Newbie Electro 35 GSN query

[fWord]

With the long weekend at my disposal I went trawling through a the goods at a faraway antique camera store. There were plenty of interesting things but nothing grabbed my attention more than the Electro 35 GSN...in near new condition with case, strap, Yashica filter and a cap.

I bought it without thinking and now have to contend with a battery problem. I was long aware that the mercury batteries had been off the market for some time and there is a good adapter for sale at Yashica-Guy website. I am sure that a cheaper option exists for me to handmake an adapter. The little button cell, silver oxide 1.4V and 1.44V batteries are fairly common although small.

There's probably other batteries I could look for as well...but what options do I have? Hope that more users would be able to help me fire up this beast and get it clicking. So far everything seems to be in working order. The shutter fires properly. But when throwing the film advance lever there seems to be a little 'thunk' sound before I hear the usual clicking from cocking the shutter. Is this normal or did I actually buy a dud?

 

[tunznath]

the thunk is GOOD, means the POD is working and the camera should work, as far as the batteries go you can make your own adapter use a PX28 6volt battery use some cardboard to make a tube so it fits in the battery chamber , some aluminium foilt to make a spacer and an old spring from some dead electronic toy, if you google electro battery diy or such like you should be on your way - I will look for a few links and if i find them will post them here.

 

[tunznath]

see here for battery idea
http://www.mattdentonphoto.com/cameras/yashica_gsn.html

 

[fWord]

the thunk is GOOD, means the POD is working and the camera should work, as far as the batteries go you can make your own adapter use a PX28 6volt battery use some cardboard to make a tube so it fits in the battery chamber , some aluminium foilt to make a spacer and an old spring from some dead electronic toy, if you google electro battery diy or such like you should be on your way - I will look for a few links and if i find them will post them here.

Thanks for the quick replies. Good to know that the camera should be in good working condition, and I would hope so too considering it's probably seen little light of day. I shall go hunting for batteries tomorrow if possible. I need to buy another battery for an old Mamiya SLR anyway...brought that to the store with the intention to test cameras and it mysteriously vanished from my pocket. :bang:

 

[fWord]

Good news...managed to find a PX28a after hunting in several (!) places. The battery was quite hard to find. I wrapped in in a few layers of magazine paper and ripped a spring from the battery compartment of an old toy.

The camera came to life and the meter seems to be working. The only quirk is that sometimes the 'over' indicator doesn't come on even if it should. I have to press the shutter button down slowly before it appears. A quick press to the half-way mark doesn't bring it up, but funnily enough, works for the 'under' indicator.

Other than that...very nice. At ISO 100 and wide open, it's still possible to do handheld photography under some indoor conditions. There's a tremendous feel of quality about this camera and it's unimaginable that it's so affordable.

 

[rohn]

I have the same problem with the indicator on my camera. I pretty much have to push it far enough to trip the shutter before it lights and then.... poor exposure :-(

 

[fWord]

I have the same problem with the indicator on my camera. I pretty much have to push it far enough to trip the shutter before it lights and then.... poor exposure :-(

If that's the case then you have it far worse than I do...in my case the light does not turn on if I depress it too fast and too far down (without actually tripping the shutter).

Today I attempted some photos of the owner of the store (yes, I actually went there again) using expired ISO 800 film. Hope to get a passable result.

 

[greyhoundman]

First, the over light is supposed to come on before the halfway point. Generally around the the first quarter.
Sounds as if both of you have bad POD's. They control the switch positions.

 

[fWord]

First, the over light is supposed to come on before the halfway point. Generally around the the first quarter.
Sounds as if both of you have bad POD's. They control the switch positions.

Oh...in this camera the 'over' light does come on before reaching the halfway mark. But if I press it too quickly and too far down then the light comes on briefly before cutting off entirely. The 'under' light on the other hand comes on somewhere after the halfway point. Seems like both lights have different 'positions' in the shutther switch.

 

[andrealed]

Yes, the lights have different positions. They are supposed to work that way, so, before opening the camera, shoot a test roll. Maybe you are lucky and your pod is ok..Do you hear the "clunk" when advancing frames?
ciao
andrea

 

[rohn]

I had my memory reversed. The "slow" indicator lights, on my camera, just prior to the shutter tripping. That sounds to match with the proper operation... however I've no "thunk" or "clunk" when advancing frames. The frames do advance though (my negatives are proof). There IS a "thunk" as the shutter button comes back up - just before it reaches the fully up position it gives a little "thunk" and then slightly pops up that little bit more to the top.

