Yashica Electro 35 GSN (1973-1977)

The Yashica Electro 35 series was a popular line of auto-exposure-only range finder cameras made in the millions during the '60s and '70s. The GSN was near the last of the line. They had good f/1.7-16 45mm lenses in leaf shutters. The aperture was set manually. The shutter speed was set automatically by a photocell on the front of the camera and ran from 1/500 second to as long as 30 seconds. Film speed (ASA 25-1000) was set manually using a dial on the top of the camera. A red light indicated overexposure and a yellow light indicated the shutter speed was too slow (slower than 1/30th second) for hand holding the camera. A red arrow reminded you to close the aperture if the red light came on and a yellow arrow reminded you to open the aperture if the yellow light came on. The aperture ring was marked with weather symbols to suggest the aperture to use: f/16 for a sunny day, f/4 for a cloudy day, and f/1.7 for interiors. The camera took a 6 volt PX32 mercury battery, but an Exell A32PX fits, and an adapter is available to use a PX28A battery.

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