ebay, there's chance to hit tinkered one and then it depends on person who put hands on it before. Sometimes it can be easier to get another camera to start with and leave first one as parts donor.
 
...assuming that everything else works fine by itself here's what you can do:

1. use only "hot shoe to cold shoe" adapter (or use any bracket with "cold shoe" on it only!!) - by "plugging" any modern flash into Yashica's shoe you're effectively creating electrical short;

2. you can test your flash/pc cord connection by shortening the other side (make sure it's unplugged from your camera!) of pc cord connector (make sure that the other side is plugged into your electronic flash!) - your flash is supposed to fire every single time you shorten the "hot" pin with the ground.

I hope it helps😉...
 
Thanks for all replies.

Yes the camera works in all other aspects, shutter speed appears to correspond to light conditions and apperture size, batter test + over + under indicators works. I even replaced the death of pad myself (thanks to members in this forum who shared their previous experience).

Today I tried this flash unit with my rolleicord, again using the same PC cord, the flash fired when the shutter opened. So I guess there is no problem with the flash unit or the PC cord.

Unfortunately I don't have a ohm meter to test. But knowing that the other end of the flash unit is shorted to the metal lid might help... I will try again and see what can be done to repair this problem.

1. use only "hot shoe to cold shoe" adapter (or use any bracket with "cold shoe" on it only!!) - by "plugging" any modern flash into Yashica's shoe you're effectively creating electrical short;
Click to expand...

Arthur, pardon I do not understand exactly what you mean. The flash unit I am using also has a hot-shoe.
 
Flash fires even without battery, just tried.
Click to expand...

Well, I just found out that my hot shoe adapter has a loose wire in it somewhere, so it only fires if you get the cord in just the right position.

If you are using a hot shoe flash unit with an adapter for the cord, that might be the problem.

Unless the wire isn't attached to the pc plug on the inside of the top, or it is soldered poorly so that it shorts both sides of the plug, or it came loose from the circuit board (not likely...) there's not much else to go wrong with the system. In the over 100 Electro's I have owned, refurbed and sold, I have never come across one that didn't work.

Just FYI...

Russ
 
karven said:
...Arthur, pardon I do not understand exactly what you mean. The flash unit I am using also has a hot-shoe.
Click to expand...

In order to make your MODERN!! Electronic Flash fire properly (you're using Electro 35 w/cold shoe on the top plate, right?) you'll need "cold-shoe" to "hot-shoe" adapter (and PC cable of course), try this for example:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/89979-REG/Hama_HA_6951_Hot_Shoe_Adapter_1.html

On your flash the Direct Current (or directional electrical charge) travels from the ground pins on the sides of your flash shoe to the center or "hot" pin in the middle of your flash shoe.

I hope it helps...
 
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I use my GS, which doesn't have a hot-shoe with a piece of tape on the cold-shoe to prevent short circuit and then use a sync cable. It works well.
With the GSN, which does have a hot-shoe, my flash sometimes fires when I'm not pressing the shutter as well, but I've noticed that the flash shouldn't be placed to the edge of the hot shoe, then it works well. Strange affair 🙂
 
There are some manufacturers whose flashes have independent trigger circuits - at least higher grade Metz flashes will reliably fire from cable even when mounted on a unisolated cold shoe. But YMMV.

Sevo
 
Thanks Arthur for introducing to me the cold-shoe to hot-shoe adapter.

Today I am fortunate enough to have the following equipment for testing :-
1. yashica electro 35 (x-sync only)
2. yashica mg-1 (hot-shoe only)
3. flash unit A
4 flash unit B (both flash units support hot-shoe and x-sync)
Both flash units fire on both camera, whether they have batteries installed or not.

I found out that for yashica electro 35, the problem might be I installed the flash unit on the cold-shoe of the camera, therefore affected the triggering circuit of the flash. This also explains why the test button of the flash unit does not work when the flash unit is put on the cold-shoe.

However, I remembered I also tried the flash unit without installing on the cold-shoe of the camera, so another possible cause may be as Russ suggests, that the position of the PC-cord might also affect whether the contact points are in good touch.

As to yashica mg-1, the problem is caused again by the PC-cord! The hot-shoe of the flash unit will be disabled when the PC-cord is plugged into it! I was not aware of this earlier and just kept leaving the PC-cord plugged into the flash unit (my laziness!).

Now both cameras work fine with both flash units! I also share Russ's belief, when everything of the camera works fine, the flash sync should work fine, too.
 
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