Yashica 635 slow shutter speeds

Tyler6404

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So recently I bought my first medium format camera in the form of a yashica 635. It's in great condition other than that fact the that bulb setting appears to not function properly and that the shutter speeds are slow. For example when I sent the camera to the shutter speed of 1 sec then camera will actually expose the film for around 2 sec. If anyone knows how to fix this, please let me know. Thanks!
 

Cholentpot

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I flooded my TLR with lighter fluid. Fixed my shutter.
 

Dan Daniel

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Welcome to Photrio.

CLA means 'clean, lube, and adjust' He means that the camera has dust and dirt and old dried-up grease, making the shutter run slow. Most likely other parts of the camera could use CLA work.

Flooding the camera with lighter fluid can lead to fluid between the front and rear lens group, which is not a good thing.

Look, let's be real. It's your first TLR. A nice one! Unless you are working at slow speeds, meaninig 1/15 or slower, the speeds are going to be quite usable. So do this- go shoot a roll. But assume that every speed is one stop slow. So if the meter says to shoot 1/60 at f/8, set the shutter to 1/125. Or divide the ISO number in half and input that to the meter (sorry if this is either simplistic or makes no sense, hard to know what other people know here). Shoot B&W or color negative film, no slide film, because negative film has latitude to deal with over or under exposure.

If you want to learn something, make notes of the shutter speed and aperture you use for each frame.

Then get yourself to Blue Moon Camera in Portland, show them the camera, show them the negatives you got, and see what they say.
 
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shutterfinger

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I flooded my TLR with lighter fluid. Fixed my shutter.
Should have throw a lit match/open flame on it while wet with lighter fluid then once the flame died and it cooled enough to touch submerged in in oil for an hour, then allowed it to drain for a month or two.

https://camerapedia.fandom.com/wiki/Yashica-635 says the 635 is an enhanced version of the D.
https://learncamerarepair.com/downloads/pdf/Yashica-D-Parts-Diagrams.pdf shows what is involved to access the shutter on page 3. 6D083 is the shutter.

Doing as Dan says is fine for a roll or two but running the shutter until it stops may damage it beyond repair. The mechanisms inside the shutter are powered by springs. The harder the parts are to move the faster the springs wear out. The 1 second uses the full travel of the delay mechanism which controls all speeds from 1 second to 1/125 second.

Leaf shutter operation:
The shutter blades are mounted on a rotating ring so that 22.5° movement causes the blades to go from full closed to full open. 22.5° is 3 1/2 minutes on a watch/clock.
In the released and cocked states the blade controller is locked so that it will not move. Cocking the shutter applies spring tension to the mechanisms. Releasing the shutter from cocked frees the blade controller and a weak spring throws the controller with blades to full open in .00003 to .00005 seconds. The closing mechanism is caught by the delay timer at the same time the blades open. The delay timer runs for the selected time with pressure from the cocking spring then once freed from the delay timer the cocking ring forces the shutter blades to the closed position. At speeds above 1/125 the delay timer is bypassed and additional spring pressure from a booster spring is applied to cause the shutter blades to clo to close faster.

A dirty shutter wears the fastest (fewest number of rolls of film through the camera), a flushed with solvent shutter wears faster than a properly CLAed shutter, and a properly cleaned and lubed shutter works properly for years with moderate to heavy use.
 

Cholentpot

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I didn't mention that it was a Lubitel...
 

ic-racer

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For example when I sent the camera to the shutter speed of 1 sec then camera will actually expose the film for around 2 sec. If anyone knows how to fix this, please let me know. Thanks!
Open the aperture one stop.
 

Dali

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Cholentpot

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Don't speak badly about the Lubitel. They are very respectable cameras.

My Lub2 served me very well until it didn't. It got a bath after it jammed up and I tried to fix it. It's now in the kids playbox.
 

c t b

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My grandpa lubitel didnt look worth taking out of the garage
 
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Tyler6404

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Awesome thank you so much for your guidance, I'm gonna see how this first role turns out and go from there. Although I really want to shoot night photos so not having bulb is gonna be a really big problem
 
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Tyler6404

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Thank you so much, this is very helpful. I have a decent amount of experience fixing electronic devices but not cameras and not mechanical mechanisms, would it be a bad idea to make an attempt of repair myself? If not then do you have any guidance
 
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