YASHICA HALF 14

(1966) One of the few, true, "speed-demons" of the half-frame world, this camera's claim to fame is its "super-fast", Yashinon-DX, 32mm (six elements in four groups), manually-focusing, f1.4 lens. It's basically a deluxe version of the earlier (1964) Yashica Half 17 -- with the same body design. Besides the faster, maximum f-stop, the camera now has a CDS meter for extra sensitivity. The shutter speed is set from (1/15 - 1/500) when the film speed (12 - 400) is dialed in. Then the aperture is selected (f1.4-16) by the meter. The automatically-selected shutter speed and f-stop, along with distance, over/under exposure and parallax information are visible in the viewfinder. For flash purposes, the aperture can be set manually, while the shutter is fixed at 1/30. A "B" setting can also be selected, which fixes the aperture at f1.4 -- great for low-light shooting. The camera included a cold shoe with PC contact, self-timer; cable release connection, and tripod socket. To top it off, the film advance is different from most 35mm cameras. In this model, the film is loaded "upside down" and a film-advance wheel under the left thumb quickly advances the film. Focusing is from infinity to 2.5 feet, and a 55mm filter. Takes one 625 battery.