which is a better buy - FEDs or Yashicas?

[nightwolf75]

my parents are going on a holiday soon. thinking of asking my dad to scour the 2nd-hand shops to find a cheap RF cam. i read much abt these 2 relatively cheap and reasonably usable cameras. may i know which is a better buy?

i'm leaning towards the Yashica Electro 35 GSN. but, i read abt the possible light leaks from melting seals on the film door on yashica-guy.com.

TIA!

 

[whoelse]

Different beast altogther. FED are mechanical camera base on Leica design which are more then 60yrs old in design. Good thing is that it can be easily repair therefore it can last a long time. Most malfunction is deal to user mishandling like setting speed before cocking the shutter and yes, that can damage the shutter. It's a piece of interesting fun mechanical camera with full of character but I wouldn't recommend to have it for holiday.

Electro is fully electronics and it uses leaf shutter, very quiet. Melting seals happen to alot of old camera not only electro. Get a piece of pad that look like mouse pad from art friend bras basha and cut it out into strap in 3-4mm thickness. Insert into the door groove. I dun clean the gloo as it can double as sticky glue to hold the new seal. It is good to feel abit tight initially, will fit better after few use. If not, use the pad material of our old mouse pad.

For battery, use LR44 (shd be 4 pieces) and stack the space with 1cts/5cts coin. The electro has build in voltage regulator.

 

[nightwolf75]

Different beast altogther. FED are mechanical camera base on Leica design which are more then 60yrs old in design. Good thing is that it can be easily repair therefore it can last a long time. Most malfunction is deal to user mishandling like setting speed before cocking the shutter and yes, that can damage the shutter. It's a piece of interesting fun mechanical camera with full of character but I wouldn't recommend to have it for holiday.

Electro is fully electronics and it uses leaf shutter, very quiet. Melting seals happen to alot of old camera not only electro. Get a piece of pad that look like mouse pad from art friend bras basha and cut it out into strap in 3-4mm thickness. Insert into the door groove. I dun clean the gloo as it can double as sticky glue to hold the new seal. It is good to feel abit tight initially, will fit better after few use. If not, use the pad material of our old mouse pad.

For battery, use LR44 (shd be 4 pieces) and stack the space with 1cts/5cts coin. The electro has build in voltage regulator.

thanks, whoelse! i actually saw one yashica (can't see model number clearly) buried at the back cupboards of prime camera. very tempted to buy (and saving some space in my dad's luggage), but decided to check in here for some pro opinions. btw, is the batt easy to modify? i read the yashicas use mercury batts which are not longer available, and need to do some modifications.

btw, saw ur portfolio. u use some pretty nifty RF too! are the pics from ur RF cameras? :thumbsup:

 

[sljm]

Well i have a yashica GSN, yeap quite easy to modify just need to find a 6v (lr44 battery and some 1c coins (maybe a bit hard) or a spring to take up the slack

 

[nightwolf75]

Well i have a yashica GSN, yeap quite easy to modify just need to find a 6v (lr44 battery and some 1c coins (maybe a bit hard) or a spring to take up the slack

thanks, sljm!

 

[whoelse]

Here's my Black GX
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My 1st test shot to try out the len characteristic

 

[Ektar25]

Hey nw75,

Fed or Electro?? :think: Quite different leh - any specific purpose in mind?
Here's a link for some more alternatives
hxxp://www.photopage.nl/Tests&reviews/RF.html
Happy reading
cheers

PS - PM me if your folks headed out my way

my parents are going on a holiday soon. thinking of asking my dad to scour the 2nd-hand shops to find a cheap RF cam. i read much abt these 2 relatively cheap and reasonably usable cameras. may i know which is a better buy?

i'm leaning towards the Yashica Electro 35 GSN. but, i read abt the possible light leaks from melting seals on the film door on yashica-guy.com.

TIA!

 

[nightwolf75]

Hey nw75,

Fed or Electro?? :think: Quite different leh - any specific purpose in mind?
Here's a link for some more alternatives
hxxp://www.photopage.nl/Tests&reviews/RF.html
Happy reading
cheers

PS - PM me if your folks headed out my way

hey, ektar25!! how are u??

nah. my folks are nearby... at beijing! :sweat:

thinking of an electro (mebbe) to do some slient shooting during church events. :think:

 

[wingless84]

nightwolf,
do note that the electro is Nearly silent not completely silent.
but it does come pretty darn close. quieter than your breath

 

[Conan]

Hmm.. I've used the Feds 1, 2, 3 and 5 which I bought from ebay. They're clunky cameras and quite delicate but they get the job done. If you're after efficiency I'd say go for the Japanese RF, but if you're after character and a little challenge, go for the Russian RF

Like a friend said, owning a Fed is like owning an old Beetle... its cheap, not very efficient and needs TLC, but it sure is fun to use

Btw, here's a gallery of BW images shot with Russian cameras:

www.photonski.com/conan/russcams

my parents are going on a holiday soon. thinking of asking my dad to scour the 2nd-hand shops to find a cheap RF cam. i read much abt these 2 relatively cheap and reasonably usable cameras. may i know which is a better buy?

i'm leaning towards the Yashica Electro 35 GSN. but, i read abt the possible light leaks from melting seals on the film door on yashica-guy.com.

TIA!