Yashica GTN – New light seals & First test roll

I replaced the light seals on the Yashica GTN before Christmas. The original seals were pretty gunky and next to useless. Replacing them was straight forward enough on this model and took less than an hour to clean and refit.

I took it along with me to Portugal for Stephs family get together.

Its been a few weeks since our return, and after a bout of illness, I finally got around to dev’ing the first roll. I’m glad to see that the light seal replacement has worked.

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The Yashica is an aperture priority exposure camera, the only exposure compensation control is by changing the iso dial. I didn’t bother with this as I wanted to see how the camera meter coped with the extremes of lighting over the holiday period. Sunny beaches and dark indoor shots.

I’m in two minds on the cameras performance. Some of the frames with poor exposure control are down to my error rather than the camera. I was a little disappointed with the lens sharpness, as this camera is reputed for its sharp glass.

Some 5×7 straight print examples…

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As this was only the first roll I’ll defer judgment until I put another half a dozen rolls through it.

Its been a while since I’ve shot a 35mm rangefinder and found it a refreshing change.