Yashica Electro 35 GSN (Showpiece)

This camera does not work. It is sold as a showpiece or for parts.

A Yashica Electro 35 GSN with two specific faults: the lens has fungus, and the focus ring is seized. The electronics and meter do still respond, which makes this a more useful donor than most — the Electro's power circuit and CdS metering are exactly the parts that fail first on other bodies, so anyone reviving a GSN with dead electronics may find more value here than in a shelf ornament. The Electro 35 was Yashica's great mass-market success, over eight million made, built around a fast Yashinon-DX 45mm f/1.7 and aperture-priority automation.

Specifications

• Type: Fixed-lens coupled rangefinder, 35mm
• Lens: Yashinon-DX 45mm f/1.7, 6 elements in 4 groups
• Shutter: Copal electronically-timed leaf shutter, roughly 30sec to 1/500sec
• Exposure: Aperture priority automatic only — the camera picks the shutter speed
• Metering: CdS cell, with over/under warning lamps in the finder and on the top plate
• Power: Originally a 5.6V PX32 mercury cell, long discontinued — modern replacements need an adapter
• Filter thread: 55mm
• Weight: Approximately 750g — dense, all-metal, satisfying
• Known weakness: The rubber "pad of death" behind the wind mechanism perishes with age and disables the shutter on most surviving examples

Condition

• Cosmetic: Lens has fungus. Focus ring is seized and will not turn.
• Functional: Non-working, sold as a showpiece or for parts. The electronics and meter do respond. The camera cannot be focused or used to take pictures.

Included

• Yashica Electro 35 GSN body

Priced as a parts donor or a display body. The fungus and the seized focus ring are not economically repairable on a camera at this value, and we have not attempted a service.