Yashica pr0n
I’ve got better cameras but there is something about the Yashica Electro 35.
I got my first, the GS, for £1.99 from the camera shop that used to be near the bottom of Parkway in Camden. The shop was closing up and I was there to buy chemicals as the owner was clearing stock. I saw the GS in a box of odds and ends. It was completely coated in biscuit crumbs and looking very sorry for itself. The bloke told me he’d not tested it but I was welcome to it for a couple of quid. With a clean up it turned out great.
Great, that is, once I’d tracked down a battery for it. They originally used some radioactive molten lead type affair which was state of the art at the time and sadly no longer exists. Luckily you can use a PX28A or a stack of LR4s to good effect. You need an adapter which I once had but can no longer find. I’ve been happily using a cardboard tube - think oversized roach - and then filling in the empty space with tin foil. I’m sure performance is affected slightly but apparently the circuitry is able to adapt to anywhere between 4.5-6v.
On our way to Belsize Park Budgens today to get some supplies we popped into the charity shop there. Never before seen a camera of any kind there. But this time I saw a slightly battered leather case in the display cabinet and asked to have a look. The price tag read £8 and I was expecting to open it to find a Zenit SLR or the like. On opening what I found was the pictured GTN. This thing is in pretty much immaculate condition; it even has the press-on lens cap. Money immediately handed over.
I’ve just given it a quick clean, loaded some Neopan and wedged in the battery/cardboard/foil contraption. I’m pretty sure there will be light leaks as most of the foam is gone but there is no way I am not using this camera this weekend with the family.
I can’t stop grinning at my good fortune.
