YashicaT3

Place the Yashica T3 in context and you land in the late 1980s, the golden age of the autofocus point-and-shoot. Catalogued as a autofocus compact, it pairs the Carl Zeiss Tessar 35mm f/2.8 T* with a 35mm film path. Worth knowing up front: bumped the Tessar to a brighter f/2.8 and added a unique top-mounted waist-level finder.

Format

35mm

Year

1988

Lens

Carl Zeiss Tessar 35mm f/2.8 T*

Min. focus

0.6 m

Flash

Built-in auto multi-mode

Battery

1× CR123A

The Carl Zeiss Tessar 35mm f/2.8 T* sits in the daylight sweet spot: sharp wide open, well-corrected against flare, and small enough to disappear in a jacket pocket. Standard 35mm keeps it compatible with whatever Kodak, Ilford, Fuji or CineStill stock you find on the shelf today. A single CR123A lithium cell powers everything including the motor; still cheap and stocked at most camera shops. The built-in flash will fire whenever the meter decides it should, so learn the override before your first night out. Minimum focus is 0.6 m, close enough for a coffee cup or a face but stops short of true macro. Worth knowing in the field: a cult favourite among street photographers for its discreet WLF shooting. Best for street, travel and environmental portraits — 35mm is the all-rounder documentary photographers default to.

Reputation is doing a lot of the price work on the Yashica T3; the camera is good, but pay for the camera, not the legend.

• §1Bumped the Tessar to a brighter f/2.8 and added a unique top-mounted waist-level finder.
• §2A cult favourite among street photographers for its discreet WLF shooting.