"Like New" Yashica Electro 35 GSN c/o Mark Hama

[meltedARTS]

OK, what I'm about to type won't be news to most of you: Mark Hama is the man. For those of you who are not in-the-know, Mark Hama has been building and repairing cameras for 45 years. He used to work in the Yashica factory; if you own a Yashica, there's a chance he assembled it in the first place. Not only is he highly regarded as one of the best camera repairmen in the world, there's a good chance he's the only one with the OEM parts left to repair your Yashica cameras.

Anyway, it just so happens that I'm fortunate enough to live in the Atlanta area. . . which is where where Mark Hama lives. I contacted him this past Friday to see if he had a battery cap to replace my blue-mercuric-oxide-wafer-of-a-battery-cap from my Electro 35 GSN. Mark Hama said, "you bring camera." So I brought it out to him, and it turns out I needed more than just a battery cap. I left the camera with him and he replaced the winder mechanism, meter circuit, light seals, battery chamber, battery cap, cleaned it up and provided a new 6v alkaline battery that fits without an adapter and even provided a little rubber plug that covers the PC connection port. And it was ready the next day. And it works—well. Scratch that. It's like it time-travelled here from 1973. OK, the first roll isn't back from the lab yet, but judging from the buttery way this thing is operating (not to mention, Mr. Hama's reputation), I'm not exactly expecting any duds.

I just wanted to share that Mark Hama's a helluva repairman, not to mention the nicest guy ever. If you've been making due with a temperamental RF (or any camera, for that matter), you don't know how good it can be. He also told me to tell everyone that he's still repairing cameras, and that you can ship your camera to him and he'll ship it right back to you (good as new). If you'd like to get in touch with him, he has the world's simplest website.

Ewan

 

[meltedARTS]

ps: No, I don't want to sell the GSN.

 

[Andrew Sowerby]

One thing that I really love about this forum is that there are plenty of recommendations for quality repair folks. Thanks for the heads up and enjoy your GSN!

 

[JeffGreene]

Mark is good. He CLA'd my 14e, but there are some people here who did not have your experience with him. He seemed to go through a rough patch about a year ago and was experiencing long delays in returning equipment sent to him. It's good to hear that he's back on the job. I like him, and have had similar experience with him to yours. He has CLA'd both my GSN's, my 124 and 14e. 😀

 

[Bruin]

Yeah, Mark gave a full CLA to one of my Yashica GXs last year. No nonsense guy and top notch work. IMHO all Yashicas are such great values nowadays, what you put into a CLA is money well spent to get them working as they should.

 

[FallisPhoto]

OK, what I'm about to type won't be news to most of you: Mark Hama is the man. For those of you who are not in-the-know, Mark Hama has been building and repairing cameras for 45 years. He used to work in the Yashica factory; if you own a Yashica, there's a chance he assembled it in the first place. Not only is he highly regarded as one of the best camera repairmen in the world, there's a good chance he's the only one with the OEM parts left to repair your Yashica cameras.

Anyway, it just so happens that I'm fortunate enough to live in the Atlanta area. . . which is where where Mark Hama lives. I contacted him this past Friday to see if he had a battery cap to replace my blue-mercuric-oxide-wafer-of-a-battery-cap from my Electro 35 GSN. Mark Hama said, "you bring camera." So I brought it out to him, and it turns out I needed more than just a battery cap. I left the camera with him and he replaced the winder mechanism, meter circuit, light seals, battery chamber, battery cap, cleaned it up and provided a new 6v alkaline battery that fits without an adapter and even provided a little rubber plug that covers the PC connection port. And it was ready the next day. And it works—well. Scratch that. It's like it time-travelled here from 1973. OK, the first roll isn't back from the lab yet, but judging from the buttery way this thing is operating (not to mention, Mr. Hama's reputation), I'm not exactly expecting any duds.

I just wanted to share that Mark Hama's a helluva repairman, not to mention the nicest guy ever. If you've been making due with a temperamental RF (or any camera, for that matter), you don't know how good it can be. He also told me to tell everyone that he's still repairing cameras, and that you can ship your camera to him and he'll ship it right back to you (good as new). If you'd like to get in touch with him, he has the world's simplest website.

Ewan

I once emailed and asked him how much he wanted for a CDS cell for an MG-1. I think he said something like $2 or $3. About a week later, there was this rather heavy package waiting on my doorstep. Rather than just send a CDS cell, he sent me a reworked MG-1. Said he had more MG-1s than he would ever need. That was a while back, but I'm pretty sure he spent more on the postage than the few bucks I sent him. Eventually, I went to Radio Shack and bought a new CDS cell for the other camera. Anyway, yeah, he's very definitely the man.

P.S. I already sold the extra MG-1.