Yashica Electro GSN Problem

[Pete B]

I've just got a converter for a PX28 battery. Pushing the battery check the frame counter illuminates. Indoors (it's evening here) the shutter speed doesn't sound as long as I'd expect for the set iso. Could the metering system be on the blink? Is it serviceable? Is there anything else I should try?
Pete

[Frontman]

Try shooting it at different apertures and see what happens. If the shutter stays open longer with each smaller aperture you choose, that's a good sign. Cover the meter window with your thumb, the shutter should stay open for several seconds. And make sure the camera is set to "Auto". There are three settings on the front of the lens, flash synch, auto, and B good luck,

[Pete B]

The shutter will only stay open 1 second when the sensor is covered. In the house the shutter speed sounds much faster than expected for the light levels. Do you think this is something that can be adjusted at a service?
Pete

[btgc]

Mine underexposed at dusk until I adjusted rod under shutter release (from under bottom cover). That is, I assume POD is replaced already.

[Pete B]

What's POD?
Pete

[btgc]

Originally Posted by Pete B

What's POD?
Pete

How long do you have your GSN??? That's Pad of Death, small piece ensuring spacing in linkage of AE mechanism. When in goies, metering isn't working as supposed at all. When POD is OK camera exposes well in daylight but rod adjustment may be needed for prolonged exposures. That's from my fading experience.

[Pete B]

Originally Posted by btgc

How long do you have your GSN???

LOL, a week (without a battery).

Originally Posted by btgc

That's Pad of Death, small piece ensuring spacing in linkage of AE mechanism. When in goies, metering isn't working as supposed at all. When POD is OK camera exposes well in daylight but rod adjustment may be needed for prolonged exposures. That's from my fading experience.

Is there a web-link to a guide to rod adjustment?

Oh, I've just found this. Mine has a healthy quiet click as I advance the frame so I think the POD is fine. I just need to find that rod.
Pete

[btgc]

Originally Posted by Pete B

Mine has a healthy quiet click as I advance the frame so I think the POD is fine. I just need to find that rod.

Click (or thunk, because of character of siound) alone isn't proof POD is OK. I had GSN with audible sound though POD were a mess not solid bar, yet exposure didn't work properly. Check exposure - slowly pressing shutter relase, check first Slow lamp goes on and at later stage - Over lamp. Adjust ISO and aperture, point camera to various parts of room to force it go below 1/30th and then above 1/500th. I may be wrong with which lamp comes on first (memories fade) but you get idea.

[Moto-Uno]

Having just replaced the POD on my own GSN,I can say that the low light exposures changed dramatically.I replaced what little was left of the pod with a 2mm thick piece of cork which I glued in place
without complete disassembly.Many good sites under "pod" on the net.
Regards,Peter

[ColSebastianMoran]

Pete B, these cameras are great once they are serviced. If you decide you don't want to do it yourself, there are a couple of very good options for service in the US.

By the way, nice images on your flickr site. I can see you know your way around with film.

[Pete B]

Originally Posted by ColSebastianMoran

By the way, nice images on your flickr site. I can see you know your way around with film.

That's very kind, thankyou.
I think I'll put a roll through it and see what happens. When I set the iso dial and open up the aperture, the red light goes out exactly where I think it should (i.e. confirming 1/500 is the correct speed).

Pete

[ColSebastianMoran]

In my experience, these cameras can be good at most f-stops but bad at one. I had a camera that was just about OK, except way off at f/16. Good luck with your GSN.

[monopix]

Originally Posted by Pete B

Is there a web-link to a guide to rod adjustment?

http://www.monopix.co.uk/yashicarods.shtml

[ColSebastianMoran]

Pete, here is a guide I wrote for How to Test a Yashica Electro Camera.

[whitecat]

Send it to Krimar and it will come back brand new.

[Pete B]

Originally Posted by ColSebastianMoran

In my experience, these cameras can be good at most f-stops but bad at one. I had a camera that was just about OK, except way off at f/16. Good luck with your GSN.

