Yashica Electro 35 GSN: Shutter does not close at f16

Was shooting outside in bright sunlight yesterday and realized that the shutter was opening but not closing at f16. The shutter was working at all other apertures but was staying open only at f16. If I hit the shutter button a number of times it would eventually close. The obvious answer is to not shoot at f16 but I was wondering if anyone has an idea of what the problem is. Everything else on the camera works fine.

Hi Robert,

There is a service manual on the net, Google it up to see if you can find it. There are couple of adjustments, related to the shutter timing. You should do that first. Then there is the "pad of death" which causes all manner of problems. If you get the mechanical stuff out of the way, you can then tackle the electronics, but that's rarely required.

Cheers

may be not enough light so the shutter stayed open long to get sufficient exposure.

I have checked out several service sites and am going to take the camera top off when I get a chance. I think the pad of death is ok. It has a nice "clunk" when I wind the film and the shutter works properly at all of the other apertures but does not close at f16. I will check the pad when I remove the top and also will clean the view finder glass. After looking at the service sites I think that the shutter or aperture blades are somehow dirty or sticky at f16 so I am also going to attempt to clean and lubricate. It does not look that hard to do. I received this camera from my brother-in-law. He got it as a gift sometime in the 1970's and never used it. It never had a roll of film in it. As it sat unused for about 45 years I figure the lube as dried out or something. I am surprised that it works at all after sitting so long but every other thing works properly.

I took the top off and cleaned the viewfinder glass. What a difference. I am now able to actually see through the viewfinder. It was very easy to do. The pad of death is intact and working properly so I don't have to replace it. The shutter is still staying open at f16 so I guess cleaning it will be the next step. It looks like I will have to remove/disassemble the lens to get at the shutter. I don't have all of the tools that are required so will have to order them.

Hi Robert,

There is another adjustment which times the shutter release with the shutter switches. I am away from Home at the moment and don't have any camera resources with me, but I would recommend finding a repair manual on the net and doing that adjustment.

Good luck.

Thanks. I will check that out.