My first camera repair

[Mats_A]

I have now made my first camera repair. I removed and replaced the foam seals on my Yashica Electro 35. Yay me! Maybe not perfect but could not be worse than what it was.

Now I have a range-finder that is out of whack and a shutter that I suspect is a bit dodgy. But these I will let more capable hands take care of. Baby steps.

r

Mats

 

[Mike Wilde]

If the range finder is out of whack for infinity and all others, it is likely that a setting of the range filter by rotating the focus lever/ring to infinity, and then stick some tracing paper over the film gate and force the shutter open/on b, and adjust the lens until it is infinity on the focussing lever is sharp on the tracing paper should be the fix you need.

If the range finder is out on the whole range, ie has a sticking mirror pivot, or something similar, then that fix is out of my league.

Shutter fixes in old cameras can sometimes just be stiff old oil. I get the shutter out of most mechanical cameras and give it a bath in white gas (camp fuel) and they come back to life. This I have not tried with the petri 7s, a similar aged camera. I get it working by warming it wth a hair dryer and working the shutter many times if it has not been used for a few months. Stop gap, but I live with it until a proper tear down time becomes available

Your unit uses an electrical shutter release, so I would suspect it either has a dying mercury battery, or needs to be converted to use whatever batery was put into it to get the shutter working more correctly.

 

[dehk]

Curious, How outta whack is the other one?

 

[Mats_A]

If the range finder is out of whack for infinity and all others, it is likely that a setting of the range filter by rotating the focus lever/ring to infinity, and then stick some tracing paper over the film gate and force the shutter open/on b, and adjust the lens until it is infinity on the focussing lever is sharp on the tracing paper should be the fix you need.

How do I adjust the lens in this scenario?

r

Mats

 

[Mike Wilde]

Usually the front lens element needs to be adjusted in its helical thread mount to set the right distance for infinity. In most cameras that range find the lens is a typically a Tessar variant that focusses by moving the front element.

There is usually a decoratve front cover ring, that once removed exposes the screws that hold the place of the front lens element in the helical mount.
Leave the focussing lever/ring at infinity, look though the film back at the jury rigged 'ground glass' (usally I use drafting vellum) with the shutter open, and shift the front element until the far off objects are sharp.

For me I save this for after dark, and go out in front of my house. There is a line of street lights that stretch out straight for about 900m before the road curves. I use the last visible streetlight as my 'pseudo infinity point'.

 

[Xmas]

Hi

The rangefinder may be simpler, the shutter more complex

Google is your friend

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

Noel

 

[guitstik]

Mat Denton has a site http://www.mattdentonphoto.com/cameras/yashica_gsn.html