Yashica lynx 14 viewfinder ?s

[Gradskater]

Hello all, I just got a lynx 14 in excellent shape to add to my never ending collection. Everything seems to work, and I am pretty happy about it. I just have a couple questions.

1. in the viewfinder, there is this black square haniging from the top of the window. It doesnt seem to do anything. Should it be there? Does this need to be repaired? I have used a lot of rangefinders, and have never seen this before. It doesn't intrude on the area outlined by the parallax lines, but i do notice it.

2. Does the metering needle show up in the viewfinder, or only on the top plate?

As always, thanks for your help!

Travis

 

[bmattock]

I don't have my Lynx 14 with me at the moment, only my 14E, which does not have that black rectangle you speak of. But I seem to recall it - if I am not mistaken, it is related to the meter on top - but I could never make heads or tails of it, since I wear glasses and can barely see the black rectangle at all. If I'm correct about the black rectangle, that answers your second question too.

Surprisingly, www.butkus.org does not have a Lynx 14 manual online, but they have a somewhat similar Lynx 5000. I see that it does have such a device in the viewfinder...

http://www.cameramanuals.org/yashica_pdf/yashica_lynx-5000.pdf

 

[Gradskater]

thanks, that helps a lot!

 

[Bill58]

Hello all, I just got a lynx 14 in excellent shape to add to my never ending collection. Everything seems to work, and I am pretty happy about it. I just have a couple questions.

1. in the viewfinder, there is this black square haniging from the top of the window. It doesnt seem to do anything. Should it be there? Does this need to be repaired? I have used a lot of rangefinders, and have never seen this before. It doesn't intrude on the area outlined by the parallax lines, but i do notice it.

2. Does the metering needle show up in the viewfinder, or only on the top plate?

As always, thanks for your help!

Travis

Travis:

If your yellow RF patch is a bit faded, you can replace it w/ one from a GT/ GTN/ GSN. You change the beamsplitter piece. Works great!

Bill

 

[btgc]

Similar rectangle is in VF of Lynx 5000, it projects needle position from meter seen on top cover.

My 14 also had black rectangle, I glued small strips of metallic cooking foil on that rectangle and near meter, so now needle position is projected in VF too.

Not that I really need this, but had a great time 🙂

 

[Gradskater]

Travis:

If your yellow RF patch is a bit faded, you can replace it w/ one from a GT/ GTN/ GSN. You change the beamsplitter piece. Works great!

Bill

I actually thought about that today! I pulled the top off a GT and almost did it, but I got cold feet at the last moment. I think the beamsplitter definitely is done and will eventually need to be replaced. I have done the sharpie on the window trick for now, and it works.

I will try the foil trick, but I noticed that while shooting in sub-freezing temperatures, its nice not having the cold camera pressed to your face when trying to meter the scene.