At 850 grams, Lynx 14e is one of the largest and heaviest 35mm rangefinders (even in its day), due to its rare f1.4 lens and all metal construction that was built to last a lifetime.

Clearly the lens is the camera's primary strength. Many feel the Yashica's lens performance compares favorably to a Leitz Summilux 50 mm. You'd need to pay thousands to get a comparable lens in a modern camera. Compared to a Leica M6 with a 1.4 lens, the 14e is practically free, even with a CLA.

Very quiet, fully mechanical Copal shutter ranging from 1 to 500 plus B and self timer. The batteries are only used for the electronic manual exposure control to provide accurate and fast light metering.

The fully coupled rangefinder automatically compensates for parallax and features • large, convenient easy to use controls. The shutter release stroke is short, light and smooth.

Overall, a superb classic camera that is essential to the rangefinder experience. I guarantee this camera will be a keeper and one of your all-time favorites.

If the 14e were a car, the enormous lens would place the camera into a new size and weight class. The camera takes 58mm filters and weighs a ton (850g), but still handles nicely.

The film advance lever doesn't ratchet and requires a 120 degree throw.

The yellow focus patch is weak and small. Employs outlawed mercury cell batteries, although Chinese-made equivalent alkaline PC640A batteries are still available, (requires 2). The location of the batteries in the top cap meant leaky batteries extensively ravaged the camera. Check carefully before you buy.

The lens is prone to flare as it was built in the day before high-tech coatings, so use of a lens hood is recommended.

An extraordinary machine fitted with a rare, fast, high quality, f1.4 lens that makes it the perfect available-light camera! The 7-element, 5-group high quality lens design dominates the camera and offers outstanding resolution and contrast.

The number of leaf shuttered f1.4 lensed rangefinders can be counted on a couple of fingers and the 14e's lens is clearly among the finest ever fitted to a fixed-lens rangefinder. The Copal leaf shutter, coupled with the camera's robust 'built like a tank' mass means that you can safely hand-hold down to 1/15th of a second. Coupled with 400 ASA film, you can leave the flash at home permanently.

Yashica used the magic of integrated circuitry (in 1965) to provide electronic manual exposure control. Pushing the little silver button on the right front of the camera turns the meter on and the camera displays a yellow "UNDER" or red "OVER" arrow in the viewfinder to lead you to the proper exposure.

The Lynx 14E represents a reasonably priced alternative to Leica or Nikon Rangefinders of similar competencies.

Similar Products Used:

Konica Auto S2, Konica Auto S3, Yashica Electro 35 GTN, Minolta HI-MATIC 7SII, Canon Canonet G-III QL17

- Excellent fast F1.4 lens
- Dirt cheap price
- Build quality
- Quiet, virtually vibrationless leaf shutter
- Full manual operation
- Arguably the "king" of ambient light and low light photography, excluding very top of the line WAY, WAY more expensive kits
- Rangefinder
- Parallex corrected rangefinder

- Will likely need a CLA or repair, especially stuck shutters after years of no use. Either wait for one that is fully functional at auction, or the better option is get one in decent used condition and have it CLA'd asap after receipt. Even with the CLA cost, it is still worth it. Your camera will likely last decades more if CLAd by a good technicion. Bite the bullet. It's worth it, especially considering the cost of alternatives, and the ridiculously low going rate of the camera on the used market.

- Weight. Not a compact by any means but handles nicely. A fast, high-quality lens like this requires a large front element and lots of glass.

- No automatic modes. No shutter priority or aperture priority, which means that while you have more control, it's also slower on the draw.

- Takes outlawed mercury cells, need to find a suitable solution which include zinc air cells, wein cells, or having the camera calibrated by your technician to take 625A (alkaline) cells which are commonly available. (Do your homework. I had mine recalibrated when it was CLA'd. Not an expensive fix...)

- Lens is said to be prone to flare, and likely is. Though I haven't observed this, since it's not the camera I reach for for bright daylight shooting. Use a lenshood as needed.

- ISO setting limited to 800. However, you can visually compensate when using 1600 (or higher) speed film by exposing/shooting when the camera's meter reads approx 1 stop (or how ever many stops are appropriate based on your film speed) underexposed. It's not an issue.

I own several 60/70's Yashica rangefinders, of which the Lynx 14 is the most recent addition. This is a solid camera made back in the days when build quality meant something to camera manufacturers, and cameras were designed to last a life time.

The Lynx 14 is one of the larger and heavier 35mm rangefinders - even during its era, due to its oversized f1.4 lens of many groups and elements and metal cnstruction. Lots of glass and chrome on this baby. However, this speed comes at a price in weight, mass, and bulk. That said, it handles nicely for a camera its size.

