Dead Yashica Electro 35 -- How to Ressurect It?

I have a beautiful Yashica Electro 35 GT that looks like it's hardly ever been used, but it's deader than the proverbial doornail.



Not even the battery check illuminates. The camera requires 6v power, but takes an oddball sized battery, so what I do is stack two 3v to make the 6v. I use one 3v CR123 and one 3v whatever the number is -- the double thickness battery you can use in Nikons and several others that take two 1.5v LR44s. I have verified with my multimeter that I'm getting 6.3v with the two batteries stacked. There is a spring in the battery compartment that supplies sufficient pressure such that good contact should be made between the batteries and the camera's contacts.

I've removed the bottom cover and I checked the battery compartment for cold or loose solder joints. There were none that I could find. There's a small circuit board -- about 1 cm square that has a single transistor sitting on an edge. I checked everything for continuity and it all showed good continuity on the circuit board. I don't know what's on the underside -- if anything. I still suspect that the problem is somewhere simple, since not even the battery check lights up. But past the points I've investigated I haven't a clue as to further likely places to look. Maybe what I consider to be sufficient pressure provided by the battery spring isn't enough to work with stacked batteries? I know folks try various stacking methods with these cameras because of the oddball battery, so I kinda doubt it. But if you know of any likely problem areas, I'd appreciate it if you'd pass them along. Thanks!

I just found this website:

http://www.yashica-guy.com/document/repair.html#two

I'm in the process of checking things out following this guy's guidelines.

This is a very good adapter for this camera, works great with mine:
http://www.ebay.nl/itm/ADAPTER-TWO-...LECTRO-35-MG-1-AX-PX32-to-4LR44-/152483135271

Michael McCooltouch,

You need to also clean the contacts that select the chosen aperture and shutter speed, and also to replace the "pad of death" and then clean and realign the (big) shutter switch.

The shutter switch engages all the circuit (except perhaps battery check), so if it's dirty or misaligned, the camera will not work.

TheToadMen said:

This is a very good adapter for this camera, works great with mine:
http://www.ebay.nl/itm/ADAPTER-TWO-...LECTRO-35-MG-1-AX-PX32-to-4LR44-/152483135271

Click to expand...

I wonder -- is that "+" sticker that they attach important for proper current flow? Mine doesn't have it. It's just bare metal there. I would think it should be ok.

Flavio, I don't know where these objects are you're describing. Is the shutter switch the one that rotates under the shutter button? It moves crisply at least. I haven't finished reading through the Yashica Guy's site yet though. Perhaps these items are shown there?

cooltouch said:

I wonder -- is that "+" sticker that they attach important for proper current flow? Mine doesn't have it. It's just bare metal there. I would think it should be ok.

Click to expand...

If you load the batteries upside down the camera will stay still very dead. The sticker is just a reminder to put it in the right way.

cooltouch said:

Flavio, I don't know where these objects are you're describing. Is the shutter switch the one that rotates under the shutter button? It moves crisply at least. I haven't finished reading through the Yashica Guy's site yet though. Perhaps these items are shown there?

Click to expand...

Michael McFresh Tactile Sensation,

Start searching for "yashica electro 35 pad of death", this will lead you to pages that show you the main shutter switch and the problematic around it. Yes, the shutter button is directly coupled to the shutter switch.

By the way my advice is from direct experience -- i've serviced a Yashica Electro 35GSN.

This is one of such webpages:
http://elekm.net/pages/cameras/repair_pad_of_death.htm

But in that page the guy is replacing the pad without removing the front standard. IMO it's much better to remove the front standard since this allows you to clean the contacts.

Here are excellent pics and explanation of the switch itself. The "pad", as you should now by know, is just a rubber stopper for the switch.

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=66696

@cooltouch : PS: More useful information:

The shutter switch has like 3 or 4 'phases' or "steps" when the camera is operating properly:

#0 is when the camera is cocked and the shutter button is not touched. Here no current should be given to the shutter circuit.
#1 is when you start pressing the switch. At phase #1 it energizes the part of the circuit that would light the YELLOW arrow on the viewfinder -- signalling underexposure
#2 comes if you keep pressing the switch further down. It energizes the part of the circuit that would light the RED arrow on the viewfinder -- signalling overexposure
#3 fires the shutter itself. At the end of the shot the shutter disconnects the power.

Cocking the shutter should bring the switch to #0 position.

The Pad is there for keeping the camera in the correct position for phase #0. After you replace the pad, you might have to adjust the switch brushes position so the "phases" work correctly. This is adjusted by rotating one of the switch shafts (it has a slot on the underside so you can use a flat screwdriver)

BTW dissasembling the camera is not so difficult.

Good luck with restoring your Yashica Electro, they're worth it. I have a Yashica Electro GT, GSN some MG-1s as well of some the older Lynxes. If all else fails, you could send it to Yashica expert Mark Hama http://www.markhama.com/, he would restore it to an almost new condition. I have used him on a couple of occasions, I think the price to restore your Electro would be around $100,so you would be saving a lot of money doing it yourself.

Thanks for the responses, guys. I have an excellent repair guy who's local to me, who I will probably use first if I can't find the problem.

Flavio, thanks for the link. I read through the first part of it, where it says that if you don't hear that "clunk" the pad is bad. Interestingly, one of the first things I noticed -- and wondered about that camera -- was that rather prominent "clunk" sound it makes when you first begin to wind the film on. So, I'm reckoning that the pad is still good. If this is so, then I'm still thinking it might be something rather trivial with the electrics somewhere. Electrical gremlins -- I hate electrical gremlins.

cooltouch said:

Flavio, thanks for the link. I read through the first part of it, where it says that if you don't hear that "clunk" the pad is bad. Interestingly, one of the first things I noticed -- and wondered about that camera -- was that rather prominent "clunk" sound it makes when you first begin to wind the film on. So, I'm reckoning that the pad is still good.

Click to expand...

Cooltouch McBroom,

This is incorrect. The camera will always make the clunk even with no pad in.

That link was not 100% correct. Take a look at the 2nd link I provided. And dissasemble the camera.

OK I read through your second link -- the one to the rangefinder forum -- and it says the same thing. To wit:

"If the POD is deteriorated, as shown in the picture, then the spacing is thrown off and the metering system will not work properly, and the brush rod does not travel far enough to lock down. In this case, no "clunk", as the brush rod goes back up along with the shutter release rod."

My Electro may or may not have this problem. But I don't think this is the reason why none of the electronics work, not even the battery check. So I'll continue to look for electrical gremlins. Did I mention how much I hate electrical gremlins?