I have never heard of the Yashica Lynx 14. It has always the Yashica Electro being more popular and readily available on the used market.
When the lynx came up for sale, I snapped it up even before finding out what it has to offer! That is just crazy but a fixed lens rangefinder by Yashica with a F1.4 aperture can’t be that bad right?
So… I provided the seller with all my credentials from ebay to flickr to clubsnap just to satisfy him that I’m probably worthy enough to buy his camera? Haha, anyway, I paypal’ed him and got my hands on the Yashica Lynx 14 soon enough.
First impressions, the Yashinon DX 45mm f1.4 lens looks gorgeous! Yes F One Point Four! This is a Yashi”lux” dude! Oh what hit me next was, the heavy camera … and very heavy indeed! 850g to be exact, that’s close to a ton man! I could use it to smash a dog dead! Then I saw this funny lever at the lower end of the lens, moving the lever and it goes… zzzzaaaaaarrrr… it works! Yes, that’s the self timer! I also tested the lever for ISO, aperture and shutter speed – all found on the lens barrel!
OK, here’s the camera…
With a few rolls of Ilford HP5 and Tri-X, I brought the beastly Yashica Lynx 14 out to the streets for a spin. The viewfinder is not the brightest… you should see my Bessa R.
Focusing in the daytime is easy enough but shooting this in low light condition or at night could be really challenging, and to be clear, I do possess 6/6 eyesight mind you! The click of the shutter is not as soft leica-ish but its definitely not loud at all – my Bessa R (again) will rightly win this contest! The shutter speed goes from B to 1/500, that’s slightly better than my Hexar AF but my Zeiss Ikon ZI’s 1/2000 will blow this away!
I shot this wide open as well as using hyperfocal. Missed a few shots and caught a few nice moments too. Here goes…
I do find this Rangefinder a timeless beauty. It was released way back in 1965 and dates back some 40 odd years.
It uses a Copal SV leaf shutter and I really like the old world charm of the analog needle pointer used for metering! This camera will definitely slow you down but in a nice, classical way.
On the whole, if you’re willing to bear with the size and weight of the lynx 14, it’ll in turn provide you a wide aperture that no other fixed lens RF can. Afterall, this is still a fine camera that will essentially yield some nice pictures to last a long while to come!
Review contributed by Edwin Soh.