Yashica LM Selenium Meter Repair

When I bought a Yashica Mat LM the selenium meter was dead and totally not responding to light at all.  I decided take a look to see if I can get it working.  I removed the light meter/name plate off the camera and removed the back cover. I inspected the connections and can not see anything obviously wrong.

Rear cover removed from the light meter

I read somewhere cleaning the connections could make the meter work again.  I used lighter fluid to clean the connections.  There is a connection that is at the back of the meter under the galvanometer that is quite hard to see.  After cleaning that connection, the meter came back to life.  The photo below shows the connection that made the meter work again.  I am glad the meter is working again. 

After that, I put everything back together and that was it.  The meter even gave reasonable readings.

The camera after a clean up

How to Remove the 35mm Film Winding Mechanism of Yashica 635 TLR Camera

The release button to allow the 35mm film winding nob locked up.  This post hows how to get to the mechanism.  I could not find anything on line that shows how it is done and hope it is useful.

I made a mistake of removing all the leatherette of the 35mm winding side.  You will see it was difficult to remove.  I hope I can glue them back together and not be too noticeable.  To get to the mechanism, only about one third of the leatherette needs to be lifted.  There are five screws holding down a plate that holds the wining mechanism.  To get to three of the screws, part of the leatherette needs to be lifted.  I made the mistake of trying to remove the whole leatherette.  It would have made it a lot easier for me if I knew that.  The red arrow points to the release button that had locked up.  Pressing this button allows the film to be wind forward by one frame.

I also removed the 35mm winding nob in this photo.  It was not required and it was tricky to put it back.

Although removing the whole side will give you access to one of the focus rack to remove the old grease, clean and put new grease on the focus cams.  This what it looks like after I removed the old grease but before adding new grease onto the focus mechanism.

This is what the side panel looks like from behind once removed.  The mechanism is a lot more simple than I was expecting.

Assembly is the reverse of disassembly.  If you do not remove the 35mm winding nob, it is quite straight forward.

Making a Shutter Release Cable for Yashica TLR/Nikon F/F2

Cameras like Nikon F/F2 and Yashica TLRs (635 and Yashica Mat) uses an older shutter release which have an external screw thread.  They require a different shutter release cable to trigger the shutter.  They are much less common and expensive.  However, I found a way to make a shutter release from a bicycle tyre valve cap and standard shutter release cable.  Most people will have these at home and will not cost you any money.

Step 1: Drill hole on a tyre valve cap

Step 2: Screw in shutter release cable

Step 3:  You are done.  This is the cable release fitted to Yashica 635

35mm Film Into 120 Backing Paper Jig from EBay

This is a post for people who wants to shoot sprocket holes photos with medium format cameras.  You can buy cheap adaptors quite easily, but they can not be used with older cameras with viewing window on the back.  For cameras with a viewing window it is difficult to get consistent frame spacing.  Even if you tape up the window, frame spacing can be hit and miss.

There is a solution though.  I saw this rig on EBay for rolling 35mm film onto 120 backing paper.  I have shot 35mm films with adaptors with good results, but you always have to do work around.  Also, no need to unload the film in the dark.

With this rig, you are able to roll 35mm films into 120 backing paper easily.  All you need are some spare 120 backing paper, film spools and a dark bag or dark room.  I bought this from EBay and received it within a week.  The rig itself looks like it is 3D printed but feel durable enough for what it needs to do.  It will not be too difficult for anyone to print one.  The cost from EBay was £14 (UK GPB) delivered.  I guess if you have a 3D printer, it will cost very little to print one.

If this works, it will make shooting 35mm film in medium format cameras much easier.

YOU NEED TO DO THIS IN A DARK BAG OR DARK ROOM!

 

I put the film canister into the rig and then taped the film onto the backing paper.  I then placed the whole thing into my dark bag and rolled the correct length of film onto the spool.  I Marked where that should be with a masking tape on the backing paper so I can feel it in the dark bag.  At the correct length, I cut the film and then roll the rest of the backing paper onto the spool.  That is not the end though, you now need to put a spool back onto the end of the backing paper and roll the backing paper/film the other way.  This is so the film starts at the right end.  You must make sure you keep the backing paper tight without slack to avoid "fat roll" and light leak.

I made two rolls of film to test.  Unfortunately I could not show you the process in the dark bag.  The camera I used to test was my Mamiya Six folding camera.  With the 35mm film loaded I masked off the viewfinder to take into account of the 35mm film

The results was very good.  Frame spacing was very good.  However, there is a hint of light leak from a couple of frames.  Here are a few photos from the first roll.

Now I know this works, I will be able to use the 35mm film in all my cameras without doing any work around.  Most importantly, I do not need to carry a dark bag to unload the film.  Is the rig worth the money?  I think so.  I have tried doing this without a rig in the past and it is difficult to centre the film.  You need three hands to hold everything.  The result was very inconsistent.

They also make a version to load 35mm film into 127 backing paper.  For people with 127 cameras, I would say this is really useful.  The width of 35mm film is much closer to 127 film.  127 films are very expensive, this rig makes shooting with 127 cameras much cheaper.  Although, you will have to live with the sprocket holes.