With its features, the Yashica T4 performs at a surprisingly high level. In this review, you’ll discover what the T4’s best feature actually is.
Verdict: 4/5. Pocketable, practical, and sturdy, with that Zeiss lens doing the heavy lifting. Not beautiful, but easy to spend a day with. Best for: shooters who want great results with zero fuss, if the price hasn’t scared them off.
Kyocera launched the Yashica T4 in 1990 as a premium compact camera targeted at non-professional users who wanted to take photos without too much fuss. It is a 35mm fully automatic film camera with a compact design that was designed and marketed with a general user in mind who’d take their cameras out when out on a vacation, or during some small family gatherings. As a result, the camera is simple to use – too simple perhaps, and yet the images that you can get out of them are gorgeous.
The camera featured a sturdy plastic design and was no competition to the sophisticated German designs. However, what’s eye-catching about the camera is the lens. It featured the Carl Zeiss Tessar 35mm f/3.5 lens which delivers razor-sharp images and has a minimum focusing distance of just 35cm.
Who is the Yashica T4 for?
Isn’t it totally unfair if you really love to take photos but don’t want to spend big on expensive cameras that need extensive knowledge of photography? You should be able to take good photos without going full professional and the Yashica T4 was Kyocera’s answer for this exact situation.
The camera has a no-nonsense design that focuses on one and only one thing – taking photos. There are hardly any buttons or controls, and there’s no way you can adjust the camera settings. You can find one button to trigger the shutter, another to adjust the flash mode, and one more for the self-timer function. That’s about it. The camera does everything by itself and makes you concentrate solely on the art of taking photos.
Carl Zeiss Tessar Lens
Compact and User-Friendly Design
Weatherproofing and Durability
So, if you want a film camera that does all the heavy lifting for you, that has a pocketable size so that you can carry it around, and delivers quality results, you might want to consider the Yashica T4. It’s great for beginner photographers wanting to get a taste of film photography, but if you are a capable digital photographer who wants to try out what film photography feels like, you can give it a shot as well. I’m sure you will fall in love with the camera – at least I did.
You can also see our Best Film Cameras here for more selection of 35mm cameras.
Yashica T4 Specifications
| Model | Yashica T4 |
| Release date | 1990 |
| Lens | Carl Zeiss Tessar 35mm, f/3.5, 4 elements in 3 groups, T* (multi-coated) |
| Dimensions (WxHxD) | 116.5 x 63.5 x 37 mm |
| Weight | 170 g |
| Shutter speed | 1s – 1/700s (programmed) |
| ISO range | 50-3200 |
| Battery | One 3V Lithium battery (type CR123A or DL123A) |
| Autofocus | 3-point, Infrared |
Design and construction
You do not want to get the Yashica T4 if you’re in the market for a stylish film camera. It looks like a block of plastic and is surprisingly slippery to hold. The plastic body is sturdy however and doesn’t break easily. It does pick up scratches over time rather easily. Besides the plasticy ugliness, everything about the camera is fantastic.
The construction of the camera is pretty solid. The size is perfect to hold in the hands and carry around in a coat pocket. It does however tend to be a bit slippery as it doesn’t have any sort of grip to hold on to. It isn’t bulky either, and the size-to-weight ratio is just perfect to carry around. And you don’t want to use it in rainy or dusty conditions. It has no protection to it. For a higher level of weatherproofing, you might want to look at the Yashica T4 Super also known as the Yashica T5 depending on the market.
Kyocera has designed the Yashica T4 with just three buttons: the shutter release, the flash mode button, and the self-timer button, plus a switch to turn the camera on and off. That’s it! It is indeed a no-nonsense design that makes you think more about the composition and what elements you want to add or remove from the frame. All the technical stuff is handled by the camera automatically.
Autofocus
The camera has three autofocus points – one right in the middle, and two on the o