I must be a miracle worker of some sort. UPDATE: Or not.

A few weeks ago, I realised that my Yashica Electro 35 GT’s meter wasn’t giving me any readings anymore. The battery chek light was working, but the meter wasn’t and the shutter operated at its 1/500 sec default speed. So I put it aside, planning to take a look at the electronics once I’d have the spare time to do so.

In the meantime, I was gathering information about possible repairs or replacements, and it was clear that I would have to spend at least 100 € to get a camera that is working and will continue working for some time.

This morning, I had a little time, so I decided to try and take the camera apart. I was hoping that maybe I could find a loose cable somewhere, and I wanted to clean the viewfinder and have a look at the light seals. The latter are gone, which is why I sometimes get traces of light leaks in my images. So I’m going to ask my local camera repair man if he can take a look at that.

Getting to the viewfinder involved disassembling the rewind crank, the ISO dial and the advance lever, which I was able to do using a small screwdriver and pliers. I also took off the baseplate to see if maybe something in or around the battery compartment was loose. But all cables looked ok, and all contacts seemed to be tight. Apart from a little dust and dirt, all seemed ok at first glance.

So, after cleaning the viewfinder I put everything together again and decided to also insert the battery, for no particular reason. As before, the battery check light lit up upon pressing the button. But to my amazement, when I pressed the shutter button, the overexposure warning lamp lit up! How could that be? I stopped the lens down to f/16, and the underexposure warning lamp also lit up. I fired a few shots at different apertures pointing the camera to differently lit parts of our living room, and indeed the shutter times changed according to how much light there was. Miraculously, after taking it apart, my camera was working again!

I’m curious how long it’s going to last, and if it can be repaired again by just taking the camera apart … :-)

UPDATE: It seems the miracle powers wore off pretty quickly. Yesterday, halfway through a roll of film, upon pressing the shutter button I heard a long squealing noise of rising frequency. After that, I couldn’t advance the film nor focus the lens. Something must’ve fused inside. I guess it’s now officially dead …

2 comments to I must be a miracle worker of some sort. UPDATE: Or not.

Leave a Reply