Yashica Electro 35 GS - WoW!!

[Steve Bellayr]

Yashica GSN is a true sleeper. A little big but great optics. You can take it to those places where you would not want to carry an expensive Leica.

 

[ully]

My first was a Lynx 5000 which I sold after it sat on the shelf for long time. Recently got a GSN and find its every as good or better. I have some Kodachrome slides from 1962 that are absolutely outstanding.

 

[jan normandale]

Yeah, in regards to my comments above this is what I actually do. However I haven't moved the ISO/ASA as far as you've suggested. I may have to try that. I usually move it up or down one setting from the recommended setting, to achieve the effect you are describing.

I usually re-set my ASA (ISO) dial on the GSN to either over or under expose the shot as needed. Half the film speed you are using and you over expose by one stop - double the speed and you under expose one stop. The ratio continues as such.
Not totally manual in that you are not certain as to the exact shutter speed used but still a degree of 'over-ride'.

Regards
Peter

 

[raid]

According to some it is no different from the chrome models from the same period. All three I have handled have been quite nice. The focus is smooth and the lens tight. The viewfinders are brighter than the later GSNs but the contrast is lower. The brighter finder makes it easier for low light focusing. It has the traffic light exposure lamps which are very bright, perhaps too bright for low-light shooting without modification. The rangefinder has some extra shielding inside. The wind mechanism is more robust. I like the style of the back on these with the separate latch. Really special? If I only had one Electro I would keep this one, but that is just my preference....Roger

Roger: Thanks. I don't know how old my Yashica GSN is, but the viewfinder is bright. Mine has the "traffic light" exposure lamps.

I once had a Lynx 14 with the 1.4 lens, but I sold it since its shutter sounded so "wimpy"! I was not used to rangefinder cameras then. Many years later, I received the GSN.

Raid

 

[Welsh_Italian]

I just got my first Yashica - it's a GTN (the all black version of the GSN). I noticed it for sale at a local "auction" house (read: junk shop!) and it was going for £18 which was a bit much considering it was dirty and had a broken viewfinder (the front glass is cracked). The woman said I could have it for £10, but I was broke then so left it.

I went back today and looked inside the body - it's clean and smells ok! The dirt was just on the outside and could be cleaned. The lens (what a magnificent looking lens too!) had a filter on it which kept most of the dirt off. Only one shutter speed probably because the battery has worn down (1/500th by default?) by the shutter opens reliably (I made quite a few test firings).

So it was a camera with lots of dirt on the outside, but quite clean on the inside. Would it work with a new battery? I'm not sure, but I decided to take a chance. And this time, the woman reduced the price to £5.00! 😀

I've found a place that does replacements for the TR164 mercury battery. Oddly, these will cost more than the camera itself! And that lens just looks the business, so much so that I can't wait to try it out!

 

[douwe]

I will recieve my first yashica electro within a few days now. It's a GX. I'm wondering if the 40mm 1.7 is as good as the 45mm 1.7. Its probably better on the streets because it is a bit wider I figured.
Anyhow, I would like to compare it to my QL17 GIII and konica auto S2. Any thoughts on that?

Cheers,
Douwe

 

[Superbus_]

I'm going to make enemies with this, but my *highly subjective* opinion is: The Yashica GSN sucks donkey balls. Now, don't take this the wrong way. The lens is "OK". And new RFF'ers always get the suggestion to go and buy one of these. Why?!? A Bessa R is a million times more useful than the GSN. The Bessa viewfinder is almost up there with Leica's! Yes it costs at bit more. THe good thing is: It works. Now, for every lucky guy who gets a "good" GSN, there are five unlucky SOB's who get screwed on eBay. Once you add a CLA the price has quadroupled. And it is still a mediocre camera.

For the record: I have three of these in my closet. One was bought locally - needed a CLA. One was bought here on this forum - needed a CLA. The last one was bought from a reputable eBay PowerSeller - needed a CLA. Altogether I wasted more than $500 (shipping included) on this ****ty little camera. My Bessa R cost me $300 - and that was with a lens. You do the math.

The GSN is probably a great little camera if you get lucky on RFF or eBay, but I would stay as far away as humanly possible.

I think you overcalculated a cost of a yashica electro. For example you don't need 3 of them just one, in a good working condition. To tell you the truth I have no information on the costs of a yashica CLA in the USA but it seems to me very expensive. My experience that I have two of them with no CLA and I'm satisfied with the photos. That's all: a good, bargain RF 🙂

 

[popstar]

The GSN is probably a great little camera if you get lucky on RFF or eBay, but I would stay as far away as humanly possible.

