Yashica T3 vs. Contax T3 for general street work?

[Sean]

Hi, on the hunt for a 35mm point and shoot for some downtown street photography. Typically I am a very sloooow photographer and find my attempts at street work fail miserably because I am not quick enough so miss shot after shot. I am thinking a little point and shoot with good glass and loaded with tri-x may provide more enjoyment for me when doing street work. Is there are huge difference between the yashica T3 and contax T3? How much lag do these little cams have? I don't think I could swing the expense of the Contax but the Yashicas are reasonable right now. Anything to be cautious of if Buying either or should I look at something else? I hear mention of a nice olympus but I think the extra sharpness and contrast in the CZ glass will be what I'm after. Does anyone have some good scans from either camera to share in this thread? Thanks!

[Sean]

there is also the Yashica T Zoom that is at the tip top of my budget, it supposedly has nice glass..

[Sean]

also eyeing a used olympus mju II..

[Loose Gravel]

Zooms are always worse than fixed. The Yashica glass is pretty good. Zeiss makes a difference. Even my wife noticed on the one I bought her. Of the production 'happy snapper', this is the one I hear about professionals using. Two cents.

[John McCallum]

As a possible alternative, it might be worth considering the OM-4. It's actually an SLR but a similar size to a rangefinder. Very nice weight, good features. They have the odd feeling of being the mix of a small, high quality manual camera but with some advanced features. Manual split and shimmer-image focus, spot metering, highlight or shadow metering, DOF preview. With an optional motor drive, 5fps. The build quality feels really good - made from die-cast aluminium with titanium top and bottom plates
But the best thing about them is the lenses. Zuico .... fast sharp and contrasty.

The quality of image produced is outstanding. Seem to be selling second hand around $300. Perhaps worth a look .

Robert Jaques here at apug has had one for many years. He could tell more about it .... I know he loves that camera.

[Sean]

thanks for the info. It's pretty hard to decide which way to go since there is so much to choose from out there. Will keep thinking about it..

[bjorke]

Small fixed: little Olympus, Yashica/Contax T3, CANONET

all good

[John Koehrer]

The Contax is a premium $$$ camera. Yashica give CZ optics with a Yugo price point. Best of both worlds? Also the Yashica has a waist level finder in addition to the eyelevel. That can be convenient for inconspicuous snapping.

[clogz]

Hello Sean,
How about an Olympus XA? www.diaxa.com

[Baxter Bradford]

Or consider buying a used Contax T2. I found mine so good that I sold all my 35mm SLR gear (and then subsequently got into MF and then LF). However the results I get from the T2 are great and it gets used more than the Nikon SLR ever did. Can use it for candids if necessary. 38mm lens is not too wide for adding noticeable distortion to portraits.