The model
Yashica T4 and T5
Kyocera · T4 from about 1990; sources give 1990 and 1992 and we cannot settle it. T4 Super and T5 from 1995
A plastic-bodied automatic compact with a Carl Zeiss Tessar 35mm f/3.5 on the front, made by Kyocera and sold under the Yashica name.
- Format
- 35mm film
- Made by
- Kyocera
What it was
Start with the names, because they cause more confusion than anything else about this camera. The T4 Super in the US, the T5 in Britain and Europe, and the Kyocera T Proof in Japan are, for practical purposes, one camera, though the versions with a date back are slightly thicker and heavier. "T4 Super Weatherproof", as it is often listed, is not a separate model. The plain T4 is the earlier camera and has no weather sealing at all.
Kyocera built it, as part of the same partnership with Carl Zeiss that produced the Contax cameras, and fitted a Carl Zeiss T* Tessar 35mm f/3.5, four elements in three groups. Lomography describes the T4 Super as Yashica's competitor to the Olympus Stylus Epic. In our view the Zeiss name on the lens is still most of the story of this camera's price.
The T4 Super added the Super Scope, a small waist-level finder that looks down into a mirror, and the weatherproofing. Other variants exist: the T4D with a date back, T4 Super D and T5D, and a dark green T4 Safari. The Kyocera Slim T is not a variant but the plain T4 under its Japanese-market name. The T4 Zoom and T-Zoom are a different camera with a 28–70mm lens and should not be confused with these.
What it is good for
Putting in a pocket and forgetting about. 170 grams on the plain T4, and the camera decides everything.
Weather, on the Super, T5 and T Proof only. The manual allows rain, the beach and ski slopes, with rubber packing at the back and battery covers. In our view it is the reason to prefer those over the plain T4, beyond the Super Scope.
Waist-level shooting, on the Super and T5. The Super Scope is an odd, brilliant thing: you hold the camera away from your face, look down into it, and the image is reversed left to right.
The Tessar, a four-element lens widely praised by reviewers for its sharpness and contrast.
Where it falls short: f/3.5 is slow, and there is no aperture control, no manual film speed and no exposure compensation. The autofocus is active infrared, so for shots through a window the manual points you to landscape mode. And the thing that matters most for anyone buying one now — Blue Moon Camera reports more and more failing from circuit faults, and original parts are hard to find.
Troubleshooting
It does nothing, on a battery that is not brand new
Fit a fresh cell first, always. It takes one 3 V lithium CR123A (the T5 manual also lists DL123A), a type still widely sold, so there is nothing to substitute. Rule the cell out before suspecting anything mechanical.
The lens cover will not open
The T5 manual says to slide the main switch fully, until the red mark shows; the lens cover then opens and the lens extends. Make sure it has gone all the way before concluding anything.
The film will not advance, or it rewinds early
Owners report rolls rewinding after 10 to 12 frames, and one after 24 to 26 frames of a 36-exposure roll with the motor labouring. The winding unit, motor or gear train are the suspects. That owner searched for the winding unit by its part number, 3AZ60111, and found none. Owners who have done the work say it needs soldering and spare cameras for parts, so this is a job for an independent technician.
It died mid-roll and now does nothing at all
Circuit failure, and this is the honest bad news about the model: Blue Moon Camera reports more and more of them failing in recent years, mainly from circuit failure. Owners who have had repair quotes found them close to the price of another camera.
The battery door keeps flipping open
Owners report it: the hinge on the plastic door. Taping it shut is the usual answer. A 3D-printed replacement door has been sold on eBay in the UK, and one owner found that fitting a new door means taking the whole body apart. Not a fault of the camera's function, but it can cut the power at the wrong moment.
The Super Scope image is back to front
By design. The T5 manual says the image is reversed left to right and covers a narrower part of the subject than the main viewfinder, and advises holding the camera at least 20 cm from your face, looking straight down into it. It is a separate small finder, not ground glass and not through the lens. Ishii Camera warns that haze and mould inside the lens and finder are possible in these cameras.