Originally Posted by whitecat

Send it to Krimar and it will come back brand new.

Thanks guys. I'll have a good look at that link. Today I started looking at camera repairers. The only one I can find (UK) is looking to charge twice what I paid for it! I might get it sorted though because the results were so nice on the film I put through

Pete

[Pete B]

Originally Posted by ColSebastianMoran

Pete, here is a guide I wrote for How to Test a Yashica Electro Camera.

It seems mine passes all the points but, like yours in point 11, the shutter stays open when on f16. Although it's passed all the checks with reference to the cameras lights, I just feel that the shutter speeds are too fast for the ambient light levels. I'll put a roll of HP5 or colour neg through and see what happens.
Pete

[Argenticien]

So, I've just finished work on a GSN (one that I mentioned on APUG a few days ago). I installed a new pad in the sneaky fashion (manoeuvring it in on the end of a needle &c.) without pulling off the lens assembly. Having got the camera back together, it exhibits the following behaviors (while dry firing, indoors). Which of these seems correct and which incorrect? (I've read the manual & Col. Moran's photo.net testing page, but not sure of these things) :
1. Shutter release button does not stay depressed after it has been pressed. (Before pad replacement, shutter button often stayed down, only popping back up when I would wind on.)
2. Winding on makes a considerable "THOCK!" noise every time, which it did not before the pad replacement. (Win! -- I think. This is the new pad in action, right?)
3. When I depress the shutter release halfway, in an underexposed situation, I get the yellow light only at that halfway-depressed point. As I press further down toward the shutter actuating, the light goes out.
4. If the camera has been wound on (so, shutter is cocked), and I create an overexposed situation (say, pointing the camera into an overhead light at ASA 1000 and f/1.7), then the red light comes on without me touching the shutter release button at all. If I depress the shutter release past halfway, then the light goes out before I reach bottom and actuate the shutter (much as the underexposure light does).
5. In all cases, I have to press the shutter release as far down as possible, absolutely bury it, to actuate the shutter. It has a little bit of lag (like a modern digital P&S) between my burying it and the shutter opening.

By the way, all this is with a fresh modern 6V battery in a spacer sleeve. It's a well-made sleeve of my creation (if I may say so myself!) and the contacts are very stable. (Holding in the battery test button for 10 seconds gives a solid 10 seconds of the green light; the battery is not wobbling in and out of contact or anything like that.)

Finally, can I just say I've never seen so much perished material in one camera. The POD was complete goo and tiny bits. The light seals were sticky crumbs. A foam spacer below the rewind knob (under the camera top) disintegrated when touched. Even the tiny foam between the two LEDs for the over- and under-exposure lights, and that between the red and yellow arrow panels on the inside of the camera top, were crap. This job consumed all sorts of Jon Goodman materials.

Thanks for any opinions!
--Dave

[btgc]

Dave,

quick look:
1. Rod adjustment is needed
2. Good!
3. Good! GSN does two checks while rod under release button travels down.
4. Never seen this before. Probably can be explained - rod became adjusted that way that overexposure circuit is activated even before rod starts to travel. I think this way it may drain battery fast.
5. Confirms need of rod adjustment.

Let's see what more knowledgeable RFF's say. As for perished material, this are 40-50 y.o. seals, this aren't hi-tech materials used today which will waste planet even after 300 years. If you want to see real mess, open film chamber of old unserviced Ricoh 500GX

[Argenticien]

Originally Posted by btgc

1. Rod adjustment is needed
2. Good!
3. Good! GSN does two checks while rod under release button travels down.
4. Never seen this before. Probably can be explained - rod became adjusted that way that overexposure circuit is activated even before rod starts to travel. I think this way it may drain battery fast.
5. Confirms need of rod adjustment.

btgc, thanks for this! I'm glad there are Yashica experts like you here to ask, because as a newbie (this is my first Electro), I find some aspects of the camera's "normal" state difficult to understand. Anyway, it sounds like this should be a simple (ha ha ha) adustment, according to page 9 of the repair manual. I should be able to just turn that the rod-end with a screwdriver until the rod is in proper adjustment.

