A sad photographic relic.

[John Farrell]

This is a Yashica 35, which I paid a little too much for...

The Yashica 35 was Yashica's first 35mm film camera, introduced in 1958. This particular example dates from July of that year. It is a fixed lens, coupled rangefinder camera, with a Copal MXV shutter B, 1- 1/500 second, and a 4.5cm f1.9 "Yasinon" lens. It was made by "Yashima Opt Ind." - the company name changed to Yashica later in 1958.

The camera is a little battered and corroded, the filter ring is chewed up, the lens assembly is loose in the body, and the rewind knob and fork are missing. I have spare rewind assemblies, some from Yashica cameras, but the one on this camera was unusual, in that as well as a lever, it had knurling round the top - none of my spares have that.

The history of Yashica cameras can be found at Paul Sokk's excellent website.

[John Farrell]

The camera is now in pieces. The picture above is the body. Note the seals running across the opening...they are made of cord. There is a coating of corrosion on the springs. The rangefinder, though, is reasonably clean.
I've previously worked on a Yashica YK, a slightly later model, and the 35 strips down the same way.

The shutter is jammed - the cocking shaft is locked solid. This will need investigation.

[John Farrell]

I was hoping to add the 35 to my small Yashica rangefinder collection. They are an odd bunch.

The YK, similar to the 35, but with a more basic rangefinder, no parallax marks in the viewfinder (the 35 has fixed marks), a simpler lens and shutter, and a manually set frame counter.

The YL, with the same shutter as the 35, the same lens as the YK, an automatic frame counter, like the 35, but with a parallax adjusted viewfinder.

The M, a variant of the Minister 1, which has the same lens as the 35, an LVS shutter, a manually set frame counter like the YK, and a rangefinder/viewfinder like the YL.
Both the YL and the M have a rewind lever which fits a recess in the bottom plate.

[gray1720]

Hope it's saveable, John - I've never seen one in the metal, but I gather they are very decent cameras.

[davem399]

When I saw the title of the thread, I wondered which forum member it referred to, and whether it could be me.

[peterba]

Oct 21, 2023 9:09:04 GMT davem399 said:

When I saw the title of the thread, I wondered which forum member it referred to, and whether it could be me.

I wonder how many of us will identify with that thought, Dave?

[John Farrell]

The shutter, with the front plate and speed setting cam removed. It's times like this you wish that Chris Sherlock was sitting next to you. Well, he wasn't, so I pushed on...I checked that the blades weren't stuck together with dried lubricant - and the shutter released! So - dried lubricant it was, then. The shutter now seems to work fine. Next, the big cleaning job on the rest of the camera.

While I was pondering the shutter, my wife picked up the camera and took a picture...

[gray1720]

I need to aspire to that level of tidiness in my shutter repair, John! I do like your head torch, better then my anglepoise.

Incidentally, is it me, or does that shutter look very like a Prontor internally?

[peterba]

Oct 22, 2023 7:50:08 GMT gray1720 said:

I need to aspire to that level of tidiness in my shutter repair, John! I do like your head torch, better then my anglepoise.

I was thinking similarly, Adrian. On the (now) fairly rare occasion that I dismantle a camera or lens, it all happens on the kitchen table, with SWMBO muttering about the mess/space taken up/time-wasting... all that kind of thing. You recognise the scene, I'm sure.

Some sort of torch and magnifier would be handy, for me, too. Or rather, it would, if I could actually be bothered to dismantle my poor old Canon RF 50mm f/1.8..... which has gone a bit 'grungy' in the aperture-ring department. 

[spinno]

Oct 22, 2023 7:50:08 GMT gray1720 said:

I need to aspire to that level of tidiness in my shutter repair, John! I do like your head torch, better then my anglepoise.

Incidentally, is it me, or does that shutter look very like a Prontor internally?

Anglepoise - the grace of a post Roman immigrant

[John Farrell]

The Copal shutter is copied from German shutters - probably after German patents were made free after the war. I used to use 2 anglepoise lamps for my work setup, but since I don't now have a dedicated workplace, it is simpler to use a head torch. I wear +4 hobby glasses, for magnification. I'm sitting at one end of the kitchen table...

This was my work table, when we had a larger house.

[John Farrell]

The camera on my workbench in the picture above is a Petriflex 7 - not one of my repair successes. The picture shows the bottom of the camera, and the timing shaft - a system of shutter curtain and flash timing unique to Petri cameras.

This particular camera had a winding fault - the winding system includes a cage with 2 vertical pins. These pins are engaged by a hook to pull them round and advance the film and shutter. One of these pins was broken, and the camera only advanced every second stroke of the lever. The fasteners around these parts were so tight I could not remove them.

[gray1720]

Oct 22, 2023 8:38:48 GMT John Farrell said:

The Copal shutter is copied from German shutters - probably after German patents were made free after the war. I used to use 2 anglepoise lamps for my work setup, but since I don't now have a dedicated workplace, it is simpler to use a head torch. I wear +4 hobby glasses, for magnification. I'm sitting at one end of the kitchen table...

This was my work table, when we had a larger house.

View Attachment

That looks more like my setup - do you also have a magnet on a stick for retrieving springs from far-flung corners of the room? I do...

That sounds about right for the Copal - annoyingly, now I want one, I can't find a photo of a Prontor with similar-shaped escapement units. ho hum.

[John Farrell]

The front of the camera is cleaned up and ready to go, apart from the front of the lens. The part with the filter ring is battered, and I will have to do some panelbeating. Unfortunately, the flash synch wire broke off the shutter, leaving a short stub. I could probably reconnect it, but I decided to leave it off. 
Next will be cleaning up the body, cleaning and checking the rangefinder, and making sure the wind mechanism is working. The front leatherette is battered, but I have found a piece big enough, and close enough in pattern, to do both sides in my collection (recovered from scrapped cameras).

[John Farrell]

The old glue is cleaned off the camera front, the wind system is cleaned out and lubricated, and the front of the camera is back on. Everything seems to be working well. Next will be fitting the replacement leatherette, and the top and bottom plates. Then will be finding a rewind shaft and lever, to fit.