Yashica T4 Zoom

harrisonwright_ · Oct 17, 2017

Hi,

I've just moved to Spain and wanted to pickup a new point and shoot, found and have found a Yashica t4 zoom on ebay for equivalent of £65, l was wondering what the value of these are and if it's a good deal?

Anyone got any tips for these cameras or previous experience,

Cheerss

AgX · Oct 17, 2017

I consider the value at 3€.

TheRook · Oct 17, 2017

AgX said:
I consider the value at 3€.

The Yashica T4 Zoom is a highly desirable camera, mostly because of its extraordinarily sharp Carl Zeiss Tessar lens. Only a fool would sell a fully operational T4 for 3€.
Although perhaps somewhat overpriced for what it is, £65 is actually low compared to what sellers typically ask for.

Neal · Oct 18, 2017

I have a T4 Zoom and I like it a lot. My problem with spending much on such cameras is that they can work for a month or ten years. It does take a nice picture and the various modes work very well.

Good luck,

Neal Wydra

removed account4 · Oct 18, 2017

the plain old T4 might be the best p/s ever made
if the t4 zoom is anything like the t4, it is worth it
t4's ( non zoom ) were selling for a few hundred USD a few years ago...

zeiss lens, its nice ..

maybe the zoom model is differnet ?
no clue

AgX · Oct 18, 2017

TheRook said:
The Yashica T4 Zoom is a highly desirable camera, mostly because of its extraordinarily sharp Carl Zeiss Tessar lens. Only a fool would sell a fully operational T4 for 3€.

You seem never to have bought used cameras or are living in a different universe.

darkosaric · Oct 18, 2017

3 times I have found Yashica T4 (non zoom) on flea market, for 10€ or so. What I did - made 1 film test and sold it on ebay for > 100$. From test film I can confirm that it is totally overrated, no big deal. Yes it is sharp - but more less the same quality as for example Olympus Mju I.
But if people are willing to pay big money - who am I to judge - I am a Leica owner .

TheRook · Oct 18, 2017

AgX said:
You seem never to have bought used cameras or are living in a different universe.

Go to eBay and have a look at what people are willing to pay for a T4. I think you will be quite surprised! Usually 100 Euros and above for that little thing. Personally, I think the camera's value is over-hyped and severely inflated. But if I had a T4 to sell, I'd probably not give it away for a measly 3 Euros. I'd ask at least 30 Euros for it.

AgX · Oct 18, 2017

There is a world outside Ebay.
And there many people have enough reason not to look up each item at Ebay. And it would not change its value outside Ebay either.

Ebay is a good way to buy something at once and from ones desk. But then one has to pay a premium. And sometimes even such absurd prices.

removed account4 · Oct 18, 2017

darkosaric said:
3 times I have found Yashica T4 (non zoom) on flea market, for 10€ or so. What I did - made 1 film test and sold it on ebay for > 100$. From test film I can confirm that it is totally overrated, no big deal. Yes it is sharp - but more less the same quality as for example Olympus Mju I.
But if people are willing to pay big money - who am I to judge - I am a Leica owner .

hi darko
leicas are nice and shiny

darkosaric · Oct 18, 2017

jnanian said:
hi darko
leicas are nice and shiny

They sure are , and addictive as well .

blondin · Dec 8, 2017

Hi,
I bought the T4 zoom 198 Swiss francs. It's very good when the light is warm, like at the end of the day. But I'm disappointed when the light is powerful, white, The picture seem all overexposed. Do you face the same problem?
An exemple: https://www.lomography.com/homes/blondin/albums/2159455-lucia-analogue/22291916
That's not the best exemple because there is a lot of contrast...

bvy · Dec 8, 2017

We can thank Terry Richardson for this. There was a lot of hype several years ago when he publicly endorsed the cameras with pictures of nekkid women and former child stars snotting themselves. There's a YouTube video somewhere of one of his models being interviewed, saying about him and the camera (I paraphrase) "I saw him and thought, that's it?! That's all of his gear?" But his specifically was the T4 Super, which is different from the T4. (In markets outside the US, it's called the T5.) The camera is unique because it has a tiny waist level finder, which appealed to street photographers. It's why I bought one seven or so years ago, though I found it mostly useless. That aside, the camera turned out to take the sharpest pictures of any 35mm point and shoot I've since had (including the Contax T2). I sold it for parts a few months ago when the electronics started acting goofy (an inevitability with these cameras) and now I'm looking for another.

Anyway, those two things (a creepy photographer's endorsement and a useless finder) seemed to put the prices for one in orbit. I was surprised to see that the "unsuper" T4 and its variants were also going for hundreds of dollars. If the lens is as sharp, I might have to expand my search. The T4 Super and T5 are going for $400 and more right now. Broken, I sold my T5 for more than I paid for it seven years ago.

EarlJam · Dec 8, 2017

I owned both the T4 Super and T4 Zoom, both purchased new. The T4 Super is a marvelous camera - great lens, fast autofocus, and the best "flashmatic" system I've ever encountered, particularly with flash fill for backlight situations. I'd have kept it, but it wasn't being used and I needed to thin the herd a bit to justify other camera purchases.

The T4 Zoom, on the other hand, was disappointing, even on a good day. The lens is relatively slow; ISO 100 was a no-go and 200 wasn't much better. The camera seemed to struggle to pick a focus point and make a sharp image. In anything less than full, mid day sun, pictures were soft. When sold, it was worth less than half of the T4 Super, even though it was 6 years newer and, at least on paper, had a superior feature set.

OlyMan · Dec 8, 2017

AgX said:
There is a world outside Ebay.

Depends where you live. Where I live, there really isn't. There was: we had things called camera shops with shelves stocked with someone else's trade-ins. All closed. Flea markets sometimes would be a source of rare gems, pawn shops sometimes had some half-decent kit traded in for cash from Granddad's loft, and now and again the charity shops had something worth buying beyond racks and racks of James Last LPs and clothes for octogenarians.

But eBay changed all that. Even the pawn shops and charity shops have eBay accounts, If the couple of hundred people who pass through their doors every week won't pay £49.99 for something that once would have had a £4.99 sticker on it, there's a strong enough likelihood that one of the thousands of people who visit their eBay store will.

AgX · Dec 8, 2017

Here it depends what you are looking for. The more valuable a technical item seems the less it can be found on a flea market, unless it is vey bulky. For example I ever came across only 1 rangefinder Leica there. But otherwise even many commercial dealers do not want to be bothered with Ebay, at least if they got a brick&mortar shop anyway.
Also there are buyers who prefer personal contact. If those were not, there would not be fleamarkets und shops.

blockend · Dec 8, 2017

The thing with 35mm compact cameras in 2017, is they're on borrowed time. So-called super compacts are no different. Whether you pay £6 or £600 for one, when it goes pop that's pretty much it. There's no manufacturer's support, donor bodies and the skills to repair them are mostly a thing of the past. You may get a few years casual use out of one, it may die next week.

The nature of point and shoots is they're used hard and often, and kept in less than optimum places like pockets and purses. If losing the asking price would hurt, avoid the expensive varieties. If you see risk as the price of ownership, go for it. I suspect many advertised on eBay are showing the first signs of a mortal condition, and owners are hoping to beat the reaper and get a return on their investment. Personally I'd want a minimum one month warranty, and hope to put as many films through in that time as possible to find its weaknesses.

Yashica T4 Zoom

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