Yashica ELECTRO 35 <i>FC</i>

<h1>Yashica Electro 35 FC</h1>

<p><strong>Yashinon DX 40mm f/2.8</strong></p>

<p>Apparently introduced in 1973, although there seems to be some uncertainty, this was pretty much an ELECTRO 35 in name only. It is a automatic-only camera with the usual Yashica "dot" rangefinder.</p>

<p>I was very pleased with the Praktica VFB that I had got from a vendor who is unloading a huge collection of older, mostly more basic cameras on eBay, so I looked at his other auctions. His shipping charges are a little steep for just one camera, but he combines shipment, so I bid on this one. In the last few hours before the close, the bidding was feverish, but I managed to get it for US $6.01. I got it together with a couple of other cameras for 99¢ each so I did fairly well if one actually wants these sort of things.</p>

<p>There's not a lot more to be said about the camera itself. There are brief discussions of it at the Yashica guy site (<a href="http://www.yashica-guy.com/document/chrono2.html">link</a>). Other discussions are to be found at <a href="http://www.photoethnography.com/ClassicCameras/index-frameset.html?YashicaElectro35GSN.html~mainFrame">link</a> and <a href="http://www.camerapedia.org/wiki/Yashica_Electro_35">link</a> , among still others.</p>

<p>I found it easy to use, the mercury 1.5v 640 batteries it originally used are long since unavailable, but the pictures presented below were taken with A640PX 1.5V alkaline batteries. Whether or not it was the batteries, the images on the film were somewhat underexposed, but most responded reasonably well to the Canon 9950F scanner software used in Photoshop. Other than increasing the exposure and a tiny bit of shadow work in Adobe Camera Raw, the pictures are as they came out of the scanner at 2400 ppi. The film was Fujicolor Superia 200, rated at 200. First the camera itself, of course.<br /><br />However, there is one mystery that I cannot solve, since I have not been able to find a manual for this <em>particular</em> model. Most things are pretty analogous, but there is one little lever that I cannot puzzle out. It is described in French at <a href="http://35mm-compact.com/compact/yashicaelectro35fc.htm">link</a> as follows.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>Le Yashica Electro 35 FC est équipé d'un retardateur électronique avec un témoin<br />lumineux (le levier du retardateur est sur l'objectif en regard du A de "YASHINON".</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Ok, I can read a little French, although honestly I do better with 18th-century explorer French for reasons too complicated to go into here. I would translate this as</p>

<blockquote>

<p>The Yashica Electro 35 FC is equipped with a "electronic delayer" with a "lighted witness" (the lever of delay is over the lens in line with the A in Yashinon.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Is this a self-timer, and the battery check light blinks or something? or what? The red arrow in the picture is the lever as I suppose, and the yellow arrow points to a light that is definitely a battery test light, but also could be the "témoin lumineux"?</p><div></div>

<p>Here are some pictures taken with the camera. Since this was the exact day we had our so-called "Super Derecho" in 2009, some of my pictures are taken to match up with ones I took a year ago with all the damage. But not here. Anyhow this is the street I live on and a closeup of some "false strawberries" - they look like real wild strawberries but are not.</p><div></div>

<p>Here are two more. The left one is my local more-or-less off-color water tower, and the right one is the Cretaceous vegetation in my front lawn -- a Southern Magnolia.</p><div></div>

<p>That's all folks. The camera is another of those long-neglected rangefinders from the 60s and 70s when the "serious" photographers were all chasing SLRs.</p>

<p>On the possible self delay, I must say that I did not discover the comment until after I had finished the roll and taken out the batteries, so I can't easily check it, especially as many other camera functions don't seem to work without film in the camera.</p>

<p>I can only guess that it is a self timer and the light blinks faster as it approaches the firing of the shutter. Very interesting Camera. It is amazing that you have much the same vegetation as we do here in NE Georgia. The "fake strawberries" (someone told me another name for them but I can't remember) and the magnolias. The picture of the street you live on could easily have been taken around here somewhere.<br>

Do you use the program that came with the Canoscan or another program? I have the Canoscan 8800 and have not figured out how to scan any color prints above 300dpi.</p>

<p>Photostuff first:<br /> I use the Canoscan Scangear CS and with the "advanced" settings clicked on you can control the scanner from inside Photoshop (CS3 in my case: "import>canoscan") as to ppi, exposure, etc.. VueScan works very well too, as a stand-alone scanner controller.</p>

<p>Re Geography:<br /> My part of Southern Illinois (note the capital 'S') is actually at at 37º N, south of Louisville and almost exactly the same as Richmond, VA. Cartersville, GA is at 34ºN so it really isn't all that different. We are only some 500 feet above MSL, and much of the area is directly in the Gulf Coastal Plain. That probably makes us more like NE GA as well, which is generally higher, I think?<br /> When the glaciers all melt, we will have lovely seashore property here.</p>

<p>Re Botany:<br /> I thought the thing was called "Indian Strawberry" but I was unsure. It <em>is</em> Indian Strawberry, <em>Duchesnia indica</em>. according to one competent-looking source (<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=65-o2qppedcC&pg=PA183&lpg=PA183&dq=%22Duchesnia+indica%22&source=bl&ots=O7LPTDhWzl&sig=3euRwWW38iLwGtbSkDE3eViUByM&hl=en&ei=PiTmS-SJEKTcM_XR4IUI&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=21&ved=0CF4Q6AEwFA#v=onepage&q=%22Duchesnia%20indica%22&f=false">link</a>) the fruits are not only inedible but "<strong>highly poisonous, sometimes fatal</strong>". My Peterson's says it's "alien" but the link says "warmer parts of Asia", so I guess India is a good shot. I had assumed that the name referred to New World natives, but no. Seems appropriate as an alien: Wasn't Duchesnia a star on <em>X Files</em>?</p>

