getmoresoon
Experimenting with light
Yay! Picked up my 2 Yashica's today. These are units I bought on eBay, and they were both "eBay Minty-Fresh". Which of course means all sort of undisclosed nightmares. I think gMan has said all this before......
Both units showed up with old leaking Mercury cells in them. :bang:
Fortunately, the Electro 35 does not appear to have fallen victim to leaky-battery syndrome too badly. Mostly minor battery cap corrosion, and it cleaned up nicely with a vinegar bath. Installed a PX28A (with extension spring and some cardboard to space it nicely) and she fired right up! The rangefinder screen is WOEFULLY filthy tho, and has a big green piece of grunge in there. Nothing too serious at least.
The Lynx 5000e on the otherhand, advertised as "(Excellent Condition)".... 😡
Lessee.... the battery compartment is an undisclosed disaster, not the worse one out there I'm sure but bad enough. And like SOooooo many other 5000's and 14's, the dang corrosive fluid / vapors seem to have permeated the whole upper compartment, as there's even green rot coming out from under the viewfinder. I cleaned up the battery compartment sufficiently to get some test power to it, and it works.... sort of. The Meter switch is intermittent at best, so it's probably corroded or otherwise damaged. And I could only get one of the over/under lamps to light under any circumstance. (Do those lamps *burn out*?) I suspect a full tear down of this one is coming. At least it was cheap. The rangefinder on this is also visibly grungy, so that will need a cleaning too.
But... all the mechanics seem to work properly on both. ('cept for the self-timer on the 5000e... it is *sticky* in it's travel back). Haven't verified the shutter speed accuracy, but the speeds DO change at least on the 5000e. Actually... how do you folks check / verify the shutter speeds on your cameras anyway? 😕
Oh yeah... and all the light seals will need replacing. Gummy, dried out, patches missing.... all the standard stuff to expect of a 30-40 yr old camera 🙄
At least I *like* taking stuff apart! :dance:
Must get this stuff fixed up quickly so my oldest daughter and I can start taking pictures! 😀
R. Little
Both units showed up with old leaking Mercury cells in them. :bang:
Fortunately, the Electro 35 does not appear to have fallen victim to leaky-battery syndrome too badly. Mostly minor battery cap corrosion, and it cleaned up nicely with a vinegar bath. Installed a PX28A (with extension spring and some cardboard to space it nicely) and she fired right up! The rangefinder screen is WOEFULLY filthy tho, and has a big green piece of grunge in there. Nothing too serious at least.
The Lynx 5000e on the otherhand, advertised as "(Excellent Condition)".... 😡
Lessee.... the battery compartment is an undisclosed disaster, not the worse one out there I'm sure but bad enough. And like SOooooo many other 5000's and 14's, the dang corrosive fluid / vapors seem to have permeated the whole upper compartment, as there's even green rot coming out from under the viewfinder. I cleaned up the battery compartment sufficiently to get some test power to it, and it works.... sort of. The Meter switch is intermittent at best, so it's probably corroded or otherwise damaged. And I could only get one of the over/under lamps to light under any circumstance. (Do those lamps *burn out*?) I suspect a full tear down of this one is coming. At least it was cheap. The rangefinder on this is also visibly grungy, so that will need a cleaning too.
But... all the mechanics seem to work properly on both. ('cept for the self-timer on the 5000e... it is *sticky* in it's travel back). Haven't verified the shutter speed accuracy, but the speeds DO change at least on the 5000e. Actually... how do you folks check / verify the shutter speeds on your cameras anyway? 😕
Oh yeah... and all the light seals will need replacing. Gummy, dried out, patches missing.... all the standard stuff to expect of a 30-40 yr old camera 🙄
At least I *like* taking stuff apart! :dance:
Must get this stuff fixed up quickly so my oldest daughter and I can start taking pictures! 😀
R. Little
