Yashica 35 CC - slow shutter speeds problem

[Tadeusz]

Hello everyone. I've been reading this forum for quite some time, but that's the first time I ask for guidance myself. This is great place btw, and I bet someone can point me some directions 🙂

I have got this Yashica Electro 35 CC. After some cleaning it is in really good condition now. I've changed the battery for new one and the meter seems to work fine. Well it's hard to check with that camera, because there's no information about chosen shutter speed. I can only notice at which aperture red diode starts to show overexposure (that would be 1/250) or underexposure (hopely 1/30). Checking against the sky or smth uniformly lit with other trustful camera, meter is quite accurate, maybe little off.
But when I cover the sensor completely, shutter opens for maybe maximum 2 sec. at the lowest ASA setting. I've read that it should go a lot slower, 15 seconds?
Everything under top plate look fine and working. Wires properly soldered, gears are clean, nothing wrong. I've checked what is under bottom plate. Solders and wires look good, I cleaned contacts of potentiometers.
Then I closed that thing, put a roll of fp4 and I'm gonna shoot it under different light conditions to see what I have.
Before going deeper or some resoldering I want to ask if maybe some of you guys knows some answers?
When I'll have time I'm gonna develop that film to see if the lens is worth the effort. The camera itself looks, feels and handles very well for my taste. Yet bit odd. No information about shutter speed annoys, and I would swap places of the focus and aperture rings 😀
What do you think about that camera? Any clues about problem of my copy?

 

[petronius]

My 35CC does the same. Some other automatic cameras I own have the same behaviour. When the cell is fully covered, the shutter doesn´t stay open as long as expected (Agfa Optima sensor). I always thought this could be a safety against battery draining when the camera is accidently released in a bag.
BTW the pictures from my 35CC are exposed right!

 

[f16sunshine]

There is a battery safety circuit when no light is present.
If you expose the cel to an ev 1or2 or so the camera will go into long exposure mode.
Other cds cel cameras have this feature as will.
I like the Yashica CC but the GX has some nicer features. (CC35mm lens, GX 40mm lens).
The CC stopped down can have some strange oof highlights and flare ghosts. The aperture is diamond shaped.
It's a nice tiny camera and the batteries are easy to get.
Batteries are a problem for many cameras of that era.

 

[Tadeusz]

petronius, f16sunshine - thx guys for quick response!

And that's correct! I've checked it in a barely lit room and it stayed open for around 10 seconds. Well i guess I've never expected some little cds RF to give me that long exposures. That's impressive since none of my others RF goes that long.
Happy to hear that my 35CC works fine, now I'm curious about the lens character, will find out.
f16, yeah I know about 35GX, but having the Revue 400se, Konica SIII and beautiful Minoltina-S (which I hope I will CLA some day soon finally) with similiar lenses have to pass on it ...for now 😉 .
I know about the shape of the aperture, but actually am curious about it. At least smth different than those pentagons. And I believe that C35 has something similiar, but it's 2.8 without manual.

Thanks, again.

 

[ColSebastianMoran]

There is a battery safety circuit when no light is present.
If you expose the cel to an ev 1or2 or so the camera will go into long exposure mode.
Other cds cel cameras have this feature as will.
I like the Yashica CC but the GX has some nicer features. ...

Andy, thanks for this.

Answers some questions about things I had seen from time to time in my Yashicas. For me, the GX is the favorite.

 

[Tadeusz]

I was happy to early. Now, with next film, the shutter doesn't go slower than 1-2 sec. No matter how much or little light the meter would get. I don't want to bother you guys again, but do you have any suggestions?
Could it be smth related to PoD? I've looked at the mechanisms and the second rod travels all the way and catches the latch every time. Haven't seen if the pad itself is ok, it has be somewhere deeper in the body than in the earlier models.
edit:
Now I'm testing it again and... it works for a change. So it's choosy. I'm gonna checkout insides again, maybe there is some dirty contact. Does it have some kind of separate circuit for low light metering?

 

[shire.boi]

did you ever resolve this? I'm having the same issue

 

[Frontman]

I was happy to early. Now, with next film, the shutter doesn't go slower than 1-2 sec. No matter how much or little light the meter would get. I don't want to bother you guys again, but do you have any suggestions?
Could it be smth related to PoD? I've looked at the mechanisms and the second rod travels all the way and catches the latch every time. Haven't seen if the pad itself is ok, it has be somewhere deeper in the body than in the earlier models.
edit:
Now I'm testing it again and... it works for a change. So it's choosy. I'm gonna checkout insides again, maybe there is some dirty contact. Does it have some kind of separate circuit for low light metering?

The contacts may be dirty. If you put a few drops of lighter fluid on the switch contacts (remove the bottom cover, hold the camera upside down, and drip lighter fluid on the region below the shutter button), it will often work better. This trick also eliminates the flickering exposure lights and funny sounds that come from the other Electro 35 cameras. You can also clean up the contacts a little by pushing the winding lever to full travel, and rapidly pressing the shutter button 50 or so times.

On the bottom of CC and CCN, under the bottom cover, there are a couple of dashpots which you can use to fine tune the meter, you'll notice the shutter speed move up or down as you turn one or the other either way.