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Yashica T Zoom

G

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I just bought the Yashica T Zoom yesterday and have shot three rolls of film. The lens is stunning. VERY sharp -- as good as my SLRs, at least in terms of the 4x6 prints I just got back from the Fuji digital minilab. This camera is a real winner in terms of image quality, and I list below a few of my initial observations, just for your information:

1. The zoom is not continuous, but stops at defined focal lengths: 28mm, 40, 50, 60, & 70mm.

2. With flash in "auto" mode, in low light, the camera will fire the flash as a focus assist l&, just prior to making the exposure.

3. When you depress the shutter release half way to achieve a focus lock, the lens doesn't move to the focus position. You have to press the shutter release all the way, and then the lens will move to the focus position before the shutter opens.

4. According to the manual, partial hundreds are not accepted for film ISO. That is, 160 is not supported, only 50, 100, 200, 400, etc. Therefore NPS and other ISO 160 films might not be exposed correctly.

5. This camera shoots 38 frames on a roll of film. It fully utilizes frame zero and frame 37. I got 38 properly exposed frames on each of the three films I have shot so far.

6. The camera comes with an excellent black soft pouch, which can be worn on one's belt.

7. The diopter adjusting knob doesn't have click stops, and is therefore a little easy to knock off the position that you initially set.

8. The camera comes with an infra red remote release which can fire the shutter with a two second delay when the camera is in self timer mode.

9. The lens is beautifully sharp, with typical Zeiss contrast and colour, at all focal lengths.

10. It looks great, and feels very good to handle.

Overall, I am totally satisfied with this camera. I can live with it's minor handling deficiencies. This is the best point and shoot camera I have ever used.

I paid 1,600 Hong Kong dollars = about US$205.

Don't hesitate to buy one as soon as you see one. It'll become a classic.

The Yashica T Zoom is a poor man's Contax TVS, compromising only on manual controls but not on image quality. I love it.
 
Craig,

which film did you use (slide/negative) and which ISO setting. How about vignetting (light fall off) at the corners? Is there a way with costum functions to program focus lock while pressing the shutter half-way down? Any possibilities to set aperture manually?

And is there a hint in the manual in which steps the computer sets the aperture/speed combination with which priority?

I.E: Always 1/250 as long as there is enough light, then 1/125 and then 1/60 (normally there a diagrams in the manual to read it out of a table)

Dirk
 
>Craig, glad to hear that the pictures turned out well. I purchased a T4 >zoom a couple of weeks ago as well and have not finished my first roll yet. I'd like to compare the results to my T3 and G2. Totally looking forward to it. Would you mind posting some pictures up? Thanks.
 
Hi Dirk.

I shot one roll of Fuji Superia 200, one roll of Fuji Press 800, and one roll of Provia 400F. I have a roll of Fuji Superia 400 in it now, and I'll shoot a roll of Astia after that.

I haven't noticed any vignetting yet. I have seen some pincushion distortion when shooting close up at wide angle. I observed that the maximum aperture is stopped down a little when at 28mm. If you zoom in to 70mm, you can see a nice circular aperture when releasing the shutter at a dark corner of the room with no film and the back open. But when you zoom out to 28mm and shoot with the back open at a dark corner, the maximum aperture is deliberately restricted by the aperture/shutter blades. My guess is that they do that deliberately to avoid vignetting -- meaning, it's really F3.5 at 28mm, but they stop down a little to F4.5 for better image quality at so-called "wide open".

There's nothing in the manual about custom functions. There are no overrides except a full complement of flash modes, including slow sync mode, and two exposure compensation settings for plus 1.5 and minus 1.5 only.

No way to set aperture manually.

Craig
 
>Craig, Thank you very much for your quick post of the s&les. I'm looking forward to get my first roll back. Thanks again!
 
Craig posted..."I got my TVS for about $205...

Can you get me one for that?? Sheesh.. Around here the T3 and the TVS are outrageous.. The best price I've found is around $700. I'd snatch one up in a second for $300 or so!!!
Jeff in Colorado
 
>Can you get me one for that?? Sheesh.. Around here the T3 and the TVS >are outrageous.. The best price I've found is around $700. I'd snatch >one up in a second for $300 or so!!! >Jeff in Colorado

hEY Jeff, I think Craig was talking about getting the T4 Zoom for about $205.
happy.gif
 
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