I understand what you're saying with regard to the variation in quality of individual cameras, but I think the quality of photos possible has been well documented.

Several people liked this thread from earlier this year with photos from rural China (here).

Perhaps you just haven't met the right GSN yet! 🙂

 

[Terrence]

Of all the fixed lens rangefinder cameras i have, i LOVE the Yashica GSN's viewfinder the MOST!!! A VERY good contrast with the rangefinder patch makes it easiest and fastest to focus.

And among my fixed lens rangefinders are like Canon GIII QL17, Konica Auto S2, Konica Auto S3, Minolta Hi-Matic 9 etc.....

 

[Superbus_]

Yes, like I said - it is my highly subjective opinion. Think of me as the Devil's Advocate. The camera is decent enough, but is not The RF Bargain of all Times - the Bessa has that crown. Once again - this is only *one* opinion.

And I'm happy that you like your camera 🙂

BTW: I don't live in the US, but here in Europe a CLA is $75. Too much? Hell yes, one of these days I'm gonna drop kick these cameras into the cold Nothern Sea.

sorry, I thought you are from the USA like the majority of forum members. Yes, you underlined that when we are choosing a 30 or 20 years camera we have to know that this is risky. (CLA in central - eastern Europe - is more cheeper.)

 

[Terrence]

BTW: I don't live in the US, but here in Europe a CLA is $75. Too much? Hell yes, one of these days I'm gonna drop kick these cameras into the cold Nothern Sea.

Wow!!! that's blardy expensive. Lucky i pay much lower to get my cameras CLA-ed, else i would able to keep my 26 cameras in mint condition! 😀

 

[owlsplace]

Yes, like I said - it is my highly subjective opinion. Think of me as the Devil's Advocate. The camera is decent enough, but is not The RF Bargain of all Times - the Bessa has that crown. Once again - this is only *one* opinion....
BTW: I don't live in the US, but here in Europe a CLA is $75. Too much? Hell yes, one of these days I'm gonna drop kick these cameras into the cold Nothern Sea.

CLA is more like $100 in the states.
Do you have any Bessa photos online...maybe it is time for a comparison...Roger

 

[shotzi]

Hi,

there seems to be quite some diffrence between the countries. I already bougt 2 GSN and the third one a GT is on the way. I paid 80 EUR for all of them (Ebay) and at least the first two of them where in wonderfull condition. Hopefully the GT will arive within then next two days.
Both of the GSN are in heavy use, one by me and the other one belongs to my 5 year old son. The results are excellent and my son and I even bought a complete darkroom via Ebay. That was also quite cheap, about 95 EUR for the complete darkroom from a newspaper company. So only real proffessional stuff with lot's of unused paper as well.

so if i add that alltogether:

80 EUR 2 GSN + 1 GT camera
20 EUR batteries
95 EUR complete darkroom
75 EUR darkroom chemistry (neg. and positiv)
60 EUR 30x Agfa APX film
_________

330 EUR

thats less then I pay on ink for my Epson R2400 for doing fineart BW prints in 3 month and that doesn't include the paper.

So by summerice the expirience with the Electro 35: Nothing beats the price and the quality and it's so much fun doing BW prints without sitting houres in front of the computer.

 

[Iskra 2]

I'm going to make enemies with this, but my *highly subjective* opinion is: The Yashica GSN sucks donkey balls. Now, don't take this the wrong way. The lens is "OK". And new RFF'ers always get the suggestion to go and buy one of these. Why?!? A Bessa R is a million times more useful than the GSN. The Bessa viewfinder is almost up there with Leica's! Yes it costs at bit more. THe good thing is: It works. Now, for every lucky guy who gets a "good" GSN, there are five unlucky SOB's who get screwed on eBay. Once you add a CLA the price has quadroupled. And it is still a mediocre camera.

For the record: I have three of these in my closet. One was bought locally - needed a CLA. One was bought here on this forum - needed a CLA. The last one was bought from a reputable eBay PowerSeller - needed a CLA. Altogether I wasted more than $500 (shipping included) on this ****ty little camera. My Bessa R cost me $300 - and that was with a lens. You do the
math.

The GSN is probably a great little camera if you get lucky on RFF or eBay, but I would stay as far away as humanly possible.

wordpress, how much do you want for your collection of Electros? 🙂 Regards.

 

[NickTrop]

I guess if I paid $500 US dollars for CLA's I would be cussing it too. Or, possibly, if I was more intellectually honest - myself? Why did you keep buying them? Why not simply wait and find one that's been CLA's already? I bought two - one I gave to a friend, each cost me $40. Both users.

