Adrian,
Speaking as a Contax SLR user, I find the Yashica T4 Zoom to produce clean, alarmingly sharp images. It's a steal at $200. Bought it for my wife and, to ensure it would work in casual hands, took it for a spin under conditions of varying light and subject. All images were properly focussed and exposed without any locking and recentering antics. The package is light and handsome (for plastic). Film loading is effortless.
Low-light focus is impressive -- better than my Canon D30. The camera may also pop the flash once at a low power to handle the most adverse situations, like pitch black.
In contrast, I shied away from the Contax T series because of the cost and persistent complaints about autofocus.
There are several negatives about the T4 Zoom, mostly related to its P&S nature. Power-on delay is significant, as the zoom lens extends. Shutter lag is significant and annoying. The 28mm wide angle has obvious light falloff, even stopped down. The viewfinder is execrable, with ZERO eye-point and exact eye placement necessary. The lens is slow: 70/8 with overcast and ISO 100 means the flash goes off.
On balance, an excellent P&S. I don't use it personally because of the shutter lag and horrible VF. Except for falloff at 28mm, the optics produce Grade A images.
Speaking as a Contax SLR user, I find the Yashica T4 Zoom to produce clean, alarmingly sharp images. It's a steal at $200. Bought it for my wife and, to ensure it would work in casual hands, took it for a spin under conditions of varying light and subject. All images were properly focussed and exposed without any locking and recentering antics. The package is light and handsome (for plastic). Film loading is effortless.
Low-light focus is impressive -- better than my Canon D30. The camera may also pop the flash once at a low power to handle the most adverse situations, like pitch black.
In contrast, I shied away from the Contax T series because of the cost and persistent complaints about autofocus.
There are several negatives about the T4 Zoom, mostly related to its P&S nature. Power-on delay is significant, as the zoom lens extends. Shutter lag is significant and annoying. The 28mm wide angle has obvious light falloff, even stopped down. The viewfinder is execrable, with ZERO eye-point and exact eye placement necessary. The lens is slow: 70/8 with overcast and ISO 100 means the flash goes off.
On balance, an excellent P&S. I don't use it personally because of the shutter lag and horrible VF. Except for falloff at 28mm, the optics produce Grade A images.
