35 gt « efix:photography – News. Thoughts. Pictures.

Sad news … my Yashica Electro 35 died …

Today, I noticed that my Yashica Electro 35 GT is dead. The electronics stopped working and the shutter defaults to 1/500 sec.

I first noticed this on sunday, when I was shooting a fresh roll of Kodak BW400CN inside in dim light. The shutter didn’t sound like it was exposing long enough. Yesterday, I picked up the developed roll of Sensia 100 I shot in the past weeks, and about ten pictures, all taken inside, turned out either underxposed or plain black.

The funny thing is, pressing the “Battery check” button on the back of the camera makes the little lamp light up, so the camera does get power. However, the meter shows no reading anymore (i.e. under- or overexposure warning) — at least it doesn’t since today. Last week the exposure warning LEDs were still working.

Considering this camera cost me 30 € on eBay, I don’t think it’s a good idea to get it repaired. I may try and open it up myself, maybe there’s just a loose cable somwhere. Doesn’t hurt to give it a try.

Now, I will try and get hold of another Electro 35 (GS/GT/GSN/GTN), simply because it’s such a great camera. But I will also try and get hold of an Olympus XA, which has a slower lens (35mm f/2.8), but a great reputation and the same minute form factor as my new Contax T. I can’t use the XA in as low light as the Yashica, but these are cheap too and I really want to try one. Loaded with 40o ISO b&w film it should work in most indoors situations.

Up next

As you may be aware, I’ve been developing a love for film recently and been rather negligent towards my M8. Currently, I’m always carrying with me my new Contax T (see Camerapedia for details) loaded with slide film, which at the moment is Fujichrome Velvia 50. I just ran a roll of the now-discontinued Fujichrome Sensia 100 through my Yashica Electro 35 GT, which should return from the lab next week. Today, I purchased a roll of Kodak BW400CN chromogenic black-and-white film which I always wanted to try, as well as a roll of Kodak Elite Chrome 100. The BW400CN is going into the Yashica, and the Elite Chrome will be exposed in the Contax once I’m through that roll of Velvia.

So expect more articles on film in the near future!

The Film Chronicles | Ilford HP5+ & Provia 100

Hello everyone, sorry for the slow news recently, but I’m rather occupied at the moment and rarely find the time to work on my blog. Anyways, it’s time to resurrect a long-neglected column, The Film Chronicles!

Yes, I’ve finally acquired a film scanner (Epson Perfection V330, to be precise) and spent the last three evenings scanning two rolls of film I shot in the past months: one roll of Ilford HP5+, a very popular and reputable 400 ISO black-and-white film (which I started to shoot last summer and finished only this spring …), and a roll of Fujichrome Provia 100 that I shot during the past few weeks. For your enjoyment, here’s a sample of the scanned results! (Mostly family snaps, so if you don’t care for these, please skip this post :-))

Yashica Electro 35 GT + Ilford HP5+ 400

Continue reading The Film Chronicles | Ilford HP5+ & Provia 100

The Film Chronicles: Ilford XP2

Today I picked up the prints and scans of that roll of XP2 I was shooting with my Yashica Electro 35 GT last month – and I’m already in love with that film! It’s got great tonal range, and is incredibly versatile. You can shoot it anywhere between 200 and 800 ISO without having to adjust the processing, and you can push it below or beyond anywhere from 50 to 3200. I didn’t try to do so, but I did have some over- and underexposed shots that turned out perfectly. I’m going to get more XP2 as soon as I shot the one roll of HP5 I’ve currently loaded into my camera, and then I’m going to deliberately under- or overexpose it depending on the lighting situation and see how the shots turn out.

But first, here are a couple of lab scans from this roll, processed in Lightroom.

"Curiosity" | Yashica Electro 35 GT + Ilford XP2

Continue reading The Film Chronicles: Ilford XP2

First batch of scans from my 35 GT

Okay, here they are! It took me a little longer than intended until I finally got to scanning some of the pictures I took with my recently acquired Yashica Electro 35 GT rangefinder film camera, but now I finally got my ass up and scanned the pictures I liked best. All were scanned directly from 13 x 18 (5 x 7) prints with 600 dpi and post-processed in Lightroom 3 beta 2. The film used was a FujiFilm Superia X-TRA 400.