<p> </p>

<p><strong>Sometimes:</strong><em> Duchesnea, </em>not<em> Duchesnia.</em> AKA "Mock Strawberry<em>" </em>It's listed in some places as non-toxic, but the fact that it has been used in tests for chemotherapy, make me suspicous that the "toxic" part is correct. Others recommend it as medicinal. Not at all clear that you can bump anybody off with "mock strawberry jam", I guess.</p>

<p>Cute little, guy. Nice camera for the price of a hamburger. What's the "FC" stand for?</p>

<p>Louis, I think it's something on the order of "Flash Camera" - somewhat ironically since it apparently doesn't work all that well with flash, particularly non-Yashica flashes.</p>

<p>This is a <em>very</em> informative post, incredibly wide-ranging and erudite. Thanks, <strong>JDM</strong>, the little camera is a Yashica I've never encountered, but certainly looks like value for money, especially since it sports the "Atomic" symbol. Good find, and a great post.</p>

<p>From my point of view, the 35FC is a genuine member of the Electro family. Of course Yashica had to keep pace with the design of camera electronics, and so the 35FC uses a more advanced electronic shutter control than previous models and probably showed the way to the 35CC and the 35GX, the final top model.<br>

The lever actually sets the self timer, but there is no timing escapement (as still found on most electronically controlled leaf shutters), so the flashing light indicates that the self-timer is "running". BTW, "temoin" does not only mean "witness" in French, it is also used for "indicator".<br>

Of course this item is not missing in my Electro35 collection (which is complete except for a working example of the Electro35 Half). A long time ago I had an FC and sold it again (don't remember why) after finding a replacement CdS cell. On the second one I bought the CdS cell was dead, too. I used the same replacement and it gave more or less indications of slow speed/overexposure but a test roll showed at least one stop underexposure.</p>

 

<p>Thanks again Winfried. I figured that was what it was, but I chose to "translate" it fairly literally so as not to assume what I was trying to find out.<br /> In any case, my experience with the exposure exactly conforms to what you have said.</p>

<p>Pleasant though it is, I think I will limit my Electro experience to this one. There have to be some limits after all. ;)</p>

<p>As for its status as a "true" ELECTRO, I am a prisoner of my sources which seemed to be a little cool about this model. I willing to accept a opinion from someone who clearly knows a lot more about these than I.</p>

<p>For me it is somewhat puzzling that the first 35FC where I changed the CdS resistor gave correct exposures and the warning light showed up correctly. On the second one, the lights show up correctly, too, but there is significant underexposure.<br>

Anyhow, with the 35FC Yashica showed how to design an elegant, light-weight, sleek fully-automatic camera with a good f/2.8 40mm lens. I also have a Agfa Selectronic S, manufactured around the same time. Compared to the 35FC, it feels like an elephant... and the only advantages are (mechanical) display of aperture values and a galvanometer indicating shutter speeds visible inside the viewfinder. Comparing both designs it is very obvious that the masters of camera design were living outside Germany in the 70s.</p>

<p>One thing I have found with these cameras is that the shutter mechanism often gets dirty or the lubricant dries up, and you end up getting inconsistent shutter speeds. Lubrication is easy enough, with a lens spanner you remove the retaining ring for the name plate on the front of the lens, pop out the name plate, and then the screws underneath to remove the aperture ring, etc. until the shutter mechanism is exposed. A couple small drops of oil in the pivots on the left side of the mechanism will usually free up everything and get the shutter working accurately again. It is also rather easy to remove the front lens element so as to clean the shutter blades or remove crud from the inside of the lens.</p>

<p>Thanks, Jeff, that's good to know.</p>

<p>From my point of view, the 35FC is a genuine member of the Electro family. Of course Yashica had to keep pace with the design of camera electronics, and so the 35FC uses a more advanced electronic shutter control than previous models and probably showed the way to the 35CC and the 35GX, the final top model.<br>

The lever actually sets the self timer, but there is no timing escapement (as still found on most electronically controlled leaf shutters), so the flashing light indicates that the self-timer is "running". BTW, "temoin" does not only mean "witness" in French, it is also used for "indicator".<br>

Of course this item is not missing in my Electro35 collection (which is complete except for a working example of the Electro35 Half). A long time ago I had an FC and sold it again (don't remember why) after finding a replacement CdS cell. On the second one I bought the CdS cell was dead, too. I used the same replacement and it gave more or less indications of slow speed/overexposure but a test roll showed at least one stop underexposure.</p>

 

Hello,

 

do you remember the replacement photoresistor specs? Or where can I get one? Is there a way how to identify a camera photoresistor?

It's a pity that we don't have service manuals for cameras, similar like there are for hi-fi, radios and similar equipment.

I have two Electro 35 FC's that I would like to bring back to life. I have replaced the faulty electrolytic capacitor in one already, it didn't help. The photoresistor is in a metal can, it has "A4H" stamped on its side.

 

Many thanks for any help.

Hello, sorry this was years ago, I don't know where I got the CdS resistor from. I faintly remember that it was a standard item from an electronic parts shop. These days CdS resistors are harder and harder to get. If you find some (some surplus shops still sell them) you should try those with a "!bright light" resistance as low as possible. I thinki most camera manufacturers used CdS with custom specs so it's always a matter of luck to find a suitable replacement.

I can buy CdS photoresistors no problem, I just don't know which type to use. By "bright light resistance as low as possible" you mean photoresistance? Right now I am looking at photoresistors with photo resistance values ranges in kiloohms: 2~6, 5-10, 8-20, 16-50, 30-90 and 45-140 Kohms. Then there is the minimum dark resistance, it is given in megaohms. At which value should I be looking?