Has anyone ever repaired a Yashica GSN?

KungPOW · 08-27-2008, 01:50 AM

After a Rye induced spending spree on ebay, I found myself to be the proud new owner of a Yashica GSN.

Overall the camera is in great shape. Clean glass, no marks.

But it did suffer from the "Pad of Death". So, following the instructions on Yashica Guy's website, I took the camera apart, replaced the pad, closed it up, and it worked!

Or so I thought.

The camera works fine as long as the focus is set less then 6 meters. Anywhere from 6 m to infinity, and the shutter trips. If I wind the camera with the focus past 6 m, the shutter trips right away. It does not calculate the exposure, it acts like it is without batteries (shutter sounds like 1/500 sec). I then need to press the shutter release before I can wind the camera.

Has anyone ever fixed one of these cameras? Any ideas?

I thought I would ask here before venturing over to a rangefinder forum.

Eric.

ryan s · 08-27-2008, 02:27 AM

Wow, another timely GSN thread (makes 2 for today)...I just received mine yesterday

Strange problem, but I'm an RF noob. Maybe the RF needs calibration? See Matt's site and look at the links he provides in the article...possibly it can help you when/if you dive deep inside?

(Good thing it's a film cam...we might have issues discussing anything not starting with a P

)

*J.Scott* · 08-27-2008, 02:59 AM

I have 2 Yashica's but neither do what you are stating. I must confess, Mark Hamma worked on both. I dinked around a bit with my Lynx 14E and decided that if I was going to keep it it needed to have a complete CLA. He comes highly recommended - by me and others.

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful to your specific problem.

*Mike Cash* · 08-27-2008, 06:28 AM

Sounds like when you put it back together you did it in such a way that some portion of the internal workings of the moving lens impinges on the shutter release mechanism. That's the only thing I can imagine.

Send it to Mark Hama. I have four YE35s, a Yashica D, and a Yashicaflex A2 that I intend to send to him one of these days.

Jester_rm · 08-27-2008, 02:33 PM

I'll third Mark Hama based on recommendations I've heard from others, I've got a YF I really need to send him.

KungPOW · 08-27-2008, 03:47 PM

Thanks for the input guys.

I am going to assume it is something along the lines that Mike is sugesting. Maybe I have a wire near the shutter release arm, and as the lens focuses to infinity, it moves into the camera body, and the shutter release hits the wire (?) and trips the shutter. I'll take it apart again, and see if that might be it.

Option two might be inside the lens itself, and it has nothing to do with the work I did on the camera. It just might be a problem that was there before I took the camera apart, but I never noticed. I might have assumed it was a pad of death symptom.

So if re-opening does not solve it, Then I'll open the lens.

Failing that I'll sell it on ebay.

"GSN for sales, belonged to my great Aunt. I don't have batteries to test. Selling as is."

Joking.

Eric.