New Yashica Electro GX -- All the Basics?

[SallyShears]

Thank you, LunoLuno. The scanned manual is perfect.

The longest exposure I can get out of mine is about 1/2 sec, so I suspect something is wrong. I want to try a couple of battery alternatives before concluding the camera is broken.

 

[SallyShears]

Interesting little points from the manual...

1. Shutter... "continuously variable speeds for LT to 1/500th second." Too bad they don't explain what "LT" means.

2. Flash... "Yashica Electro Auto Flash System using exclusive ES-20 Auto strobe unit; FPS (Flash Pulse Selector) automatically sets shutter to flash synchronization speed..."

And, Googling a bit, I see that LunoLuno explained #2 a year ago in this RFF thread about the GL.

When the camera sees the flash trigger voltage, it sets the shutter for a maximum of something like 1/30th, so you don't get long time exposures indoors with flash. That makes sense.

 

[LunoLuno]

Sorry, I must have been wrong about the GX detecting flash by the 'trigger voltage', which I said in the old post reply. After some flash experiences with my GL and some info from my friend who have the GX, it seems it is the metering sensor which dictates the flash. So, you don't have to use non-low-voltage flash with your GX. As for the 'slow synchro', I don't think the GX is capable of it.

 

[SallyShears]

Thanks... Still some mystery about how flash works on this camera.

I suspect the GX uses the presence of trigger voltage to know if a flash is mounted. But, I will do some experiments and report further.

 

[Frontman]

I have not tested a GX to see how long it's minimum shutter speed is, but I doubt it would be shorter than 8 seconds, which is the same minimum speed as found on the CCN. The CC supposedly has a minimum speed of 16 seconds, but I haven't been able to check on that either. I have several of all models, I'll do some checking tomorrow night.

I occasionally come across the ES-20 flash which comes with the GX, I sold one on eBay a couple of months ago. It should be possible to modify the flash wiring to permit fill-flash with the GX (the mod on the CC/CCN cameras is very easy), but I don't have a flash unit to experiment with. If your flash is not working attached to the hot shoe, make sure the contacts are clean, and check the wires inside the top cover, they sometimes get corroded at the soldered points at the top.

 

[Mablo]

I had to test mine too. I put my hand in front of the lens, set the aperture at f/16, triggered the shutter and started counting. My estimation is 10 sec give or take.

 

[SallyShears]

Thanks Frontman and Mablo. My longest is less than one second, so I definitely have something wrong in terms of long exposures in low light.

 

[Frontman]

I tried two different GX cameras with the lens cap on, both shutters stayed open for 8 seconds.

As a side note, I tried a couple CCN cameras, and they also maxed out at 8 seconds. The shutter on my CC stayed open for 16 seconds.

 

[pb908]

Sally, have you (or do you dare to) open the lens assy ?
something might going wrong over there.
I just grab an old GX as well and got lot of problem inside the lens assy, like a dirt of white material on sensor windows, rusted parts, etc.
if you have a lens spanner (or you can make one from a hard scissor/plier), it should be easy to see what is inside.

I just post a thread of my new GX in this link below, it should be in Yashica forum actually, I forgot 🙁

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=95253

 

[angstmann]

Happy to announce that I'll be shortly taking delivery of a Yashica Electro 35 GX from eBay. Hoping its all in good condition, it looks like it is, and the description suggests so, so I'm hopeful!

This will be my first rangefinder camera, add to that the fact that I haven't shot film for over 10 years, and you can see that there's gonna be a bit of a learning curve!

There's just something about the 'idea' of rangefinders that really appeals to me, and I'm hoping that it sparks my creativity and helps me rediscover my love of photography which has kind of died a little over the years as I've been shooting a succession of fairly cheap and low quality digital point and shoots.

So I'm looking forward to the challenge of learning about rangefinders and experimenting and having fun with film after so long. Hopefully I won't be posting back here with tales of woe about the camera once it arrives - I'm a natural pessimist, unfortunately, but my fingers are firmly crossed!

 

[Mablo]

Congrats for your new Yashi GX Angstmann. While you wait for it to arrive you might take a look at the www.yashica-guy.com site and maybe get one of those nifty battery adapters for your new camera. The default battery cells are no longer in production.

 

[SallyShears]

Let's keep comparing notes here. Angstman, let us know how it works out. Thanks, Frontman, for the shutter report.

pg908, Well... I'm not going to open up the lens. Right now, the camera seems to be working fine with exposures up to 1 sec. I'm going to use it that way. If it gets worse, then I will send it off for a CLA.

About the flash: I can confirm that both low- and high-trigger-voltage strobes fire just fine from the hot shoe.

