Aug 17, 2011

Yashica Electro 35 GX - $5 find!

Hi Guys, long time no see. I decided to revive this blog, due to my ongoing obsession with op shopping, and junk collecting in general. I keep thinking about it, and these days, 90% of my stuff is secondhand, so I have a lot of material! Here we go...

I picked this camera up at the local "tip". Well, not that kind of tip. Down where I live we don't have hard rubbish collection, so instead the council runs hard rubbish tips and charge you a few bucks to dump things that wont fit in the bin. Just like normal hard rubbish, some stuff is still good, or still useful, so there is a store attached to the front filled with all kinds of random bits and pieces. Furniture, bikes, video games, old tvs, records, beer bottles, signs, etc. I would say everything but the kitchen sink, but they have those, too.

Anyway, this place is right near my work, so after picking my car up from being stranded after a work party, I decided to go have a look, as I hadn't been in awhile. I saw a little black camera case in the display case along with a bunch of digital cameras and projectors and the usual junk.
I thought it looked suitably cool andretro so I wrenched it out and had a look.
A cure little yashica electro. I didnt know what i had found really, I don't know much about yashicas or rangefinders, but it was in very nice condition and all cleared the basic checks I've learned to do before buying (shutter fires, no broken off bits, no fungus, case opens and closes ok, light seals ok) I decided to grab it. The only puzzling thing was the weird battery compartment, but knowing the internet, there would be a workaround out there somewhere.

As soon as I got home I asked the internet what I had found. Ebay said it was something worth a fair bit, and the rest of the internet said it was a great camera, so I started getting excited. I like things whether or not they turn out to be worth a lot, but there is something extra gratifying about realising you have grabbed a real bargain. Here's a few more pics.
clean viewfinder!

I took it to my boyfriend to have a look at, he knows WAY more about cameras than me, and has a bit more experience getting old ones working again. It turned out the batteries can't be bought anymore, but you can make or buy a hack to fit into the battery compartment to fit newer batteries at a similar voltage. My bf spent an hour or so swearing, cutting up and drilling doweling, and experimenting, until he came up with this solution
The doweling is drilled through the middle with a metal spring pushed through to reach the connectors. Not pretty, but it works great! Yay!! This helped me discover my favourite thing about this camera..

light up film counter. So hi tech!

I will put up some pics when I've put a roll through. So far the only thing that doesnt work is the underexposure bulb. I might get it fixed/serviced at some point if I end up loving it.
If you want some more detailed into on this camera and its specifics, here are a few links :

Photoethnography page on the GX

Cameraquest page

A great blog post with photo examples

2 comments:

  1. Please tell me where this place is!!! (busting to know!). ps: I live in G too - follow you on twitter!

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  2. It's in North Geelong, Duoro street, off the highway end of separation street. Its pretty easy to spot, there is a big mural and then a air hanger shaped building with bikes and stuff out the front.

    Its really hit and miss, but I have found some awesome stuff over the years!

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