Yashica GSN indoor exposure issues

[sunyata]

Hi,

I recently purchased a refurbished GSN from Mark Hama, and have run a few rolls of just Fuji Superia 200 through it. With good to moderate lighting, the pictures are wonderful, but indoors I have been having problems. Essentially, my indoors pictures, even with some diffused sunlight, look as though there's a haze throughout the entire picture. I have limited experience with film, other than with a very basic point-and-shoot when I was younger, so I am not sure if this a film issue, a drug store processing issue, or a camera issue. The metering lights appear to work fine, but I have not double-checked against my friend's meter. I don't have access to a scanner now, but I was wondering if anyone had any tips or hints. Should I be using a faster film? Should I set to a lower ASA speed to increase the exposure time? To give you an idea for now, I use a Fuji F31fd digicam, and in similar lighting situations, I need to use ISO 400-800 at f2.8 with a shutter speed of around 1/20-1/40. Thanks in advance.

PS - This is a great forum!

 

[anirbax]

I assume you are looking at the prints; when you look through the negatives, how do the outdoor images compare with the indoor ones? Do you see the camera's yellow light coming on for the indoor shots? CdS cells do go bad (leaks current in low light, which could cause a higher shutter speed to be selected and resulting underexposure).

 

[dukovac]

did you shot wide open? at small apertures most lenses seems to have a "haze". it is just that the most lenses have bad contrast wide open. try lynx 14 or olympus 35 sp.

on the other side, the camera metering can be be foolished by the yellowish indoor light. meaning you should overexpose a bit at tungsten light.

 

[Filmnut]

If I am understanding you correctly, I think that you are looking at the prints, when you describe the "haze". If so, it would likely be due to serious underexposure of the film.
The first thing to check is the battery, even if it was replaced when the camera was refurbished, it still could be a bit old and have gone bad. I have two Yashica "G's" and this has happened to me with a marginal battery. I don't know the in's and out's, but it seems to take more power to hold the shutter open in low light, than high.
Try it and see if that solves the problem.
Keith

 

[whitecat]

Where do you get them developed? They could be basing the exposures on the negs which might not be fair to the subject matter.

 

[sunyata]

Thanks for the replies. I will try changing the battery first, as the camera did come with one, and I had thought it would be OK because the lights seem to be working properly. I am basing the haze off of the prints, but now that I look at the negatives, they do seem underexposed. I suppose my concern is that the camera's metering is off. I had assumed that if the underexposure light didn't come on, the picture should still be properly exposed, even if I'm using ISO200 film. Should I set to ASA100? Should I have to, if the metering is working as it supposed to be?

I've attached a picture of the prints, as I still don't have access to the scanner. Even at low resolution, I think it's pretty clear what I meant by "haze." The picture in the top right was also shot indoors, but with substantial 9AM sunlight coming through an east-facing window. All pictures were from the same roll, processed at the same place.

 

[Gradskater]

looks like an underexposed print that they tried to correct at the photo lab. I have plenty of those I took indoors guessing exposure while shooting with my zorki 6.

 

[Austintatious]

When shooting indoors without flash, I find that I get favorable results when I use
ASA 400 speed film. I think that 200 speed works better for outdoors with mixed lighting conditions. Of course your mileage may vary.

Best Wishes!

 

[moretto]

Those are underexposed. If the battery is OK, You could try to full the camera meter by one or even two stops:e.g. for 200 asa film switch the dial to 100, or even 50, experiment a little. In low light the meters (old ones, that is) tend to underexpose. Happens to me on the Fed and Kiev, as well as Leningrad selenium handheld meter. The other way to go indoors is the flash 😉

 

[januaryman]

If MH sold it as CLA'd, I be surprised there was a problem. You were paying attention to those stupid lights, right? You shoot only when you adjust the settings and the lights go out? Sorry if this is a stupid question, but one can become wrapped up in shooting a scene while neglecting the basic "check list" that icludes the meter. (I don't care for those "no lights means the settings are good" meter convensions.)

If it is the camera, I'd contact Mark and ask him to fix it for free.

Good luck.

 

[sunyata]

Thanks again for all of the replies. In light of the comments here and the consistently underexposed pics I keep taking, despite the meter telling me otherwise, I contacted Mark Hama, who will check the camera. Hopefully I can get it back in time for Rangefinder Day. Cheers!