After I was done working on the camera last night, I removed the battery for exactly the reason you identified. It seems like if the overexposure circuit can turn on by itself, I can never be certain that the meter (and everything else) is truly off except by removing the battery. It's a good job I have the NM1 -- it was USD 1.5 well spent, I think.

--Dave

[micromoogman]

If you have a good pad there's normally no need for a rod adjustment. If it's too thin you might need it because then it will not hook up in the right position. Cork is crap to use. Go either good fresh leather or synthetic material used for cutting your own gaskets.

[ColSebastianMoran]

Originally Posted by Argenticien

1. Shutter release button does not stay depressed after it has been pressed. (Before pad replacement, shutter button often stayed down, only popping back up when I would wind on.)
2. Winding on makes a considerable "THOCK!" noise every time, which it did not before the pad replacement. (Win! -- I think. This is the new pad in action, right?)
3. When I depress the shutter release halfway, in an underexposed situation, I get the yellow light only at that halfway-depressed point. As I press further down toward the shutter actuating, the light goes out.
4. If the camera has been wound on (so, shutter is cocked), and I create an overexposed situation (say, pointing the camera into an overhead light at ASA 1000 and f/1.7), then the red light comes on without me touching the shutter release button at all. If I depress the shutter release past halfway, then the light goes out before I reach bottom and actuate the shutter (much as the underexposure light does).
5. In all cases, I have to press the shutter release as far down as possible, absolutely bury it, to actuate the shutter. It has a little bit of lag (like a modern digital P&S) between my burying it and the shutter opening.

1. Probably OK. The key question is does the shutter stay open, if it should, even though you are not holding the shutter release down.
2. Good. A serious clunk is what you want to hear.
3. OK. As you push down the shutter release, there is a spot in the travel for each of the lights.
4. Not good. The red light should only come on as you push down the shutter release.
5. Doesn't sound right. Shutter should fire at the bottom, but you should not have to mash down on the button.

[Argenticien]

Originally Posted by ColSebastianMoran

1. Probably OK. The key question is does the shutter stay open, if it should, even though you are not holding the shutter release down.
2. Good. A serious clunk is what you want to hear.
3. OK. As you push down the shutter release, there is a spot in the travel for each of the lights.
4. Not good. The red light should only come on as you push down the shutter release.
5. Doesn't sound right. Shutter should fire at the bottom, but you should not have to mash down on the button.

I was in the camera again today, futzing around with both the release switch rod adjustment screw and the transport release adjustment screw. There was no combination of adjustments (and I tried for an hour) that would solve the problem in point #4, where the red light came on without me depressing the shutter release. Also no combination of adjustments would cause the release switch latch to engage at the same time the shutter releases (as page 9 of the repair manual says should be the case). Now I'm at a loss! But I'll probably run a test film through it anyway, even though it sounds like I have not got this thing calibrated yet.

--Dave

[Argenticien]

Well, I just got done processing a test roll that I put through the GSN. It's still drying, so can't post scans, but apparently the exposure is right. I did four series of eight shots each of the same scene, running the full range of apertures (1.7 to 16) in each set. Two sets were in hazy sun (EV 14 perhaps), one set in full shade (EV 11 perhaps), and one set indoors with only existing room lights (EV 5 maybe). In each case, as hoped, the 8 photos look (to the naked eye; I haven't a densitometer) to be identically exposed, including some crazy-long exposures (f/11 and f/16 in the indoor set, this being Efke 25 film). Looking across sets, the exposures seem a little greater in the shade and indoor sets, but some of this may have been down to my semi-haphazard choice of subjects and backgrounds. All in all, I'm happy with the result. If only I could get my silly red indicator problem sorted and feel more comfortable leaving the battery in, this would be a great "keep with me at all times" camera.
--Dave

[ColSebastianMoran]

Obviously, if the red light is on all the time, that will drain the battery.