Yashica TL Electro X locking

RSImages · Nov 10, 2017

I have been working with my grandpa's Yashica TL Electro X today and not coming up with anything that is working.

I have the Yashinon-DX 50mm 1.7 attached to it. Everything seems to work until I am wide open or close to it. Then the mirror rises but the shutter doesn't fire. I can cock the shutter again and, with the mirror still in the up position, click the release and the shutter fires. It seems to only do this from 1.7 to 2.8.

When I attached a 200mm lens to it I had the same problem. Wide open and things tend to lock up. Stop it down a bit and then things will work.

Any ideas? I did replace the mirror seal/bumper this afternoon to see if that would help. It did not.
Thanks in advance.

shutterfinger · Nov 10, 2017

Remove the lens and check the aperture lever for side play. Now with the lens removed cock and release the shutter. Does the shutter work correctly?

RSImages · Nov 10, 2017

I'm not certain I know what you mean by the aperture lever. Are you referring to the "thing" inside the camera body that pushes the pin? Or the aperture ring on the lens? Or the pin on the lens?

Yes, when the lens is removed, the shutter seems to work fine. It is just when the lens is attached and opened up wide and doesn't matter which lens. After reading your post I got to thinking about the A/M switch on the lens. I flipped it back and forth between the two settings and it locked in both settings, but seemed to require stopping down further in the M position before the shutter and mirror function properly.

shutterfinger · Nov 10, 2017

RSImages said:
Yes, when the lens is removed, the shutter seems to work fine.

Then the problem is in lens mounting. When the lens is mounted is the index line perpendicular to the body? (at 12 o'clock)
Is the aperture lever in the body pushed back further with a lens attached than it is with the lens off?

Download a copy of this repair manual: http://diagramas.diagramasde.com/camaras/Yashica Tl-Electro-X .pdf
The problem may be a dead spot in the aperture reading resistor.

BrianVS · Nov 11, 2017

The TL Electro-X uses a resistor ring for the shutter speed dial, which may get a bad spot resulting in that shutter speed hanging up. The camera uses stop-down metering, the aperture of the lens is not read using a resistor ring as it is in a Nikkormat EL. Both cameras use very similar mechanisms otherwise.

Have you tried the camera with another lens? I'm thinking the aperture actuator of the camera is jamming up when the lens is set wide open as the pin of the lens offers more mechanical resistance when used wide-open. I just tested an M42 lens for this- easier to push the aperture actuation pin of the lens when it is stopped down. I have a TL-Electro-X, keep a Pentax 50/1.4 SMC on it.

RSImages · Nov 11, 2017

It seems to be mechanical more than electronic, as near as I can tell. It's not an issue of shutter speed as much as it is the aperture setting. It also seems to happen on multiple lenses as they approach wide open, usually the last two settings toward the widest aperture of the lens.

RSImages · Nov 11, 2017

Another little interesting oddity I noticed about this. If I set the 50mm at f/1.7 and hold down the meter lever while I press the shutter release it seems to work.

shutterfinger · Nov 11, 2017

I had a TL Electro, totally mechanical with built in meter.
Being Brian says the Aperture has no electrical connection then its as I initially suspected, a mechanical issue where the aperture lever in the body or the shutter release linkage has come loose.
In post 3 you state the shutter works fine without a lens attached so when a lens is attached and set to minimum aperture the lever blocks the operation of other levers.
To fix this you will need to peel back the leatherette on both sides of the lens mount, remove the lens mount and possibly the mirror box itself, not an easy job.

John Koehrer · Nov 11, 2017

Do the lenses work OK when you push the stop down pin in?

BrianVS · Nov 11, 2017

Pushing the Meter Button stops down the lens, you are supplying the force to push against the Pin that the camera seems unable to.

shutterfinger · Nov 11, 2017

There is a slim possibility that the lubricant in the body has dried out and the operation will improve with usage but I assume the problem would be more apparent at smaller apertures than at wide open.

BrianVS · Nov 12, 2017

I suspect it needs a full Clean-Lube-Adjust- mine just did the same thing, then jammed up. This camera is more mechanical than electronic, and 40+ year old mechanical cameras usually need some attention.

RSImages · Nov 12, 2017

Thanks for the input. I may take it to be cleaned. The joys of age, we, and our cameras, don't move as quickly as we should.

Yashica TL Electro X locking

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