Bessas are bargains, and truth be told, it's hard to beat "new" but your opinion is less than objective seemingly having more to do with your purchasing experiences than the performance of the camera. You're comparing a $40 camera to a $300 camera. The Bessa - also, are system cameras. The $300 (guess you're talking about the "R") is just for the body. Now you have to go out and by a lens. If you're talking the CV lenses you're talking several hundred more dollars. The fine lens comes with the GSN.


The consensus of others' opinion is squarely against your opinion. For example, Karen Nakama calls it "the best rangefinder under $100" - she's a pro. http://www.photoethnography.com/equipment.html and has used dozens of cameras. There are other pro/semi-pro sites (Matt Denton, Yashica Guy) that corroborate user experiences, including my own, and including some excellent work available here and on sites like Flickr done with these cameras. Furthermore, if they sucked, they wouldn't have sold a million of them over a 17 year period. These cameras cost good money when they were new. They weren't "cheap".

Are you being intellectually honest? Or did you get burned trying to buy a reasonable sample, and is it biasing your opinion of the camera's performance? I'm 2 fer 2 - two great users, CLA'd at purchase, cost $40 a piece. That's much less expensive than a Bessa + CV lens.

 

[ruben]

I'll agree with that comment - give me the lens, the meter and the ability to over-ride as and when I want and you've got a seriously good camera....but even without, for the money, excellent as you say.

Hi Simon,
Perhaps I may have solved your problem:

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44321


Hi wordpress,
My most sincere thanks for awakening these fans, lately sleeping.


Hi Nick,
No need to mention to you how those flames are to my taste...

Nevertheless, unbelievable as it may sound to you, I think you are undervalueing the Electros.

Value, in contrast to price, is a subjective idea, that's the problem. But let's try to approximate our evaluation into objective grounds. You can buy product X at 10 dolllars, and product Y at 100. Upon comming home and after some experience with both, you find that product X was so good that you may have payed three times more had you knew beforehand what a good service it will render you.

On the other hand you may find that product Y, for which you paid $100, is so so, and you should have paid just $50 for such a performance.

Therefore, I think that somewhere in Economics or just in consumer magazines there is a concept called PRICE/CONVENIENCE. In the first case X, you won by 300%. In the second case Y you was screwed by 100%. Am I correct ?

The price i have paid for my working GT was around 40 or 50 bucks. The convenience? some us$ 400, no less. The astronomic gap due to the surplus of Yashicas, the evolution towards digital, etc, etc. etc.

The fact that the street price is not 400, it says nothing about the convenience, nor about the real value. After all enligthened brokers at the stock exchange are those who can see beyond present price, into actual and future value. Economics is full of contradictions, complexities and traps.

Lastly, for the sake of fun, let's give a street price for a new Bessa with fixed lens 40/1.4, between the lens supersilent shutter, TTL metering, full manual override of AE. My guess: $800. If I am far off, I am far off. But if not, then the real value of a GSN is several hundred bucks, and not those ridiculous prices, due to a specific constelation of factors, playing into our hands, the users.

Therefore "comparing a $40 camera to a $300 camera" in our case, speaks more on behalf of the one with the $40, than the other, with all due respect, and respect is due indeed.

Cheers,
Ruben

PS,
Nicky, in order to let me feel good with a previous issue, let me state that since it is very obvious I didn't study Economics, so let's call this post The Poor Man's Common Sense.

 

[shadowfox]

Of all the fixed lens rangefinder cameras i have, i LOVE the Yashica GSN's viewfinder the MOST!!! A VERY good contrast with the rangefinder patch makes it easiest and fastest to focus.

And among my fixed lens rangefinders are like Canon GIII QL17, Konica Auto S2, Konica Auto S3, Minolta Hi-Matic 9 etc.....

You may want to take a look at the viewfinder of an Olympus 35 SP 🙂

On the Yashica Electro's, I got one below $100, fully CLA'd, the meter is adjusted to non-mercury battery. And it has a custom skin. Love the aperture priority and the sharpness of the lens.

 

[owlsplace]

....Lastly, for the sake of fun, let's give a street price for a new Bessa with fixed lens 40/1.4, between the lens supersilent shutter, TTL metering, full manual override of AE. My guess: $800. If I am far off, I am far off. But if not, then the real value of a GSN is several hundred bucks, and not those ridiculous prices, due to a specific constelation of factors, playing into our hands, the users. ....so let's call this post The Poor Man's Common Sense.

