Yashica Electro 35 GTN Question (Warning Lights)

[martin.mintal]

I have bought this camera on eBay for about 120 EUR in an almost mint condition, everything seems to be working perfectly.

To turn the yellow light on, I have to press the shutter halfway (or almost up to 2/3, sometimes I am afraid I might accidently activate the shutter) - the red light, on the other hand, activates much sooner (in the first 1/3) --- simply said: the two lights do not activate in the same shutter position.

Also - if the red light turns on and I therefore set a smaller apperture, it still blinks shortly when I slowly press the shutter (= it does not turn on, but it only blinks for a very short time in one particular shutter position, when I move - for example from f2 to f2.8........at f4, it does not "blink" anymore).

Is this normal behaviour or do I need to clean the contacts or something similar ? Otherwise, everything seems to be working quite well.

Thank You For Your Help

 

[martin.mintal]

And I also have another question reg. the parallax compensation:
When I focus from infinity to 0.8, the frame lines move down (which is understandable) but they also slightly shift to the right - is this normal or is my RF broken ?

I checked the distance at 1, 2 and 5m and it seems to be measuring correctly...

Thank you

martin

 

[john neal]

Martin,

The lights should operate at different levels of depression of the button - it's designed that way. Just check without a film to make sure you are getting different shutter speeds in different light conditions.

The RF is also correct - the right-ish movement is also necessary for parralax correction.

Looks in nice condition, but that's not a Yashica case, surely?

 

[martin.mintal]

Hi John,
thank you very much for your quick reply. No - that's not a Yashica case, that is an old russian case for about 2 EUR 😎.

The yashica case is quite rare - I have not seen any on eBay.

Martin,
Looks in nice condition, but that's not a Yashica case, surely?

 

[b1bmsgt]

Hi Martin,

john neal is correct: the lights turn on at different places because of the design of the contacts that are mounted to the shutter rods. When you press down on the shutter release, there are contact brushes which move up and down on a circuit board. As they go down they make the circuit for one light, then when they go down further they break that circuit and make the other one. Depending on the lighting conditions, you will get one light or the other, or none at all if the conditions are within the cameras operating range. I usually keep the aperture at f16 and check for a yellow light. If I get one, I then turn the aperture ring until it goes out. This way I have the widest depth of field possible under the current lighting conditions. If you want a narrow depth of field, then of course start at f1.7 and go the other way until all lights are out.

The flickering red light is most likely because you are right at the edge of the operating range, where a slight movement of the camera could increase the amount of light entering the meter cell. Moving to f4 puts you more solidly in the range, so it doesn't flicker. I have seen this happen with they yellow light as well at the other end of the aperture range.

Having said all this, unless the camera had a CLA from a competent person before you got it, the light seals and the POD (Pad of Death) are almost certainly deteriorated and in need of replacement. This is due to the age of the camera and is also quite normal. The electrical contacts could probably use a good cleaning as well.

Hope this info is helpful... 😀


Russ

 

[martin.mintal]

Thank You Very Much, Russ

Thank You Very Much, Russ

for the detailed information. The camera had a CLA about 3 years ago. Now I only have to wait till my photos are developed 🙂