Chinon 35 EE II

[truls]

Some acquaintances gave me an old camera as they said, they know I take care of them. It was a Chinon 35 EE II, at first it looked like a normal point and shoot. To my surprise it was a rangefinder. Everything worked except power. I have adapter to use ordinary button cells i.e. silver oxide. One of the wires was missing, no wonder no power...



I will try to dismantle the bottom of the camera but I will need help to locate where the missing wire are going to be soldered. More pictures from the inside coming later.

[lloydy]

I think that camera turned up wit many different names, I had something called 'Unica' which I think was the same, and it was OK. I ran one film through it then gave it to someone who collects compacts.

[casualcollector]

I have this camera badged as a G.A.F. Memo 35EE. Bought it in 1975. The exposure is controlled by the CdS cell. No manual control possible. Battery required. Mine has been a bit finicky, sometimes giving very sharp results, sometimes not!

[truls]

I will put a roll BW this evening, will see if its any point in keeping.

Here pictures from inside, battery chamber removed. The red wire seems to go to hot shoe, as it creeps through the camera. There is a green wire missing, but from/to should it go? There is something "brown" metal at the middle position of the lens, maybe here? It should operate also without battery, ad the shutter clicks, the aperture is also correct - sunny 16?

[Stephen]

You are going to have to look logically for where the wires went, there may have been only one from the battery compartment, as the negative side could have been earthed to the frame by a screw rather than a wire.

If the wire as come away from the circuity in the camera, then it will need a careful examination of all the possible places that it could have once been soldered. There should be a patch of solder somewhere without the wire attached, but with the remains.
The batteries mainly feed the flash, but as it is a CS model, it must pick up power for the auto iris circuit as well.

It may well appear to work without battery as the shutter blades will operate, but it is unlikely the aperture will be set correctly without power.

Stephen.

[truls]

Stephen, you are right, I have to look for logical places the wire will go to, and try and fail. Took some Fomapan shots last evening, not very bad, not very good, hand held, could be sharper on tripod.







The aperture is manual, from f.2.7 to f.16. It seems the mechanical shutter is 1/500, as pictures at f.5.6 came out the best (light metered to 1/200 and f.8).

[lloydy]

This is the Unnica, I think it's the same beast.