Saturday

Well, just to prove that I'm in league with the devil, here are a few shots of today's purchase.  Yep, it's another Yashica Electro 35.  This one is a GSN, one of the late production units.  Notice how that shiny chromed surface picks up all the reds in my Mickey Mouse bandana!

There's a kind of method in my madness.  You see, I'm planning to disassemble this black GT later today in order to reach the negative battery terminal.  It's buried directly under the rangefinder assembly.  The GT has an intermittent.  The camera's schematic shows two current paths, one for the battery test circuit, the other for the autoexposure mechanism.  Both are intermittent and the only common part of the circuit is that negative terminal.  This should be interesting.  If I really screw up, I can use the GSN as a model for reassembling the GT.  

Naturally, the GSN seems to have problems of its own.  Everything mechanical seems to work well.  The battery compartment is free of corrosion.  The rangefinder seems to be calibrated properly.  The only defect I've discovered is an odd noise when the shutter is depressed.  It's an electrical noise and sounds like a component burning out.  I wouldn't be surprised to find a failing capacitor or circuit board, but given that I'm a professional electronics geek, fixing it shouldn't be difficult.

I bought this at the flea market in Tulsa this morning.  The seller is going out of business.  He was intent on selling me a few more cameras, and while I admit I was tempted by a pair of Zenit SLRs, they were both dented, inoperative, and missing some parts.  No thanks.  For some odd reason, I've been fascinated by Russian Feds and Zorkis.  Perhaps this will pass.  Perhaps not.