 

[SallyShears]

Did a little more investigation of using flash on the GX. The manual says many promising things, but this user is left confused. Here's what I see:

Plain vanilla flash with high trigger voltage (200v)... Indoors at night... shutter is constrained to 1/30th. Take off the flash, and shutter is way longer, say 1 sec.

More modern thrystor auto flash with low trigger voltage (4v)... Same scene, indoors at night... shutter drags for a long exposure, again about 1sec, just like with no flash. (So, this is like "Slow Sync" on a modern camera). The flash occurs at the beginning of the long exposure.

Same thrystor auto flash with low trigger voltage (4v)... Outdoors in bright sun... Flash set for F/8, and camera set at f/16. Perfect fill flash exposure. Sunny f/16 rule tells me that the shutter was about 1/400th. For sure, it wasn't 1/30th or this would have been way over-exposed.

In all cases, the flash fires fine from the hot shoe. (Some web sites say that only the Yashica brand flash will fire from the hot shoe on a GX.)

My hypothesis: Flash with high trigger voltage causes the camera to constrain the shutter speed to no longer than 1/30th.

Anyone know differently? I'm looking for hands-on experience. I do have the manual, thanks for LunoLuno and the text is on the Yashica-guy site.

 

[Mablo]

Hmm... this is interesting. I'm going to test my usual thyristor strobe (SB-22) for one roll (100ASA) and see what comes out.

 

[Mablo]

So I loaded my GX, attached a modern strobe on it (SB-22s) and took the dog out. I shot a few fill flash photos (camera at f/5.6 and strobe at f/4. The ambient light was f/5.6) of my lab and everything seemed to go smoothly. It's hard to say what shutter speed the camera used but it seemed to be in the normal range.

Back inside the house I tried a few shots with the same strobe as key light. The GX uses much much too long shutter speeds. This seems to indicate - just as SallyShears noted above - that GX doesn't sync with a normal low voltage thyristor flash and simply uses shutter speeds for ambient light. I also tried shooting indoors with a PC cord but did get the same result.

I have another thyristor strobe with very high trigger voltage (250V) but I hesitate to use it with GX as I fear it could fry the camera.

Any suggestions for further testing?

 

[SallyShears]

Back inside the house I tried a few shots with the same strobe as key light. The GX uses much much too long shutter speeds. This seems to indicate - just as SallyShears noted above - that GX doesn't sync with a normal low voltage thyristor flash and simply uses shutter speeds for ambient light. I also tried shooting indoors with a PC cord but did get the same result.

Mablo, I think the strobe syncs just fine, but the camera indoors with a low-trigger-voltage-strobe is giving you a correct ambient exposure PLUS the flash exposure. On a modern Nikon, this would be called "Slow Sync." Can be interesting, but it's not the expected result.

Don't know about safety of higher voltages, but my high-trigger-voltage-strobe did constrain the shutter speed to 1/30th.

 

[angstmann]

Believe it or not I am STILL waiting to receive my GX, hoping it will arrive tomorrow, but its approaching 2 weeks now. Also had no replies to my questions from the ebay seller, but I'm trying to stay positive - desperate to get my hands on it and start shooting with it!

 

[Frontman]

Believe it or not I am STILL waiting to receive my GX, hoping it will arrive tomorrow, but its approaching 2 weeks now. Also had no replies to my questions from the ebay seller, but I'm trying to stay positive - desperate to get my hands on it and start shooting with it!

Who did you buy it from? I sell a few GX cameras on eBay each month, and I've sold a few to members of this forum. If you don't get your camera you can take a look in my eBay store, "Japan Camera Exchange". I'll be listing several GX cameras in black and silver in October.

 

[ColSebastianMoran]

Mablo, I have in my hands the flash recommended in the GX user manual, the Yashica ES-20 Auto. It's trigger voltage is 200v. So, strobes with voltages in this range are recommended by Yashica.

FWIW, my results match yours and Sally's. Flash with low trigger voltage gives "Slow Sync". Flash with high trigger voltage puts the shutter at 1/30 in low light. Don't know what happens with high trigger voltage in broad daylight.

 

[angstmann]

The GX has just arrived... 🙂 Looks in fairly decent condition now I have seen it in the flesh. Came without a lens cap which is a shame, also came without batteries, so I'll have to get hold of some. Shutter fires OK, and rangefinder all seems to work well. The film speed lever is a little on the stiff side, as is the aperture ring, but hopefully that will slacken off a little once I start using it. Its come with a strap attached, but I can't work out how to make it any longer!

Just glad that it finally arrived to be honest... hopefully I'll have some time to play around with it later.