A good camera for street candids
Written: Dec 26 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Zeiss lens, Super Scope view, f3.5 aperture
Cons: Flash mode defaults to "Auto" everytime camera is turned on,
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| Nhat's Full Review: Kyocera T5 Super Weatherproof 35mm Film Camera |
I bought the Yashica T4 Super after reading all the positive reviews of it on various web sites. I wanted a point and shoot camera to capture street scenes when my SLR was not with me. There have been too many moments where I thought to myself with frustration, "Arghh! I wished I had my camera with me!"
This brings me to the Yashica T4 Super. I read on www.photo.net about all the T4’s virtues, the main and most important one being the lens! After almost a year of street use, here’s what I think.
The lens is impressive. It is sharp, but not out of this world. I have enlarged black and white negs (Tmax 400cn and 100) and have had acceptable results up to 8x10 for some images. The enlargement quality is not on par with my Nikon 50mm 1.8 lens. Contrast levels are good. The color rendition is excellent! I shot Fuji Velvia 50 in it and came back with some great colorful images of street graffiti. The somewhat "large" aperture of 3.5 combined with 400 speed film makes for decent available light work.
For candid street scenes, the Super Scope waist level finder does come in handy. Others have found it "gimmicky", but I actually found it useful. I used this feature to take candids in subways. I hold the camera on my lap and pretend to fiddle with it, when in actuality I took photos with people realizing it.
The build quality seems to be as good as a mass produced point and shoot camera can be. The only flimsy thing about this camera is the lens cover that slides in and out to protect the lens. It’s plastic and seems flimsy. Mine held together fine, but I have known others whose covers have malfunctioned or broke-off. I used it when I lived in San Francisco to photograph that city’s urban life and the T4 was durable and reliable. I did not "baby" the camera and tossed it in my messenger most of the times.
I do have some gripes about the camera. The shutter release is too sensitive. It can be depressed halfway to perform focus lock, but because of it’s hyper-sensitivity, I often pressed too hard and took a photo. Another complaint is the flash mode. I shoot with available light and prefer the flash off. It takes three clicks on the small flash mode button to set the camera to flash off position. When the camera is turned off and then on again, the camera defaults to flash auto mode, not your last setting.
After six months of shooting with this camera, I must say it’s a good buy and would recommend it to all, especially to SLR folks looking a decent lens in a point and shoot market that is dominated by inferior zooms.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
Nhat
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Location: Los Angeles -CA
Reviews written: 3
Trusted by: 0 members
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