Yashica Electro 35 G - exposure?

[desmo]

Hi All,

Bought one of these on Ebay recently. Also bought the battery/adapter from Yashica guy...

The red/yellow lights seem to be working OK.

My question has to do with the yellow light. I've read the camera's supposed to be able to meter down to 30 seconds. In low light, my camera seems to be shooting at some default (like 1/60??). I've tried some self-timer pics in low light, and there's really no delay at all.

Also, if I hold the shutter button down, it seems to go into a B (bulb) sort of mode.

Also, I might note that when I first got the camera, the electrical connections when the shutter button was depressed were slightly funky - these have improved with time.

TIA and sorry - I've read thru the user manual and elsewhere...

- Mark

 

[ElectroWNED]

as it is AE only, you can't really control how long the shutter stays open, save for the Bulb mode.

 

[b1bmsgt]

Most likely a bad POD, or dirty contacts, or a combination of both... The fact that the funkyness is getting a little better with use leans towards the dirty contacts. The uncommanded B setting indicates a probable POD problem...

Also, NEVER use the self timer on this or any other classic camera!!! They are dead cameras waiting to happen! If the ST jams in the cocked position, you now have a paperweight, as the shutter will not trip. If you must have a ST, get an external one that screws into the shutter release button.

Seriously. Not kidding. It WILL fail sooner or later... 😱

Russ

 

[desmo]

Most likely a bad POD, or dirty contacts, or a combination of both... The fact that the funkyness is getting a little better with use leans towards the dirty contacts. The uncommanded B setting indicates a probable POD problem...

Also, NEVER use the self timer on this or any other classic camera!!! They are dead cameras waiting to happen! If the ST jams in the cocked position, you now have a paperweight, as the shutter will not trip. If you must have a ST, get an external one that screws into the shutter release button.

Seriously. Not kidding. It WILL fail sooner or later... 😱

Russ

I understand how AE works, I just don't think my camera understands right now. :bang: If I fire it in complete darkness, I'm assuming the shutter should stay open 30 seconds and then close?

Thanks for the info, Russ. I'll stop using the self-timer. 🙂

I'll dig around a report back!

 

[sevo]

I understand how AE works, I just don't think my camera understands right now. :bang: If I fire it in complete darkness, I'm assuming the shutter should stay open 30 seconds and then close?

No. It should stay open as long as the capacitor holds its charge against the leak current across the circuit. Thirty seconds is the time for which the circuit was designed to deliver a accurate (i.e. within 50% of the mark) exposure, but originally most held the shutter open for much longer (at least a minute or two) in darkness. And by now, with aged caps and leaking semiconductors, both working and accurate time will often be reduced.

A nice feature of this electronic shutter design is that a loss of long time exposure capability doesn't necessarily mean that the exposure timer is wrong at short times - the effect of lower capacity or higher leakage shrinks proportionally to the exposure time.

Sevo

 

[fotofanatic]

question: i bought one of these on ebay and after a couple tries, the shutter stopped working. or at least the aperture blades don't close now. there is no clunk, so i assume i need to put a new pad in - but is the aperture blades not closing [in bulb mode or any other] - is this a 2nd issue or will the new pad fix it?

 

[btgc]

fotofanatic, POD doesn't seem to influence aperture, at my knowledge. Migrated lube from helicoid does that to aperture (not very common issue on Electro RF's), though answers come rather when one opens camera.