GTN in my hands

[kully]

After many years with SLRs I finally decided to give rangefinders a go.

Unfortunately my attempts at getting a Zorki 4K on eBay failed (too many dodgy buggers) so I now have a Yashica GTN and an Olympus 35 RC (and an Olympus Trip 35).

I took the GTN to a beer festival last week and it performed excellently. I shot on Ilford HP5, I was drunk, it was my first time shooting split-screen and I dropped it twice (once from twelve feet) and it's absolutely fine - and the photos were well exposed every time.

Only bad points at the moment are some kind of electrical "kurrkh" sound when I press the shutter down and although it's survived two drops already it does feel fragile...

Anyway, a pointless post but I thought I'd write something rather than lurking.

 

[pesphoto]

#1 rule : always use a neckstrap when drinking. It is a nice camera though.

 

[bmattock]

Congrats on the cameras, the GTN is a nice one, and the RC is one of my favorites. "Fragile" is not how I'd describe a camera that survived a 12-foot drop, but to each their own!

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[kully]

On the GTN

The lightseals. I've pretty much scraped off as much of their gunky remains as I could as the seals just seemed to hold the back tight rather than act as real light stoppers.

However, a lot of the resources on the web talk about the time killing task of replacing them. Does anyone else here use their Gx RFs sans light-seals? I'm wondering whether I didn't get any fogging because I used the camera in low-light.

 

[pesphoto]

You will need the light seals! They do more than hold the door shut.
Look for interslice on the 'bay. He is Jon Goodman, a member here. He sells a kit that is super easy to install.

You'll need 'em for sure. I bought from Jon Goodman a few times. He sells a kit with everything you'll need.

 

[kully]

Thanks, I've a roll of Neopan 1600 (@800) that I'm shooting at the moment - I'll see how that comes out.

I have one thing bothering me with this camera, I've searched the forum with no luck. The film counter does not reset to '0'. It just goes 'round the dial. This isn't too bad, but I thought I'd ask in case there is something extra that needs to be done to reset the counter (you have to do this manually on my 1961 'J' Yashica SLR).

 

[getmoresoon]

I just resealed my GSN with Jon's kit... there's no way I could have done it simpler or easier. Really... for the maybe 30-40 minutes required (and that was to to a bang up job on cleaning the old gunk out) and the excellent price, his kit is the way to go!

 

[Fedzilla_Bob]

I'm getting seals for my Yashicas. I discovered that in the bright SoCal sun they do leak light.

 

[kully]

Thanks everyone, I'm ordering his kit.

I'm sure I found his listings on eBay before, but was put off by his 'extreme' style of writing - reads like he really needs to go and let rip on the toilet (no offence intended 😀 )