A not unbiased review of the classic Yashica Electro 35 GSN rangefinder film camera.

Review of the Fantastic Yashica Electro 35 GSN 

A not unbiased review of the classic Yashica Electro 35 GSN rangefinder film camera.
My Electro 35 GSN with original strap and case. My camera also came with the auxiliary wide-angle and telephoto lens adapters (in the round black case), but I haven’t used them yet.

My Yashica Electro 35 GSN is really special to me because it belonged to a close friend of our family who passed away about 20 years ago of cancer. As a kid, I remember that she always had a camera with her-the cameras I remember seeing were always 35mm point-and-shoots (of the nicer variety), so the Yashica rangefinder is from before my memory./im

Review of the Fantastic Yashica Electro 35 GSN  camera, ektar, Electro 35, film, fujifilm, GSN, kodak, photography, portra, superia, TMax, Yashica
Colors of Taos. Fujifilm Superia X-TRA 400.

Aside from just knowing that it was hers, it is the thought of how she would have used this camera that makes it so special. She was a watercolor painter, and her favorite subjects were old wooden barns and houses, long abandoned to the wind and sun on the High Plains, and just barely standing. She would drive the backroads of West Texas, the Oklahoma Panhandle, western Kansas, and eastern New Mexico, hoping to find these old structures before they finally collapsed or were torn down. She would photograph them, then create a painting from the photograph. So whenever I’m out taking photos with the Yashica, I think about her and her paintings, and how much I would enjoy talking to her now about our shared love of the landscape.

Review of the Fantastic Yashica Electro 35 GSN  camera, ektar, Electro 35, film, fujifilm, GSN, kodak, photography, portra, superia, TMax, Yashica
My favorite view of the West Spanish Peak, Kodak Ektar 100

So you see my review of the Yashica Electro 35 GSN is not unbiased. Despite that, I can confidently say that it is a fantastic film camera, not without its limitations, but if you embrace those limitations and just use the camera for what it is, then together you can create some fantastic images.

Review of the Fantastic Yashica Electro 35 GSN  camera, ektar, Electro 35, film, fujifilm, GSN, kodak, photography, portra, superia, TMax, Yashica
Ojo Caliente, New Mexico, Kodak TMax 100

I’m not sure what the Electro 35 offers that other classic rangefinders do not-it is the only rangefinder I’ve ever used. What I can say is that it has a fantastic lens (with one limitation), metering and exposure are excellent, and it is a lot of fun to carry and use. This is a camera that I like to carry when I’m exploring or just out walking around. One of my best experiences with this camera was on a day trip to Taos, New Mexico in 2017. I put in a roll of 24-exposure Superia 400 and shot the whole roll within a couple of hours just walking around town.

Review of the Fantastic Yashica Electro 35 GSN  camera, ektar, Electro 35, film, fujifilm, GSN, kodak, photography, portra, superia, TMax, Yashica
Off the square in Taos, Fujifilm Superia X-TRA 400

The Electro 35 is aperture priority only and has no manual exposure option, but it also has a fantastic-ly accurate meter, so just set the ISO dial and trust it. It is possible to add in some exposure compensation manually by adjusting the ISO dial, but I only do that if I intentionally want to over- or under-expose an entire roll, or to make adjustments for lens filters. I’ve also had good results in low light situations, and the camera has a bulb mode so manual long exposures are possible.

Review of the Fantastic Yashica Electro 35 GSN  camera, ektar, Electro 35, film, fujifilm, GSN, kodak, photography, portra, superia, TMax, Yashica
Long exposure star trails over Ute Mountain, New Mexico, 20 minutes, on Kodak TMax 100.

Focusing is fairly easy and very accurate-I haven’t noticed many shots with missed focus. Of course, it does take some practice if you haven’t used a rangefinder.

Review of the Fantastic Yashica Electro 35 GSN  camera, ektar, Electro 35, film, fujifilm, GSN, kodak, photography, portra, superia, TMax, Yashica
Fall aspens in southern Colorado. Kodak Ektar 100.

The other really great aspect to this camera is the lens. I had read a lot of praise for the Color Yashinon 45mm f/1.7 when learning about the camera, and this is a truly great lens. It can create perfectly sharp photos when stopped down, but also has a nice softness in the background at wider apertures and a smooth undistracting bokeh wide open. The one thing to watch out for is flare. Even if the sun is not in the frame, shooting backlit subjects is likely to introduce a lot of flare in the upper part of the photo.

Review of the Fantastic Yashica Electro 35 GSN  camera, ektar, Electro 35, film, fujifilm, GSN, kodak, photography, portra, superia, TMax, Yashica
The best example I could find for a bokeh image. Kodak TMax 100.

Other than the flare/haze issue, which you can see a good example of in this previous post, I don’t have any complaints about this 50-year-old film camera. I’ve put about 8 rolls of film through it and not had a single bad exposure that was caused by the meter (although I have missed a couple of shots because I left the screw-in lens cap attached). I’m confident enough in this camera that I have taken it along on family day trips as my only camera to capture and record priceless moments. And in reviewing my images for this post, I have realized that I don’t use this camera enough.

Other Example Images

I’m sharing a few more samples images below to highlight some of the capabilities of this camera. You can view a gallery of my best Electro 35 images at teh end of this post.

Review of the Fantastic Yashica Electro 35 GSN  camera, ektar, Electro 35, film, fujifilm, GSN, kodak, photography, portra, superia, TMax, Yashica
Another example of how the lens performs wide-open at f/1.7. Fujifilm Superia X-TRA 400.
Review of the Fantastic Yashica Electro 35 GSN  camera, ektar, Electro 35, film, fujifilm, GSN, kodak, photography, portra, superia, TMax, Yashica
Perfectly exposed, but bad flare. I think a lens hood would help in this situation-I’ll definitely be getting one to try. Kodak Ektar 100.
Review of the Fantastic Yashica Electro 35 GSN  camera, ektar, Electro 35, film, fujifilm, GSN, kodak, photography, portra, superia, TMax, Yashica
Incredible metering-I took this photo just to finish off a roll of film. Handheld in very low light, and this image is perfectly exposed. Fujifilm Superia X-TRA 400.
Review of the Fantastic Yashica Electro 35 GSN  camera, ektar, Electro 35, film, fujifilm, GSN, kodak, photography, portra, superia, TMax, Yashica
Another perfect exposure. Twilight at the Great Sand Dunes. Kodak Ektar 100.
Review of the Fantastic Yashica Electro 35 GSN  camera, ektar, Electro 35, film, fujifilm, GSN, kodak, photography, portra, superia, TMax, Yashica
An irreplacable photo. My family at the top of Indian Creek near La Veta, Colorado, November 2017. We shouldn’t have been able to be there at this time of year, but there was no snow. This entire area was devastated by the Spring Fire in June 2018. I’m glad I had this camera to take this photo. Kodak Ektar 100.

A Gallery of My Best Electro 35 Photos

One Comment

  1. Wonderful shots from a wonderful camera! I got one a couple of years back for a bargain price and although it all worked fine I changed the rear light seals and then bought the tools to remove to top to clean the inside of the viewfinder, wow, what an improvement, crystal clear now. Happy shooting .
    Stuart
    (From the UK)

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