Lenses this fast are a real rarity and are prohibitively pricey. The super fast lens, lack of vibration from mirror slap, virtual vibrationless and quiet leaf shutter, combined with the camera's weight and fully manual operation results in - frankly, a superstar of ambient light and low light photography. In my humble opinion, it is perhaps THE best camera ever made for this purpose if you consider the uniqueness of its design and specs. Add to the fact that these cameras go for a song at the auction sites, it's simple a "must have" if you're an ambient or low light candid or "street photographer". It's amazing what 1600 speed color (or even higher black and white speed film like Neopan 1600 in Diafine), and a 1.4 lens on a leaf shutter rangefinder can do.

Flash? We don need no stinkin' flash!

Similar Products Used:

Yashica Electro GSN (also a fine camera)
Yashica Electro 35 CC (another outstanding compact rangefinder)
Agfa Ventura 66 medium format rangefinder.

Optical performance Build quality Fully mechanical Manual control

Weight and size

Great camera. As far as I know the only f/1.4 fixed lens rangefinder. Build quality is very good.Optical performance is great, comparable with Yashica GSN, but camera is fully mechanical (except light meter) and offers fully manual control. A lot of bang for your bucks.

Similar Products Used:

Lots of rangefinders.

OK the good and the bad.... the good is that it's a nice cheap intro in rangefinder shooting. It has good fast glass and is pretty simple to operate. The bad... usually they have not aged gracefully and are in serious need of work. It is lightyears away from being the camera of a Leica (literally night and day in RF patch ability). Rangefinders are quirky little cameras but they are fun basic cameras that will force you to learn about photography.

lens. Silent.

Weight. Hard to see meter on a sunny day. Use sunny 16 rule.

Wow! What a lens! What a body. This is a great camera that is excellent for any type of RF photography. I put it up against the best of them. It is larger and heavier than a Canonet with a very fast, crisp lens. Worth 2x the price!!! Next to the Canonet 17 QLIII it is the best value out there. As for the Mercury battery you can get regular batteries that fit it at many electronic houses or battery resellers.

Similar Products Used:

Canonet 17 QLIII, Bessa-R, Kiev-4

lens

rf spot sometimes goes away

great RF camera - fast - good bokeh...learn more about classic cameras at http://members.aol.com/dcolucci

Sooo... silent shutter..great for candid street mug shots...Great for theaters, concerts, and hush hush places!

NEVER point towards the SUN! This lens was made before multi-coatings! The camera is so big it looks like a 645 or 6x6!

The lens in front of this camera is AWESOME! Rangefinder on Steroids!! F1.4mm with BIG glass...Forget about the metering, just rely on the F16 rule and shoot on the fly...amazing!

Customer Service

Never needed, just cleaning the RF prism.

Similar Products Used:

Nikons and Canons mostly

+++fast 1.4 lens
++hefty construction
++optical quality
++silent leaf shutter
+flash sync 1-500sec
+affordable
+retro look

--not too many camera technician speacialist for this camera
-the meter batteries are becoming harder to find

they are the only rangefinder cameras in their price class to sport a fast 1.4 lens. the fast lens and silent shutter are great for night candid shots. one can get those nice coffe shop or those night club gigs pix. the lens are incredible. the images are crisp and clear. the color saturation presents great contrast.

these cameras are getting harder to find and the price is still affordable. a $20 invesment is better than spending a Konica Hexar Silver for about $600! yashica lens are faster and extremely affordable.

Similar Products Used:

None

This camera has one of the very few f=1.4 lenses available. The same lens in any other modern camera would cost you hundreds or even thousands not the $17 I paid on ebay. The camera takes excellent pictures, the light meter is accurate and fast. Compared to my Minolta it is easier to set up because you can do it all from the viewfinder. It is a wonderful "classic" user.

The camera is very heavy (bomb proof construction). The battery is hard to find today.

For under $20 there is nothing to compare with this camera. If you can find a working one buy it just for the glass.

Customer Service

N/A This camera is 30+ years old and still works properly.

Similar Products Used:

Canonet 19 (f=1.9), Minolta highmatic 9 (f+1.7), Canon rebel 2000, Pentax Spotmatic F

Very tough, reliable all-mechanical operation with easy handling (particularly film loading).

Well, it is over 30 years old, and even these fine old cameras don't last forever. You can even order batteries for the onboard meter at Radio Shack!

Sure, it's an antique, but with online auctions like eBay, you can still get yourself a Lynx 14-E ("The Poor Man"s Leica") with it's wonderful Yashinon-DX 45mm f/1.4 lens, as a wonderful user's camera for those times when you'd rather use some creativity and craftsmanship to take your photos...and it won't cost you the proverbial arm-and-a-leg, either.

Customer Service

Have never used it.

Similar Products Used:

Many SLRs and RFs from Pentax, Olympus, Nikon, Minolta, Minox, Yashica, and others.