Yashica 35 GT vs GSN, and More

[sooner]

After chancing on this forum just after getting a strange itch to try a rangefinder, I have been enjoying the many knowledgeable voices here. Thanks for that. Recently bought a QL-17 GIII and Konica Auto S2, both of which produced very nice test shots, great sharpness, color, and "depth." I'm just a newbie who loves to use cool cameras and hopefully end up with some keepsake shots of my kids. I also have a collector's compulsion, so am looking at the Yashica 35 GT. Here are some questions:

What's the difference between the GSN and the GT, qualitatively? Anyone love their GT out there, besides its super cool look?

What do you all do about adjusting the ASA on these cameras using the newer 1.5 volt batteries? I tried to adjust using a handheld, but the sensitivity seemed inconsistent and I was always off by 1 to 1.5 stops. Luckily modern film is very forgiving, but I like to shoot slides. Any chance of tweaking it?

Also, anybody use the wide angle auxiliary lens for the Yashica 35 GT or GSN? Is it tricky to use, does it degrade quality beyond making it an f/4 shot?

Sorry to be so longwinded and scattered. Any thoughts would be appreciated. I will post some pics soon, too. Regards.

 

[Rob]

The GT has a cold shoe not hot, If I remember correctly...not much else
except its black..Lots of us use the 1.4v hearing aid batteries with no
adjustment to the cameras needed. Google for Yashica Guy and it will
have all the details on the Yashica rangefinder differences. I would pass
on the add on lenses for the yashicas, hard to use and degrades the pictures.

 

[Pherdinand]

The electronics of the yashica (GSN at least, and CC) are made in such a way that it does not matter if you use 1.5V (alkaline or silver-oxide) instead of mercury.

www.photoetnography.com
www.yashica-guy.com
www.cameraquest.com
all great sites with lots of detailed info about these rf's.

 

[RichardS]

Especially http://www.yashica-guy.com/ There is information there on every model of the Yashica Electro. You can probably spend a couple of days going through it all.

Dick

 

[matu]

I have a Telesar Wide Angle and Tele Kit, quite similar to the Yashica Kit, mine experience is that is hard to focus, the camera acts as ZF, you must change the actual reading of the lense.
Using the tele I've seen that resolution decays on the edges, with the Wide lense there is no problem.
The worst thing is that sometimes you get an awfull vignetting.

BTW, the Yashica are great camera's.

This is a picture taken with a Canonet QL17 using the wide lense. The same happens when used with my GSN.


Welcome to the forum.

Pablo

 

[Nick R.]

A 6 volt alkaline will work fine in the GT or GSN with no meter adjustment necessary. I use a lithium in my GT to get more mah (milli amp hours). Since the replacement batteries are shorter and thinner than the original, you need to buy or make an adaptor to get the battery to fit. I made mine using a spring to lengthen and tape to make it wider.

 

[nwcanonman]

I love my GT, if for just the looks alone (I know, I'm so shallow). 😀
I'm lucky enough to still have some old merc 1.35v batteries, so no problems for years to come.
With the MM strap, it's tre' cool.

 

[Antonio Shalder]

Main differences: ISO range is wider in GSN, GSN has a hot shoe, lenses are better coated. Internal electronics in GSN are based in very simple integrated circuit instead of discrete transistors.

No problem using 6V alkaline or lithium. The circuit is not sensitive to this.

If you want to shoot slides, put a test film and shoot the same scene with different iso settings then use the one that gave you the most pleasing result.

 

[sooner]

Thanks for the helpful comments, folks. I wasn't entirely pleased with the shots I got, but think I will follow your advice and take some test shots with slide film, and note the different settings. I'm not ready to give up on my GSN yet.

 

[jon_flanders]

If you used a 1.5 battery you would have a problem. These cameras take a 6v.

 

[Todd.Hanz]

I have the tele and wide aux lenses for my GSN, they are a pain in the a$$ to use. The wide angle will only give you 37.7mm (I think), the tele is something like 52mm. You have to focus and then trsnfer the numbers from the lens to the aux. lens.
The only thing good about them is the aux. finder, which really isn't that bright but looks cool on top of the GSN 🙂!

Todd

 

[matu]

Yeah, the wide Angle and Tele Kit are more usefull for showing off than for taking pictures. When is time to get a serious shot you "must" remove the lense.
The cool viewfinder works great with FSU cameras.

Pablo

 

[matu]

The frames are good for my 3,5Cm Elmar, compared to my Vidom Viefinder it's very similar.
The tele frames aren't very usefull because it lacks of parallax correction, but could be good for a 75mm, considering this is better than nothing.

Pablo