Yashica Lynx 14E Price

[jamais]

Hi!

I have an offer to buy a Lynx 14E for EUR 130,- including shipping. Would you consider this a reasonable price? The camera seems to be in very nice condition with just a few dust particles in the lens.

Any further advices? I'm rather new to rangefinders.

Thanks in advance!

 

[btgc]

For this price it has to be top notch - mechanically, electrically and optically. For this and smaller (around 70-90) price I have seen going immaculate samples in fully working condition (at least, described), boxed, with papers and never-ready case. Don't know what happens with them this days.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

That seems high to me. I've bought and sold them for $20 to $50, but in each case some work was required.

Things to watch for :
1) Meter operational and not "jumpy". If the resister ring is dirty, the meter lights will flicker.
2) Faded RF patch. Two of my three were faded. One I replaced with a GSN beamsplitter. Third is perfect.
3) fungus damage on inner elements. Lots of glass, and its dark in there.

 

[jamais]

Thank you so far!

I expect the built-in Yashinon-DX superior to the Jupiter-3 in terms of contrast and sharpness wide open and maybe also in build-quality. Did anybody compare these two lenses? Am I wrong?

I need a camera with a fast 40/45/50 mm only - and in view of the low Yashica price thouhgt that the Lynx makes more sense for me than a Fed with a J-3. What do you think?

kind regards

 

[vbarniev]

I paid US$100 for one recently CLAD . I couldn't be happier with my new camera.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

Thank you so far!

I expect the built-in Yashinon-DX superior to the Jupiter-3 in terms of contrast and sharpness wide open and maybe also in build-quality. Did anybody compare these two lenses? Am I wrong?

I need a camera with a fast 40/45/50 mm only - and in view of the low Yashica price thouhgt that the Lynx makes more sense for me than a Fed with a J-3. What do you think?

kind regards

The Yashica 45mm F1.4 lens is on par with an "average" J-3. My 1950's KMZ J-3's (1955, 1956, 1953) outperform it. But- I rebuild the J-3's and can nail the focus spot-on.

I use the J-3 much more than the Yashica...

Here is my "signature J-3 shot", 1953 KMZ wide-open on the Bessa R2.

and here is a sampling of shots from J-3's.

http://ziforums.com/album.php?albumid=97


Found my old Lynx 14 shots. I sold this one for $50, had another sold it to a friend, and paid $20 for my current one. The lenses were all about the same quality, so this is a good example:

Yashica Lynx 14, 45mm F1.4 Wide-Open:

For the price- the Lynx was a good deal with a fast lens and a meter capable of fairly low light. I would not pay $150 for one. $100 for one in good order is a good price.

 

[bmattock]

I never pay more than $5 USD for a Lynx 14. I have several, so patience is a virtue.

 

[vbarniev]

I live in Chile though and I have no patience.

 

[raid]

I bought a Lynx 14 for $20 and then I made $20 profit by selling it. It never grew on me. The J-3 is a much better lens for my needs.
In your case, I recommend offering $75.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

I have great luck stumbling into camera deals of the century.

I've never paid more than $15 for a Black Leica III or a chrome Leica IIIa with lenses. But I would not sell them for that!

The more relevant question might be in regards to value, what would you sell them for?

 

[raid]

... for at least twice as much!

 

[btgc]

Here in Europe we don't have phenomena called property sales and garage sales. Well, probably some limited kind of garage sales are going on somewhere though they aren't source of cheap Lynx'es. Typically Lynxes on EU ebay sites cost more than on ebay.com despite assumption latter is considered to be more global. More specifically, forget about eur15 (that's about usd20) Lynx 14 on ebay.de or ebay.at - and off-bay sales reflect this prices.

Knowing about this discrimination, I have worked on issue and now some nice cameras from U.S. have settled over pond 🙂

 

[elwrongo]

I paid $Aus10 for my Lynx 14 in a charity store with case. I ran home with it but the shutter was stuck, and no meter action. CLA for $60 and its all good, including meter. The photos are nothing special though and it sure is a heavy lump of metal. Might as well have an SLR! The weight can have its advantages though; I drove 25km and upon arriving got out of the car and saw my Lynx sitting happily on the roof of my car. It had hardly moved. I was pretty happy about that. Lesson: Never rest you camera on the roof of your car for whatever reason - unless its a Lynx 14.

130 Euros sounds very expensive to me. You'd have to really want one and it would have to be better than MINT with fully refundable warranty. Better to wait I'd say.

 

[btgc]

it sure is a heavy lump of metal.

this works as free built-in OIS. Lynx 14 is so easy to handhold at slow speeds, while small and light cameras are not.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

The Lynx 14 and Yashica SLR's are about the same size. I used a Yashica SLR case for my first one. The bodies of the Yashica GS/GSN are the same size as the Lynx 14, but the lens housing on the 14 is much larger. The latter uses 58mm filters.

 

[vbarniev]

I use the Lynx 14 e IC, Yashica Electro 35 GSN and MG-1 daily and quite satisfied. The process is more important than the final product if you are not a professional photografer. I like to experiment.

 

[Steve Karr]

Hi, Who CLA's these cameras? Do you need someone special or is any tech able to handle it?

Thanks!
Steve

I paid $Aus10 for my Lynx 14 in a charity store with case. I ran home with it but the shutter was stuck, and no meter action. CLA for $60 and its all good, including meter. The photos are nothing special though and it sure is a heavy lump of metal. Might as well have an SLR! The weight can have its advantages though; I drove 25km and upon arriving got out of the car and saw my Lynx sitting happily on the roof of my car. It had hardly moved. I was pretty happy about that. Lesson: Never rest you camera on the roof of your car for whatever reason - unless its a Lynx 14.

130 Euros sounds very expensive to me. You'd have to really want one and it would have to be better than MINT with fully refundable warranty. Better to wait I'd say.