It is more like over a grand for one with a decent lens....I can run a lot of film through and Electro at that price...Roger

 

[Terrence]

i haven't acquired one of that yet 😀 it's on my list but after close to 30 cameras (29 to be exact, almost all are fixed lens rangefinders) within half a year, i need to breath a lil. and also not to step on my GF's nerves furhter for time being on that matter, you see i also clogged up the fridge with over 200 rolls of films!!!

will be on the hunt for that (35SP) and 35RD pretty soon!

You may want to take a look at the viewfinder of an Olympus 35 SP 🙂

On the Yashica Electro's, I got one below $100, fully CLA'd, the meter is adjusted to non-mercury battery. And it has a custom skin. Love the aperture priority and the sharpness of the lens.

 

[ruben]

.........

Hi Nick,
No need to mention to you how those flames are to my taste...

Nevertheless, unbelievable as it may sound to you, I think you are undervalueing the Electros.

Value, in contrast to price, is a subjective idea, that's the problem. But let's try to approximate our evaluation into objective grounds. You can buy product X at 10 dolllars, and product Y at 100. Upon comming home and after some experience with both, you find that product X was so good that you may have payed three times more had you knew beforehand what a good service it will render you.

On the other hand you may find that product Y, for which you paid $100, is so so, and you should have paid just $50 for such a performance.

Therefore, I think that somewhere in Economics or just in consumer magazines there is a concept called PRICE/CONVENIENCE. In the first case X, you won by 300%. In the second case Y you was screwed by 100%. Am I correct ?

The price i have paid for my working GT was around 40 or 50 bucks. The convenience? some us$ 400, no less. The astronomic gap due to the surplus of Yashicas, the evolution towards digital, etc, etc. etc.

The fact that the street price is not 400, it says nothing about the convenience, nor about the real value. After all enligthened brokers at the stock exchange are those who can see beyond present price, into actual and future value. Economics is full of contradictions, complexities and traps.

Lastly, for the sake of fun, let's give a street price for a new Bessa with fixed lens 40/1.4, between the lens supersilent shutter, TTL metering, full manual override of AE. My guess: $800. If I am far off, I am far off. But if not, then the real value of a GSN is several hundred bucks, and not those ridiculous prices, due to a specific constelation of factors, playing into our hands, the users.

Therefore "comparing a $40 camera to a $300 camera" in our case, speaks more on behalf of the one with the $40, than the other, with all due respect, and respect is due indeed.

Cheers,
Ruben

PS,
Nicky, in order to let me feel good with a previous issue, let me state that since it is very obvious I didn't study Economics, so let's call this post The Poor Man's Common Sense.

I would like to insist on the basic ideas exposed here, but first of all I want to correct myself concerning Nick "undervalueing the Electros".

This is a kind of double sense sentence, which I must break down, since I do love Nick's commitment to these cameras. My real intention was to say that Nick is "underpricing", rather than undervalueing, since to say about him he is "undervalueing" in the sense of appreciating the camera - is flately a non sense statement.

But there is a problem too, when I say "underpricing", because all the arguments I exposed above.

What exactly is the eBay $40 Electro? Here the problem. It is a camera whose condition is highly variable. I happened to purchase a GSN fully working for a shamefull low price, about which I really apologized to the seller. But the contrary happens too, and you can pay 50 for a defective one.

But even in the best of cases, this fully working low price camera, is not a new camera. This is a consideration too. You cannot expect it to work as smooth or as accurately or with a bright viewfinder (etc) as a new one, nor you can assume its working life will be as long as you may expect from a new one.

In the few days that passed since the abovequoted sentence, I happened to have been entretaining the idea of a like-new Electro and contacted several dealers after giving attention to this upper standard.

Then surprise - no surprise, but surprise in the context of this thread, the average Electro price begins to rise up 3 times to between 120 and 150 bucks.
And still we are talking about 30 years old cameras, kept in good conditions, but still not new and freshly out of the factory.

What I want to say ? That my speculative estimation of $400 for a GSN/GTN had it been still in production without any change, sounds to me, The Lonely & Poor Man RFF Member, living out there in the hills, quite reasonable.

On the other hand, we, owners of working Electros shouldn't lure ourselves we have in our hands a $400 dollars camera, of course. But we are entitled to think about it as a potentially $400 camera, had it been still in production.

By no means "a $40 camera".

Cheers,
Ruben

ps,
I think i should stop the evil custom of fishing for "opportunities", there at the bay.