Yashica Electro 35

Yashica Electro 35

Introduction

In 1966 Yashica introduced the Electro 35. It was the first of a very succesfull line of cameras. All of them are 35mm rangefinder cameras with fixed Yashinon lenses. The rangefinder is coupled to the focusing ring and the viewfinder is parallax corrected. Very nice for a 1960's rangefinder camera. The Electros use aperture priority exposure with a stepless (!) automatic shutter with speeds from 30s to 1/500s. Metering is done by half depressing the shutter button.

Underexposure (i.e. shutterspeed at the chosen aperture lower than 1/30s) is indicated in the viewfinder by an orange arrow pointing left and an orange light on top of the camera. Similarly, a required shutterspeed faster than 1/500s is indicated by a right pointing arrow and a red control light on the top. Both situations can be solved (most of the times) by changing the aperture. The shutter will fire even when overexposed. With the underexposed indication on, the photographer may consider using a tripod.

Specifications

Copal electronic blade shutter with flash sync at all speeds. Yashinon 1.7 45mm lens. On later models, the lens is called color Yashinon.

Images

An Electro 35 GS

Variations and developments

1966 original Yashica Electro 35

1968 Electro 35 G

1969 Electro 35 GT

1970 Electro 35 GS

1973 Electro 35 GSN, GTN and GL

???? Electro 35 GX

???? Electro 35 CC

Letters indicate: G gold contact points in electrical parts

N hotshoe

S (no battery test light, combined shutterdoor release and rewind crank)

T black body

Links

• The Yashica Guy's chronology
• Karen Nakamura's overview at Photoethnography
• James Surprenant's summary
• Matt Denton's overview
• Yann L'hostis' summary (in French, includes shutter sound sample)
• Article by M. Feuerbacher
• Adam Brown's New Used Yashica Electro GSN Review
• Lionel's Yashica Electro 35 GSN overview in french at 35mm-compact.com