The camera does work however. It seems to meter correctly (as long as I'm careful with the shutter and don't push it down too far too fast). The RF patch is faded, but I can still see it (though it does make me aware of my aging eyes). The frames advance, and the shots are wonderful (though it does seem to do better with color rather than b&w, as much as I'd wish it the reverse -- a question for another post).

 

[tunznath]

here is a link to a video with the yashica clunk,
http://s75.photobucket.com/albums/i301/ryanlesser/?action=view&current=thunk.flv

 

[fWord]

Yes, the lights have different positions. They are supposed to work that way, so, before opening the camera, shoot a test roll. Maybe you are lucky and your pod is ok..Do you hear the "clunk" when advancing frames?
ciao
andrea

With butter fingers like the ones I have, I won't be any hurry to open up this camera so soon. But yes, there's a little 'clunk' sound as I advance the film lever. I've taken a few photos with this camera so far but the vast majority are junk shots. Just trying to get through this [long-expired] roll of ISO 800 film ASAP so I can see the results.

 

[fWord]

I had my memory reversed. The "slow" indicator lights, on my camera, just prior to the shutter tripping. That sounds to match with the proper operation... however I've no "thunk" or "clunk" when advancing frames. The frames do advance though (my negatives are proof). There IS a "thunk" as the shutter button comes back up - just before it reaches the fully up position it gives a little "thunk" and then slightly pops up that little bit more to the top.

The camera does work however. It seems to meter correctly (as long as I'm careful with the shutter and don't push it down too far too fast). The RF patch is faded, but I can still see it (though it does make me aware of my aging eyes). The frames advance, and the shots are wonderful (though it does seem to do better with color rather than b&w, as much as I'd wish it the reverse -- a question for another post).

The little 'clunk' sound is actually quite new to me, since I've toyed with my friend's GSN and Lynx 14 before and neither of them had this sound when throwing the film advance lever. I guess most important is that the camera appears to work. I'm assuming that with negative film there would be a fair room for exposure error anyway.

B&W is something I have not gone into at this stage because my eyes don't see well in B&W...but I've read that yellow filters help with such photography. Tried one of those?

 

[fWord]

here is a link to a video with the yashica clunk,
http://s75.photobucket.com/albums/i301/ryanlesser/?action=view&current=thunk.flv

Well, if that's what I'm supposed to see and hear in a working condition GSN then I'm in luck. Finally, in a world of photography where just about everything is expensive, I finally managed to snag something that was value-for-money.

 

[rohn]

Well, if that's what I'm supposed to see and hear in a working condition GSN then I'm in luck.

Me too! Whew, a lot of worry gone right out the window with that video. Thanks very much for posting it! My thunk isn't quite as loud and is just a wee bit later in the throw, but I absolutely have a distinct "thunk/clink/clank" noise happening.

 

[greyhoundman]

The sound means diddly. The only way to truly know if it's right, is to film test.
If the shots are off exposure wise, the POD is junk. The camera should do equally well with B&W or color.

 

[greyhoundman]

The POD is supposed to be .078" thick, +/- .002". The POD can allow the "proper" sound but not be right. The meter will be the first to show problems if the POD is collapsing.

 

[kuzano]

Use a shotgun shell for adaptor

Use a shotgun shell for adaptor

I bought an adaptor for a couple of my GSN's from a guy on eBay... $10 if I recall correctly.

Got it and it was a 410 shotgun shell cut off about a 1/4 inch above the base. Turns out the exterior just fits in the GSN and the inner diameter is just right for a PX28. I also recall that he had put a rivet where the primer was originally. Nice one-time cheap fix. leave it in the camera and just change the PX28.

 

[fWord]

The sound means diddly. The only way to truly know if it's right, is to film test.
If the shots are off exposure wise, the POD is junk. The camera should do equally well with B&W or color.

I'm eager to see the first roll of film out of this camera. The challenge of course is to finish the roll first. Even then I don't know if the results are exactly predictable since the film expired some time ago, even considering it was kept in a fridge.