Everything is slightly underexposed
The camera sets film speed from the DX code alone, within ISO 50–3200, and gives you no manual speed or compensation to correct it with. Check that the film is DX-coded, since uncoded film is read as ISO 100, and that the cell is fresh, before blaming the meter.
Light leaking onto one side of the frame
Probably not perished foam — see What goes wrong.
What goes wrong, and what fixes it
Electronic death
The camera does nothing with a fresh cell, or stops mid-roll. Blue Moon Camera reports more and more of them failing in recent years, mainly from circuit failure. Owners who have had repair quotes found them close to the price of another camera. It is worth knowing before paying what they now cost.
Film transport failure
Will not advance, or rewinds early. The winding unit, motor or gear train. Independent technician, with parts from donor cameras.
Shutter flex cable failure
Documented, with a published iFixit repair guide for the T5D; owners there describe the lens sticking when the shutter fires. A reproduction cable design has been published on PCBWay. Independent technician.
The battery door
Owners report the plastic door's hinge failing. Tape, a 3D-printed replacement, or a body strip.
Light seals — probably not the cause
We found no foam light seals documented on any T4 variant, and no seal kit sold for them. The T5 manual describes rubber packing at the back and battery covers. So check the door, its catch and, on the weatherproof models, the rubber packing, and rule out a bad film load, before assuming perished foam.
The plastic body, honestly
It is all plastic, and it feels it. The wear point owners report is the battery door, not cracking of the shell — we found no pattern of the body itself failing.
Two things it gets credited with, wrongly
None of them is waterproof. Only the Super, T5 and T Proof are sealed at all, and only against weather.
And it does not share a lens with the Contax T2. The T2 has a Zeiss Sonnar 38mm f/2.8, five elements in four groups. This has a Zeiss Tessar 35mm f/3.5, four elements in three. Different formula, different focal length, two thirds of a stop slower.
Every one of these we list has been through the checks on this page first, and what we found is written on the listing.
Written once and kept up to date. It applies to every example of this model, not only to the one in the photograph. The facts were last checked on 23 September 2026, against the maker’s own published figures where they exist; where sources disagree, the page says so.
More like this: 35mm film cameras, or every model we have written up.
Specification
Lens — Carl Zeiss T* Tessar 35mm f/3.5, 4 elements in 3 groups, multicoated
Shutter — programmed electronic, 1 s to 1/700
Aperture — f/3.5 to f/15.5. No user control; fully programmed
Film speed — DX only, ISO 50–3200. No manual setting. Non-DX film is read as ISO 100
Metering range — EV 3.5 to 17 at ISO 100
Focus — active infrared, three points, with focus lock. Minimum focus 0.35 m (one source gives 0.30 m)
Viewfinder — real-image optical finder with picture frame, close-range frame and focus frame. T4 Super and T5 add the Super Scope waist-level finder
Flash — built in. The T5 manual lists auto, red-eye reduction, fill-in, flash-off and landscape modes; the T4 manual also lists a night-scene mode. Range 0.35 to 3 m with ISO 100 film, 0.35 to 6 m with ISO 400
Weather sealing — T4 Super, T5 and T Proof only, and weatherproof rather than waterproof: the manual allows use in rain, at the beach and on ski slopes, with rubber packing at the back and battery covers, but says never to submerge it or wash it under a tap. The plain T4 has no sealing
Power — one CR123A 3 V lithium cell, all variants. About 20 rolls of 24 exposures with flash on half the shots
Weight and size — T4 170 g, 116.5 x 63.5 x 37 mm (180 g and 39 mm deep with the date back). T4 Super and T5 about 200 g, 118 x 64 x 42 mm as given by analog.cafe, which reports the version without a date back as 2 mm slimmer and 10 g lighter
Here now
None here at the moment. They come through a few times a year, and this page stays up so you can find it when one does.