SCL

<p>Not the Yashica Electro! The 35 was produced for about a year as Yashica's entry into the world of fixed lens rangefinders (not interchangeable lenses as in their offfshoot versions of the Leica III series bodies). I found this one in pieces...that is, the shutter timing escapement had been fully disassembled and was in a plastic bag. The front covering of the camera body was peeling, the front element of the lens was scratched and had plenty of cleaning marks...but the camera just looked really neat. So I replaced the front covering with material I had on hand..it sort of matches the back. Cleaned the lens as best as I could and collimated it. I thought I could figure out how to put the escapement back together, but the little gears and springs are hidden beneath the top cover of the escapement mechanism in all the texts I can find. Nevertheless the camera fires at bulb and approximately 1/250 sec. even with the escapement missing. To my surprise, the rangefinder was spot on...a little hazy, but why tamper with something which works. So I decided to reassemble the lens and shroud and see if the camera was even worth my time and effort to try to fix. Given my county has been declared a disaster area due to flooding, and I am less than a mile from the river, but on high ground, I decided to shoot in a nearby town where the river had crested about 15 ft above normal levels, and then go to a relatively undiscovered forest preserve between my home and the river, which is also on high ground...to test out the camera and lens. First the obligatory picture of the camera itself.</p><div></div>