My first attempt at light seal replacement (Yashica FR-II)

[OlyMan]

Not bad for a first go. Before:

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After:

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This is the in the Yashica FR-II I liberated from my dad's loft last week, unused I'd guess since about 1990.

I bought a PX28 and found the camera wouldn't fire. On the B setting you could hear a relay clicking when you press the shutter release, but nothing happened. Took the battery out and left the camera to cook above a hot radiator for an hour, and it sprang to life.

It's fully functional other than the film counter doesn't work (what a surprise...) and the clutch slips on the winder mechanism, so unless you're pretty brisk with the winding it can take two or three goes to fully wind on and cock the shutter.

The focussing screen is scratched badly in places for no reason that its two previous owners (dad + my elder brother) will admit to. Neither of them ever so much as bought another lens for it (standard lens is a 50mm F/1.7), so theoretically there was never even a reason to remove the lens and touch the screen. Neither of them have a history of using and abusing their cameras, so it's one of those unsolved mysteries.

The auto exposure seems to be about right. I'm tempted to push a film through it for old time's sake.

 

[colin wells]

Their is a fix on the net for the frame counter

 

[OlyMan]

Their is a fix on the net for the frame counter

I've seen a few articles, but none (that I've seen) have a long term solution. Basically the hole in the nylon cog is too narrow for the worm-gear it was jammed on to, so over time it cracks in two through stress. But the consensus seems to be that no like-for-like part is currently available, so it's probably not worth my time to to pull it apart. Nowadays a 3D printer could probably produce the part in any number of quantities, but the demand will be too tiny to be worth someone's effort.